A Cupola is a type of furnace that is very much alike toblast furnace. The Cupola furnace is refractory lined, stack of steel that isaround 20 to 35 feet high. It rests on a base plate that is made of cast ironand has four legs. The casting that is obtained from the cupola furnace isknown as a cupola casting. Cupola Furnace:The Cupola furnace is one of the oldest forms of furnace that have beenused by the iron and metal foundries.

The Cupola furnace is the crudest and thesimplest furnace that has been used by the industries. However, the cupola’suse is declining and the furnace is fast being extinct. Merits of theCupola Furnace: Though the electric or the blast furnace has startedreplacing the Cupola Furnace, it has some special benefits of its own. TheCupola furnace can always remain continuously in action. The furnace alsooffers a very high melting rate. The China wholesale valve parts die casting most important merit of the furnace isthat it has relatively very low melting cost.

The furnace has also permits alot of ease of operation. However, due to the invention and development of theelectric furnace, the use of Cupola furnaces has substantially declined. Theelectric furnace melts a much larger amount of metal. The operation cost of theelectric furnace is also very low. The electric furnace also emits a muchsmaller level of smoke heat and also pollutants. Construction ofthe Cupola furnace: The Cupola furnace is constructed in a crude andsimple manner. The Cupola furnace is a vertical structure like a steel shell.The steel is lined with refractory bricks from the inside. The furnace has anopening half way in the vertical shaft. The charge is introduced through theopening. The charge is divided into different layers. It contains the metalthat is to be melted.

The metal is mixed with coke, fuel, and lime stone flux.The fuel is burnt directly into the air and is introduced in to the furnacethrough the tuyeres which are positioned above the hearth. The hot gases thathave been produced ascend and pre heat the charge. The cupolas in majority of the cases have drop down doors.The bottoms can be dropped down to facilitate the cleaning and the repairs. Atbottom in front of the furnace is a tap hole. The molten metal is removed fromthe tap hole. At the rear there is also another slag hole. The top of the stagis covered with a spark or fume arrester. Usually the cupola has a diameter of 405 to 2000 mm. It isoperated on varying fuels for different metal ratios. The molten metal that canbe produced in the copula of this size at a speed of 1 to 30 tones per hour. Continuity ofprocess: After the process of melting has ended, the charging is halted.However, the blast of hot air is always maintained till all the metal has beenmelted and has been taken out from the tap hole. When the air cools down, thedoors at the bottom are opened and the residue that has been left behind isremoved.

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