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Method and apparatus for controlling the heat balance in aluminum reduction cells

  • US 4,333,803 A
  • Filed: 10/03/1980
  • Issued: 06/08/1982
  • Est. Priority Date: 10/03/1980
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. In an automatic control apparatus for maintaining a predetermined energy balance in a device which loses heat through wall members, the apparatus comprising:

  • (a) a relatively short and thin heat flow sensor having a close-ended hollow thermally conductive elongated body, a first thermocouple therein of a junction of a first and second wire of dissimilar metals near one end of the body, near the other end of the body a second thermocouple therein of a junction of a first and second wire of the same dissimilar metals as of the first thermocouple and insulation within the body for electrically insulating the wires from the sensor body;

    (b) said sensor having the first wire of the first thermocouple and the first wire of the second thermocouple being of the same metal for electrically connecting the junction of the first thermocouple with the junction of the second thermocouple, and having the second wire of each of the first and second thermocouples extending to a location intermediate the closed ends of the sensor body;

    (c) said sensor attachable by one closed end of the sensor body to an outside surface of the wall member to extend substantially perpendicular to a location on the wall member without significantly affecting the heat flow from the wall surface being measured;

    (d) an instrument responsive to the electrical potential between the first and second thermocouples for measuring an electrical signal generated by a temperature difference between the first and second thermocouples of said sensor, said instrument connected to the second wire of each of the first and second thermocouples at a location intermediate the closed ends of the sensor body; and

    (e) control means for determining the heat flow through the wall member as a function of the temperature difference and maintaining the predetermined energy balance by adjusting the amount of energy added to the device.

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