Melting metal particles and dispersing gas and additives with vaned impeller
First Claim
1. A method for melting metal particles in a bath of molten metal, comprising the steps of:
- providing an impeller, the impeller including a rectangular prism having upper and lower faces, four sidewalls, a width (A), a depth (B), and a height (C), with (A) being approximately equal to (B), the impeller defining a hub on the upper face, the impeller further including a plurality of vanes projecting radially outwardly of the hub, the vanes being disposed on the upper face;
providing an elongate, rotatable shaft rigidly connected to the upper face of the impeller;
providing a vessel within which the molten metal is contained;
immersing the impeller into the molten metal contained within the vessel;
rotating the shaft about its longitudinal axis such that a vortex is created in the molten metal; and
depositing metal particles onto the surface of the molten metal in the vortex.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Metal particles are melted by mixing them with molten metal contained in a bath. A shaft-supported, rotatable impeller is immersed into the molten metal and rotated so as to establish a vortex-like flow of molten metal. Metal particles are deposited onto the surface of the molten metal in the vicinity of the rotating impeller. The particles are submerged substantially immediately after being deposited onto the surface of the molten metal. The impeller includes a thin rectangular prism having sharp-edged corners and vanes that extend upwardly from the prism. The impeller also can be used to disperse gas into the molten metal by pumping the gas through a bore extending the length of the shaft and out of the impeller along the lower surface of the impeller. The gas is sheared into finely divided bubbles as it rises along the sides of the impeller.
117 Citations
29 Claims
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1. A method for melting metal particles in a bath of molten metal, comprising the steps of:
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providing an impeller, the impeller including a rectangular prism having upper and lower faces, four sidewalls, a width (A), a depth (B), and a height (C), with (A) being approximately equal to (B), the impeller defining a hub on the upper face, the impeller further including a plurality of vanes projecting radially outwardly of the hub, the vanes being disposed on the upper face; providing an elongate, rotatable shaft rigidly connected to the upper face of the impeller; providing a vessel within which the molten metal is contained; immersing the impeller into the molten metal contained within the vessel; rotating the shaft about its longitudinal axis such that a vortex is created in the molten metal; and depositing metal particles onto the surface of the molten metal in the vortex. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 28, 29)
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23. A method for melting metal particles in a bath of molten metal, comprising the steps of:
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providing an impeller, the impeller including a prism having upper and lower faces, at least three sidewalls, a width (A), a depth (B), and a height (C), with (A) being approximately equal to (B), the impeller defining a hub on the upper face, the impeller further including a plurality of vanes projecting radially outwardly of the hub, the vanes being disposed on the upper face; providing an elongate, rotatable shaft rigidly connected to the upper face of the impeller; providing a vessel within which the molten metal is contained; immersing the impeller into the molten metal contained within the vessel; rotating the shaft about its longitudinal axis such that a vortex is created int he molten metal; and depositing metal particles onto the surface of the molten metal in the vortex. - View Dependent Claims (24)
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25. Apparatus for melting metal particles in a bath of molten metal, comprising:
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an impeller, the impeller including a triangular prism having upper and lower faces, at least three sidewalls, a width (A), a depth (B), and a height (C), with (A) being approximately equal to (B), the impeller defining a hub on the upper face, the impeller further including a plurality of vanes projecting radially outwardly of the hub, the vanes being disposed on the upper face, the impeller being immersible in the bath of molten metal; and an elongate, rotatable shaft connected to the upper face of the impeller, the shaft projecting from the upper surface of the bath. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27)
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Specification