Safe Flow LLC
Safe Flow LLC: Protecting Steelmaking Melt Shops
Safe Flow LLC provides a specialized process piping skid to Primary and Secondary Steelmaking Melt Shops. Our solution safely removes cooling water from the furnace cooling chambers in the event of a leak, preventing water penetration into the furnace and preventing the corresponding accidents, injuries, death, and mill downtime. Our system works on EAFs, LMFs, VTDs, AODs, and BOFs, as well as any other furnace where leaks can be a hazard and the leaks are above the molten metal.
How it works:
Step One: A leak is detected in your furnace
Safe Flow LLC is not an automatic leak detection system, although it works hand in hand with any automatic leak detection system on the market today.
Step Two: Emergency Water Stop is activated
In most furnaces today, stopping the water flow to the vessel is the extent that damage is attempted to be mitigated during the event of a leak. With Safe Flow, as the E-stop valve is closing, an air-actuated valve on the Safe Flow skid is opened, diverting the cooling water from the vessel through the skid. Simultaneously, a second valve closes off the return water downstream from the furnace, and an air-actuated valve is opened on the suction line of the Safe Flow skid.
Step Three: Pressure Reversal and water removal
Within seconds, the diverted cooling water is used to create suction on the standing water in the vessel, reversing the pressure from positive to negative and suction begins. the leak stops and the water is removed from the compromised circuit. Any additional head pressure is also removed, preventing its drainage into the hot metal.
Advantages of the Safe Flow system
Safety:
Over the last 20 years, furnace explosions have been the 5th leading cause of fatalities. That ranking does not account for injuries, non-recordable events, and near misses. By preventing the water from entering the melting area and making contact with the liquid steel, the chance of an explosion is drastically reduced. Burns are the 3rd leading cause of fatalities in steel plants as well.
Saving Downtime:
All water leaks result in unplanned downtime. By significantly reducing the amount of water that leaks into the furnace, your plant will return to running in a fraction of the time traditionally lost to a water leak. This results in tremendous savings for your plant.
Easy installation:
Valves can typically be installed on a normal down day. After the valve installation, all piping and the skid itself can be installed while running, as long as the pipe and skid location allows the installation to be done safely.
Typical example of a 150T EAF
Shell Dia. - 24 feet
Upper Shell Height - 11 feet
GPM to Upper Shell - 4900
GPM to Roof and Elbow - 3400
Total GPM - 8300
Total Water-Cooled area - 1570 sq. ft.
Total Shell still water volume - 1200 gallons
Safe Flow Model SF1140 performance:
SF1140 suction velocity - 900 GPM
Time required to reverse pressure and stop drainage: 1-2 seconds
Time required to remove water from shell: 75 -90 seconds
Typical scenario of a panel leak
A leak develops in a sidewall panel. At 80-100 GPM per circuit, even hitting the E-stop at 30 seconds, 40-50 gallons of water enter the furnace. The head pressure from the water above the leak will then drain into the furnace. At this point, the furnace will sit for several hours until all the water evaporates, the furnace cools, and the panel can be changed. This can take around 20 hours of downtime. Additionally, the wet refractory will need repaired as well.
Cost of downtime
The biggest loss in downtime is the lost opportunity cost, which is between $25,000 and $75,000 per hour. Extrapolated over a typical 20 hours of downtime for a single event, the cost is $500,000 to $1,500,000 USD, depending on the size of the furnace and product produced. If Safe Flow can cut that down time in half, the skid has been paid for on the first event. This is without considering the extended downtime and damaged equipment that comes with an explosion.
These numbers also do not consider the savings in lives, injuries, and morale that are significantly more than just dollars and bonuses.
Our product is safety and less downtime
Contact Us
Better yet, let's meet!
We are happy to come look at your plant, and meet in person to discuss
Safe Flow LLC
33 Wind Swept Road, Burgettstown, Pennsylvania 15021, United States
(724) 579-9847
Open today | 09:00 am – 05:00 pm |
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