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Design of converter
From the metallurgical point of view an ideal converter keeps the liquid steel in space and allows all necessary metallurgical reactions to take place within the temperature range of  .
The mechanical part, which keeps the liquid steel in space, is steel shell lined with refractory material.
The inner volume enclosed by the refractory should be maximized so as to achieve an optimum metallurgical process without sloping of slag. A ratio of 3  (internal volume/ ton) is typical in converter design.
A modern LD-converter consists of a top cone with the lip ring a barrel section and a lower cone with a dished bottom. The nose diameter and angle are chosen with reference to problems of heat loss, erosion, skulling, and stability of nose lining.
The vessel is supported by a suspension system which transmits the load to the trunion ring.
Converter design requires knowing height of molten steel bath,  diameter of bath  working height of the converter, as shown in the figure 11.2
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| Figure 11.2 |
Nomenclature of the bath dimensions of a converter |
Some correlations are given below:
T is capacity in tons, and
 .
Where  is of oxygen.
For 150 ton converter capacity
   .
Total height of converter is 6.7 m excluding bottom refractory thickness.
Assuming bottom refractory thickness to be around 1 to 1.5 m, total converter height from conical to bottom becomes approximately  . |
