JP2025025660A - Anode casting equipment and anode manufacturing method using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an anode casting facility capable of easily detecting swelling generated in an anode and suppressing the occurrence of the swelling.SOLUTION: An anode casting facility includes a turntable 1 comprising of a rotatable disk-shaped base on which a plurality of molds 2 for anode casting are mounted at equal intervals in the circumferential direction, a cooling device 4 for cooling the molds 2 during anode casting by spraying cooling water on them, a peeling machine 5 for sequentially peeling off the anodes A cast by the plurality of molds 2, a cooling tank 6 for sequentially immersing the anodes A peeled off by the peeling machine 5 in cooling water, and a transfer machine 7 for lifting the anodes A cooled in the cooling tank 6 by a predetermined number of pieces and transferring them to suspension means 8. A photographing machine 9 provided in the anode casting facility photographs the hot water surface side A1 of the anode A peeled off first or last by the peeling machine 5 among the predetermined number of anodes A group to be lifted at the time of transfer.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

The present invention relates to an anode casting facility and an anode manufacturing method using the anode casting facility.

In dry copper smelting, high-purity electrolytic copper is produced by increasing the copper grade of raw materials, mainly copper concentrate, step by step through the smelting process, copper production process, and refining process. Specifically, first, in the smelting process, copper concentrate is blown into a flash furnace together with flux and oxidized to produce slag mainly composed of iron oxide and silicon and matte with a copper content of about 60% by mass. Next, in the copper production process, the matte produced in the flash furnace is transferred to a converter and further oxidized to produce blister copper with a copper content of about 98% by mass. Finally, in the refining process, the blister copper is transferred to a refining furnace and oxygen is removed to produce refined blister copper with a copper content of 99% by mass or more. The refined blister copper is then cast to obtain an electrolytic anode (hereinafter simply referred to as an anode), which is then electrolytically refined to produce electrolytic copper with a copper content of 99.99% by mass or more.

In casting the above anodes, a turntable is used, on which multiple anode casting molds (hereinafter simply referred to as molds) are arranged at equal intervals around the circumference on a circular base. While rotating this turntable, refined crude copper extracted from the above refining furnace is cast sequentially into the multiple molds through one or more troughs, making it possible to cast anodes continuously and efficiently.

Various anode casting devices including the above-mentioned turntable have been proposed. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an anode casting device that is composed of a rotatable turntable on which multiple molds (casting dies) are arranged in the circumferential direction, a first cooling means for primary cooling, a temperature measuring means for measuring the temperature of the mold after the anode is stripped off, a second cooling means for secondary cooling, and a temperature management means for identifying the cooling conditions required to cool the mold to a predetermined temperature based on the measured mold temperature and controlling the second cooling means in accordance with those conditions. It is stated that by using this anode casting device, it is possible to increase the casting efficiency of the anode without shortening the mold life.

JP 2006-255757 A

The anodes continuously cast as described above are then loaded into an electrolytic cell in a state where they are arranged alternately with separately prepared cathodes in the subsequent electrolytic refining step, and a direct current voltage is applied. From the viewpoint of improving production efficiency, it is preferable to operate the cell with the applied voltage as high as possible, and in order to prevent short circuits even under these conditions, the front and back surfaces of the anode (also called the anode surface) are required to be as flat as possible.

That is, if there is a localized bulge (hereinafter also simply referred to as "bulge") on the anode surface, the bulge may dissolve and peel off in the electrolyte in the electrolytic cell, causing a short circuit, or the surface distance between adjacent cathodes may become locally close, leading to the formation of nodules. In order to prevent short circuits caused by these factors, it is necessary to operate the anode at a lower applied voltage. Therefore, there is a need for a technology that can easily detect bulges and suppress the occurrence of bulges based on the detection results. The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and aims to provide an anode casting facility that can easily detect bulges that have occurred on the anode and suppress the occurrence of bulges based on the detection results, and a method for manufacturing anodes using this anode casting facility.

In order to achieve the above object, the anode casting equipment for copper smelting of the present invention is an anode casting equipment for copper smelting that is composed of a turntable consisting of a rotatable disk-shaped base on which multiple molds for casting anodes are placed at equal intervals in the circumferential direction, a cooling device that sprays cooling water onto the molds during anode casting to cool them, a stripping machine that sequentially strips off the anodes cast in the multiple molds, a cooling tank that sequentially immerses the anodes stripped by the stripping machine in cooling water, and a transfer machine that lifts a predetermined number of anodes cooled in the cooling tank and transfers them to a suspension means, and is characterized by being provided with a camera that photographs the molten metal surface side of the anode that is the first or last to be stripped by the stripping machine out of the predetermined number of anodes lifted during the transfer.

The method for producing an anode in copper smelting of the present invention includes the steps of casting a molten metal into a plurality of molds for casting an anode, which are placed at equal intervals in the circumferential direction on a turntable made of a rotatable disk-shaped base, spraying cooling water onto the molds into which the molten metal has been cast, sequentially peeling off the anode groups cast in the molds, sequentially immersing the peeled off anode groups in cooling water, and lifting a predetermined number of the cooled anode groups and transferring them to a suspension means, and is characterized in that the molten metal surface side of the anode that is the first or last peeled off of the predetermined number of anode groups lifted during the transfer is photographed, and the conditions for spraying the cooling water are adjusted based on the presence or absence of a substantially circular bulge in the obtained image.

According to the present invention, it is possible to easily detect swelling that occurs in the anode, and by feeding back the detection results to the manufacturing method, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of swelling.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an anode cast in the anode casting facility according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of an embodiment of an anode casting facility according to the present invention. 3 is a perspective view of a cooling tank of the anode mold facility of FIG. 2, and a stripping machine and a transfer machine provided before and after the cooling tank, respectively. FIG. 4A and 4B are front and side views of the stripping machine shown in FIG. 3, with the side view showing the state in which the anode is stripped from the mold. 4A is a side view showing a state in which a plurality of anodes are lifted from within a cooling tank by the transfer machine of FIG. 3, and FIG. 4B is a side view showing a state in which the plurality of anodes lifted by the transfer machine are photographed before being placed on an anode support part. 4 is a perspective view showing a state in which anode surfaces are photographed while a plurality of anodes are being transferred by the transfer machine of FIG. 3. FIG.

1. Anode The anode produced by the anode casting apparatus of the present invention has a characteristic shape as shown in FIG. 1. That is, the electrolysis anode A shown in FIG. 1 has a pair of ears A L and A _R protruding in the left and right directions on the paper surface at both upper corners of a substantially rectangular plate-like portion having a length and width of about 1000 to 1500 mm. The anode A is suspended by supporting these ears _{A L and} A _R from below on the upper end faces of both opposing side walls of the electrolytic cell, so that the plate-like portion can be immersed in the electrolytic solution in the electrolytic cell. The anode A is also suspended by supporting these ears A _L and A _R from below on a pair of chain conveyors in a cooling tank, which will be described later, or on a suspension means for waiting until transported by a forklift.

2. Anode Casting Equipment An embodiment of the anode casting equipment of the present invention for manufacturing the above-mentioned anodes will be described with reference to the drawings. The anode casting equipment is, for example, a so-called twin-wheel type anode casting equipment in which two disk-shaped turntables 1 are arranged in line symmetry, as shown in Fig. 2, and a plurality of anode molds (hereinafter also simply referred to as molds) 2 are mounted on each turntable 1 at equal intervals in the circumferential direction. Note that Fig. 1 shows an example in which 18 molds 2 are provided on the turntable 1, but the number of anode molds is not limited to this.

By intermittently rotating each of the two turntables 1 in the direction of the white arrow, refined crude copper (also called molten copper or molten metal) that has been refined in a batch process in a previous refining furnace (not shown) is cast in fixed amounts into multiple molds 2 through the trough 3. The molds 2 into which the molten copper has been cast are cooled by spraying cooling water from below in the cooling device 4, and the molten copper cools and solidifies. The anodes A that have been cast by cooling and solidifying in the cooling device 4 have their ears pushed up from the mold 2 by a roughly cylindrical push-up pin that appears roughly in the center of the bottom surface of the mold 2. The anodes A whose ears have been pushed up in this manner are stripped from the mold 2 by the stripping machine 5.

4(a), the stripping machine 5 is composed of a pair of arms 51, a round bar-shaped tip connection part 52 having both ends connected to the tip parts of the pair of arms 51, a rear end connection part 53 having both ends connected to the rear ends of the pair of arms 51 opposite to the tip parts connected to the tip connection parts 52 and serving as a counterweight, and a pair of support legs 54 rotatably supporting the rear ends of the pair of arms 51. A pair of hooks 55 for suspending the anode A by hooking both ears A _L and A _R are attached to the tip connection part 52 in a swingable manner.

By using the stripping machine 5 having the above structure, as shown in Fig. 4(b), the anode A, which has been stripped from the mold 2 by hooking both ears A _L and A _R with a pair of hooks 55, is loaded into the cooling tank 6 with its molten metal surface side A ₁ facing the turntable 1 by rotating the pair of arms 51 around the support parts of the pair of support legs 54 in a clockwise direction on the drawing. As shown in Fig. 3, the cooling tank 6 is provided with a conveying means 61, preferably consisting of a pair of chain conveyors, for moving the loaded anode A from one end to the other end in the longitudinal direction of the cooling tank 6, and a motor 62 for driving the conveying means 61. As a result, the anode A loaded into the cooling tank 6 is cooled by being immersed in the cooling water filled in the cooling tank 6 while being moved from one end to the other end in the cooling tank 6 by the conveying means 61.

The anode A cooled by the cooling water in the cooling tank 6 in the above manner reaches the other end of the cooling tank 6. On the opposite side of the cooling tank 6 from the peeling machine 5, a transfer machine 7 is provided. As shown in FIG. 6, the transfer machine 7 is composed of a columnar base 71 standing upright from the floor surface, a columnar lifting section 72 that rises and falls from the upper end surface of the base 71, a rotating section 73 that is rotatably provided at the upper end of the lifting section 72, a pair of arms 74 that are provided to protrude horizontally from both opposite sides of the rotating section 73, and a pair of claws 75 that are slidably provided at the tip portions of each of the pair of arms 74.

By using the transfer machine 7 having the above structure, the anodes A group that have reached the other end side in the cooling tank 6 are lifted up from the cooling tank 6 in a predetermined number at a time with both ears A _L and A _R hooked by a pair of claws 75, then rotated, for example, 180 degrees around the central axis O extending in the vertical direction by the rotating part 73, and lowered by the lifting part 72 as it is, so that both ears A _L and A _R are supported from below by the suspension means 8 consisting of a pair of support plates. The anodes A group are held in a suspended state by the suspension means 8 until transported by a forklift. By the 180-degree rotation by the rotating part 73, the anodes A group are oriented in a direction opposite to the direction in which the molten metal surface side A ₁ faces the turntable 1.

The camera 9 is provided at a position facing the molten metal surface side _A1 of the anode A group after the anodes A are rotated 180 degrees by the rotating part 73. This makes it possible to photograph the molten metal surface side _A1 of the anode A that is last peeled off by the peeling machine 5 among the anodes A group transferred by the transfer machine 7 in predetermined numbers. By analyzing the image photographed by this camera 9, it is possible to easily determine whether or not the anode A has blistered.

In the anode casting equipment according to the embodiment of the present invention described above, the anode A is loaded into the cooling tank 6 by the stripping machine 5 so that the surface opposite to the molten metal surface side _A1 faces the traveling direction in the cooling tank ₆ , but the present invention is not limited to this, and the stripping machine may rotate the anode A stripped from the mold 2 by 180 degrees around an axis extending in the vertical direction, and then load the anode A into the cooling tank 6 so that the molten metal surface side A1 faces the traveling direction in the cooling tank 6. In this case, among the group of anodes A transferred by the transfer machine 7 in a predetermined number of sheets at a time, it is possible to photograph the molten metal surface side _A1 of the anode A that is first stripped by the stripping machine 5.

In addition, downstream of the stripper 5 in terms of the rotation direction on the turntable 1, a release agent sprayer 10 is provided that sprays a slurry release agent onto the inner surface of the mold 2 so that the anode A to be cast next from the mold 2 stripped by the stripper 5 can be easily stripped off. Furthermore, upstream of the stripper 5 in terms of the rotation direction on the turntable 1, a defective anode stripper 11, preferably having a similar structure to the stripper 5, that strips off defective anodes that do not meet the specifications, and a defective anode holding means 12 that temporarily holds the defective anodes stripped by the defective anode stripper 11 are provided.

In the anode casting equipment according to the embodiment of the present invention described above, it is preferable that the number of molds 2 placed on the turntable 1 is different from the number of anode A groups pushed up collectively by the push-up means 63 in the cooling tank 6. The reason for this is that if the number of molds 2 placed on the turntable 1 is the same as the number of anode A groups pushed up collectively by the push-up means 63, the photographing with the camera 9 will always photograph anodes cast with the same mold 2, so that swelling cannot be detected when it occurs in other molds 2. On the other hand, if the number of anodes A pushed up collectively by the push-up means 63 is, for example, three more than the number of molds 2 placed on the turntable 1, the anodes A photographed by the camera 9 will be anodes A cast with molds 2 shifted by three in the circumferential direction of the turntable 1, so that the problem of photographing anodes cast with the same mold 2 every time can be avoided, as described above.

The difference between the number of molds 2 placed on the turntable 1 and the number of anodes A pushed up together by the push-up means 63 is preferably 1 or 2. In other words, if the difference between the number of molds 2 placed on the turntable 1 and the number of anodes A pushed up together is 1, the anodes A photographed by the camera 9 can be photographed in sequence for all the molds 2 placed on the turntable 1, the anodes A cast with the molds 2 placed in positions shifted one by one in the circumferential direction each time the turntable 1 makes one revolution, so that it is possible to inspect the anodes A cast with all the molds 2 for swelling.

On the other hand, if the difference between the number of placements and the number of simultaneous push-ups is 2, then when there is an odd number of molds 2 placed on the turntable 1, the anodes A photographed by the camera 9 will be photographed in sequence for the anodes A cast using the molds 2 placed at positions shifted by two in the circumferential direction each time the turntable 1 makes one revolution. Therefore, in this case too, it is possible to photograph the anodes A cast using all of the molds 2 placed on the turntable 1 in sequence.

In contrast, if the difference between the number of mountings and the number of collective push-ups is 2 and the number of molds 2 mounted on the turntable 1 is an even number, it will not be possible to photograph the anodes A cast in the circumferential direction for every other mold 2 mounted on the turntable 1. In this case, after photographing the anodes A cast using half of all the molds 2 mounted on the turntable 1, the defective anode stripper 11 located upstream of the stripper 5 can be operated to remove only one anode A. This allows the anodes A cast using the remaining half of the molds 2 to be photographed, and as a result, the anodes A cast using all of the molds 2 can be photographed.

If the number of molds 2 placed on the turntable 1 is a prime number such as 7, 11, 13, 17, or 19, the number of anodes A pushed up together by the push-up means 63 can be set to any number other than an integer multiple of the number of molds 2 on the turntable 1, and all molds 2 can be inspected for bulging of the anodes A cast with those molds without operating the defective anode stripper 11. On the other hand, if the number of molds 2 placed on the turntable is not a prime number, the number of anodes A pushed up together by the push-up means 63 can be set to a number that is one different from the number of molds 2 on the turntable 1, or to a prime number, and all molds 2 can be inspected for bulging of the anodes A cast with those molds without operating the defective anode stripper 11, as described above.

In the anode casting equipment according to the embodiment of the present invention described above, the anodes A pushed up together by the push-up means 63 in the cooling tank 6 are rotated 180 degrees using the transfer machine 7, photographed by the camera 9, and suspended on the suspension means 8. However, this is not limited to this, and any rotation angle within the range of 90 degrees to 270 degrees can be adopted. In addition, the rotation angle during photographing by the camera 9 and the rotation angle of suspension on the suspension means 8 may be different from each other. For example, the anodes A pushed up by the push-up means 63 may first be rotated 90 degrees using the transfer machine 7 and photographed by the camera 9, and then rotated another 90 degrees and suspended on the suspension means 8. Generally, various equipment is often provided around the turntable 1 in addition to the equipment shown in FIG. 1. Therefore, if the position of the camera 9 and the position of the suspension means 8 can be rotated at any angle within the range of 90 degrees to 270 degrees as described above, the freedom of layout of the equipment is increased, which is preferable.

3. Anode Manufacturing Method Next, an embodiment of the anode manufacturing method for copper smelting according to the present invention will be described. The anode manufacturing method according to the embodiment of the present invention includes the steps of: casting refined crude copper as a molten material discharged from a refining furnace through a trough portion 3 into a plurality of molds 2 mounted at equal intervals in the circumferential direction on a turntable 1 made of a rotatable disk as described above; cooling the molds 2 into which the molten material has been cast by spraying cooling water from below in a cooling device 4; hooking both ear portions A _L and A _R of each of the anodes A cast in the molds 2 with hooks of the stripping machine 5 by cooperation of a substantially cylindrical push-up pin protruding from and retracting from the bottom surface of the molds 2, thereby successively stripping the anodes A from the molds 2; and transporting the stripped anodes _A from the molds 2 with a pair of conveying means 61 such as a chain conveyor provided in a cooling tank 6 while the molten surface side A ₁ of each of the anodes A is facing the turntable 1. The anodes _A are supported by the transport means 61 and transported from one end of the cooling tank 6 in the longitudinal direction to the other end while being immersed in the cooling water in the cooling tank 6 to cool them; the anodes A reach the other end of the cooling tank 6 by the transport means 61, and the anodes A pushed up in groups of a predetermined number are lifted by the transfer machine 7 and transferred to the suspension means 8 by rotating them around a rotation axis extending vertically.

In an embodiment of the anode manufacturing method of the present invention, during transfer by the transfer machine 7, the molten metal surface side _A1 of the anode A lastly peeled off by the peeling machine 5 among the predetermined number of anodes A is photographed by the photographing machine 9, and the image is analyzed to inspect the presence or absence of a substantially circular convex "bulge" in plan view on the molten metal surface side _A1 of the photographed anode A. There are no particular limitations on the method of this image analysis as long as it can accurately inspect the presence or absence of the "bulge", and it can be appropriately selected from object detection models for image analysis such as YOLO (You Only Look Once), CNN (Convolutional Neural Network), SSD (Single Shot MultiBox Detector), etc.

If the above inspection determines that there is a bulge, the mold 2 in which the bulged anode was cast is inspected for any problems, or the amount of cooling water sprayed from below the mold 2 in the cooling device 4 is reduced, or adjustments are made to lower the cooling capacity, such as by raising the temperature of the cooling water. This makes it possible to raise the temperature of the mold 2, thereby preventing the problem of bulging on the molten metal surface side _A1 of the anode A, which occurs when the temperature of the mold 2 drops too low.

As described above, by manufacturing an anode using the anode manufacturing method according to an embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to easily and accurately detect any "blisters" that have occurred on the molten metal surface side _A1 of the anode A, and therefore it is possible to manufacture a high-quality anode with little "blisters." Next, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to examples.

The anodes were manufactured using an anode casting facility as shown in Figure 2. This anode manufacturing facility consists of two turntables 1 on which 18 molds 2 for casting anodes are placed. Each turntable 1 is provided with a cooling device 4 that sprays cooling water from above and below the mold into which the molten metal has been cast. The anodes A cast by cooling in the cooling device 4 are stripped from the mold 2 by a stripping machine 5. The anodes A stripped by the stripping machine 5 are cooled by immersion in cooling water in a cooling tank 6, and are transported from one end of the cooling tank 6 to the other end in the longitudinal direction by a chain conveyor.

The anodes A that reached the other end of the cooling tank 6 were pushed up by the push-up means 63 provided in the cooling tank 6, 16 at a time. The group of 16 anodes A pushed up collectively in this way was rotated 180 degrees around the rotation axis extending vertically of the transfer machine 7 while being lifted by the transfer machine 7, and transferred to the suspension means 8. After this 180-degree rotation, the molten metal surface side _A1 of the anode A that was last stripped off by the stripping machine 5 among the group of 16 anodes A was photographed by the camera 9. After photographing the nine anodes A, the defective anode stripping machine 11 was operated to remove only one anode A from the mold. The above operations were repeated to produce anodes A from two batches of refined blister copper.

The image of the molten metal surface side _A1 of the anode A taken by the camera 9 was analyzed using the object detection model YOLO, and if it was determined that the number of approximately circular “bulges” in the image had increased, the cooling water supply valve was closed to reduce the amount of cooling water sprayed from below the mold 2 in the cooling device 4, in order to slightly raise the temperature of the mold 2.

For comparison, the anode A was manufactured without detecting "bulges" on the molten metal surface side _A1 of the anode A by the camera 9. In other words, the anode A was manufactured in the same manner as in the example, except that the operation of adjusting the amount of cooling water sprayed from below the mold 2 in the cooling device 4 according to the number of "bulges" was not performed.

As a result, in the embodiment, the number of "blisters" occurring on the molten metal surface side _A1 of the anode A could be reduced to about half compared to the comparative example. Specifically, in the embodiment, the amount of cooling water sprayed from below the mold ₂ in the cooling device 4 was adjusted based on the detection results of "blisters" occurring on the molten metal surface side _A1 of the anode A, so that the number of "blisters" occurring on the molten metal surface side A1 of the anode A could be reduced to 52/100 compared to the comparative example.

A Anode 1 Turntable 2 Mold 3 Gutter 4 Cooling device 5 Stripping machine 6 Cooling tank 7 Transfer machine 8 Suspension means 9 Camera 10 Release agent spreader 11 Defective anode stripping machine 12 Defective anode holding means 51 Arm 52 Front end connection part 53 Rear end connection part 54 Support leg 55 Hook 61 Transport means 62 Motor 71 Base 72 Lifting part 73 Rotating part 74 Arm 75 Claw part

Claims (6)

1. An anode casting facility for copper smelting comprising: a turntable made of a rotatable disk-shaped base on which a plurality of molds for casting anodes are mounted at equal intervals in the circumferential direction; a cooling device that sprays cooling water onto the molds during anode casting to cool them; a stripping machine that sequentially strips off anode groups cast in the plurality of molds; a cooling tank in which the anode groups stripped off by the stripping machine are sequentially immersed in cooling water to cool them; and a transfer machine that hoists a predetermined number of anode groups cooled in the cooling tank and transfers them to a suspension means,
the anode casting facility is characterized in that it is provided with a camera for photographing the molten metal surface side of the anode that is the first or last to be stripped by the stripping machine out of the group of the specified number of anodes that are lifted during the transfer. The anode casting equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that the number of molds placed on the turntable is different from the predetermined number. The anode casting equipment according to claim 2, characterized in that the different number is 1 or 2. The anode casting equipment according to claim 3, characterized in that the cooling tank has a transport means for transporting the anode group that is sequentially loaded from one end to the other end in the longitudinal direction of the tank, and a push-up means for pushing up the anodes transported to the other end side by the predetermined number at a time. The anode casting equipment according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the transfer machine rotates the predetermined number of lifted anodes during the transfer by 90 degrees or more and 270 degrees or less around a central axis extending in the vertical direction. A method for manufacturing anodes in copper smelting, comprising the steps of: casting a molten material into a plurality of molds for casting anodes, the molds being mounted at equal intervals in the circumferential direction on a turntable comprising a rotatable disk-shaped base; spraying cooling water onto the molds into which the molten material has been cast to cool them; sequentially peeling off groups of anodes cast in the molds; sequentially immersing the peeled off groups of anodes in cooling water to cool them; and lifting a predetermined number of the cooled anode groups and transferring them to a suspension means,
The method for manufacturing an anode comprises photographing the molten metal surface side of the anode that is the first or last to be peeled off from the group of the predetermined number of anodes that are lifted during the transfer, and adjusting the conditions for spraying the cooling water based on whether or not a substantially circular bulge is present in the image obtained.

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