An anode for use in an electrolysis process for production of aluminium in cells of hall-héroult type, and a method for making same

Abstract

An anode for use in an electrolysis process for production of aluminium in cells of Hail-Héroult type, the anode comprises a body or block ( 120; 20 ) of calcinated carbonaceous material connected with an electrical current lead, where said current lead being connected with an anode rod ( 103; 3 ) and further being part of an anode hanger ( 101; 1 ). The current lead comprises at least one metallic suspension plate(s) ( 104; 4. 4 ′) with vertically oriented redding plates ( 105 105′″,5, 5 ′) at least partly embedded by their lower partly in corresponding recesses ( 113, 113″″, 13. 13′; 100, 100 ′) in the top of the carbonaceous block ( 120; 20 } and further connected by mechanical fixation means ( 108; 8; 14, 16 ). Said recesses are wider than the rodding plates and being filled with an electric conductive particulate material only. It Is also described a method for processing an undercut recess ( 10 ) in the an ode top for mechanically fixing the anode block ( 20 ) to a protrusion ( 8 ) on the current lead.

1 . An anode for use in an electrolysis process for production of aluminium in cells of Hall-Héroult type, the anode comprises a body or block ( 120 ;  20 ) of calcinated carbonaceous material connected with an electrical current lead, where said current lead being connected with an anode rod ( 3 ) and further being part of an anode hanger ( 101 ;  1 ), wherein the current lead is embedded in a recess in top of said carbonaceous block ( 120 ;  20 ), the recess being wider than the lead and being filled with an electric conductive particulate material only, and further that the current lead and the block of calcinated carbonaceous material are connected by mechanical fixation means,
 characterised in that 
 the current lead comprises at least one metallic suspension plate(s) ( 104 ;  4 ,  4 ′) of a metallic material and having at least two rodding plates ( 105 ,  105 ″″;  5 ,  5 ′) at least partly embedded by their lower parts in corresponding recesses ( 113 ,  113 ″″;  13 ,  13 ′) in the top of the carbonaceous block ( 120 ;  20 ), where the suspension plate(s) ( 104 ;  4 ,  4 ′) is electrically connected with the anode rod ( 103 ;  3 ) at its upper part(s). 
 
     
     
         2 . An anode in accordance with  claim 1 ,
 characterised in that   the suspension plate(s) ( 104 ;  4 ,  4 ′) is connected with the anode rod ( 103 ;  3 ) via one or more connecting members ( 106 ,  106 ′;  6 ,  6 ′).   
     
     
         3 . An anode in accordance with  claim 2 ,
 characterised in that   at least one of the connecting members ( 106 ,  106 ″;  6 ,  6 ′) is a tri-metallic connection and of a triangular shape with one part connecting a vertical surface of the anode rod ( 103 ;  3 ) and one other part connecting an upper part of the suspension plate(s) ( 104 ;  4 ,  4 ′).   
     
     
         4 . An anode in accordance with  claim 1 ,
 characterised in that   the suspension plate(s) ( 104 ;  4 ,  4 ′) is made of a composite or clad material, where at least the upper part(s) of the yoke plate(s) have relatively better electrical conductivity than the lower part(s).   
     
     
         5 . An anode in accordance with  claim 1 ,
 characterised in that   there is one horizontally oriented suspension plate ( 104 ) having two or more vertically oriented rodding plates ( 105 ,  105 ″″) at its lower surface.   
     
     
         6 . An anode in accordance with  claim 1 ,
 characterised in that   the suspension plate ( 104 ) is connected to the anode rod ( 103 ) via one spacer ( 144 ).   
     
     
         7 . An anode in accordance with  claim 1 ,
 characterised in that   there are at least two vertically oriented suspension plates ( 4 ,  4 ′) that are connected with rodding plates ( 5 ,  5 ′) at their lower ends respectively.   
     
     
         8 . An anode in accordance with  claim 1 ,
 characterised in that   the electric conductive particulate material comprises particles that have a spherical form.   
     
     
         9 . An anode in accordance with  claim 1 ,
 characterised in that   the electric conductive particulate material comprises particles that have an oval or elliptic form.   
     
     
         10 . An anode in accordance with  claim 1 ,
 characterised in that   the electric conductive particulate material comprises magnetic particles.   
     
     
         11 . An anode in accordance with  claim 1 ,
 characterised in that   the electric conductive particulate material comprises particles made out of iron or an iron alloy.   
     
     
         12 . An anode in accordance with  claim 1 ,
 characterised in that   the electric conductive particulate material comprises particles that are made out of steel or a steel alloy.   
     
     
         13 . An anode in accordance with  claim 1 ,
 characterised in that   the anode block is secured to the current lead by means of a spike, bolt or the like interconnecting the rodding plates ( 105 ,  105 ″″;  5 ,  5 ′) with the anode block ( 120 ;  20 ).   
     
     
         14 . An anode in accordance with  claim 1 ,
 characterised in that   the anode block is secured to the current lead by protruding fixation means ( 108 ,  108 ′,  108 ″,  108 ′″;  8 ,  8 ′,  8 ″,  8 ′″ on the rodding plates  105 ′,  105 ″″;  5 ,  5 ′) and undercut recesses ( 110 ,  100 ′,  110 ″,  110 ′″;  10 ,  10 ′,  10 ″,  10 ′″) arranged in the anode ( 120 ;  20 ).   
     
     
         15 . An anode in accordance with  claim 1 ,
 characterised in that   the material in the upper part of the suspension plate(s) ( 104 ;  4 ,  4 ′) comprises copper (Cu).   
     
     
         16 . An anode in accordance with  claim 1 ,
 characterised in that   the metallic material of the suspension plate(s) ( 104 ;  4 ,  4 ′) is steel.   
     
     
         17 . An anode in accordance with  claim 1 ,
 characterised in that   the metallic material of the rodding plate(s) ( 105 ;  5 ,  5 ′) is steel.   
     
     
         18 . A method for making an anode for use in an electrolysis process for production of aluminium in cells of Hall-Héroult type, the anode comprises a body or block ( 20 ) of calcinated carbonaceous material connected with a plate-shaped electrical current lead, where said current lead being electrically connected with an anode rod ( 3 ) at one end and further being embedded in a recess ( 13 ) in top of said carbonaceous block ( 20 ) at the other end, the recess being wider than the lead and being filled with an electric conductive particulate material only, where the anode block is mechanically secured to the current lead by protruding fixation means ( 8 ″) arranged on the current lead and further corresponding with an undercut recess ( 10 ″) arranged in the anode block,
 characterised in that 
 the recess ( 13 ) is made by processing an elongated slot or groove in the top of the anode block ( 20 ), then a bore ( 11 ) is made at an appropriate place of the recess ( 13 ) by applying a rotating processing tool, the bore being wider than the recess ( 13 ) and thereby defining a point of entrance of the protruding fixation means ( 8 ), followed by processing an undercut recess ( 10 ) with flanges ( 12 ,  12 ′) in the recess ( 13 ) by moving a processing tool along said recess ( 13 ) inside the anode block ( 20 ). 
 
     
     
         19 . A method according to  claim 18 ,
 characterised in that   the rotating processing tool is arranged for processing the bore ( 11 ) and the undercut recess ( 10 ) in the calcinated carbon material by first axial processing followed by radial processing.