Refurbishment and reconstruction of the T4 foundry melting furnace

The company I work for has been producing aluminium and remelting aluminium scrap for decades. I, therefore, wanted to find a suitable topic or project where the approach and the organisation of work could be renewed, and where this could be properly described and presented.

As the work plan foresees various overhauls and refurbishments of the melting furnaces, I decided to present the refurbishment of the melting furnace in my diploma thesis.

After researching all the furnaces in the company, I decided to present the refurbishment of the T4 melting furnace, as it was planned to replace both floors, including the replacement of the material in the working layer of the main chamber and the chamotte lining with concrete fields with refractory concrete.

As part of my thesis, I wanted to demonstrate that a correct approach to the organisation of the work can lead to a faster and more cost-effective execution of the work or overhaul and that the new design of the working layer is more favourable and easier to maintain in subsequent overhauls.

I undertook my thesis work by obtaining the necessary material for the melting furnace and the materials incorporated in it. I also had information on how the working layer of the main chamber has been carried out so far.

I have described the process of making the working layer in the main chamber with firebrick and the process of making the working layer with concrete fields and listed the advantages and disadvantages.

I have calculated the material and labour costs for the construction of the main chamber working layer with fireclay bricks and for the construction with concrete fields. I have tabulated, compared and analysed these costs.

I have also made calculations for the number of contacts for the construction of the chamber with firebrick and for the execution of the working layer with concrete fields made of refractory concrete. Once the calculations were completed, I compared and justified the two designs in a table.

For the concrete fields, the concrete mix was cooled prior to installation to facilitate the installation.

As I wanted to investigate whether the cooling had a direct effect on the compressive strength and not only on the ease of concrete placement, I made concrete cubes (samples) during the overhaul, which I later tested for compressive strength using a hydraulic press. I then entered the data into a table and analysed it.

I also set about creating two work organisations, one for a single-shift and one for a double-shift working day. I did this by using Excel to prepare a table for each organisation, showing how many workers and how much time was needed for a particular job and the entire overhaul.

For each day, I wrote down the planned volume of work. I compared the two working days and decided on the correct organisation of the work according to the criteria available.