Electrical current measurement and rapidly locating and positively identifying cathodes having abnormal electrical conditions associated therewith in an electrolytic copper refining process tankhouse

Abstract

Abstract Cathodes having abnormal electrical conditions associated therewith in an electrolytic copper refinery tankhouse are rapidly and positively identified to enable the early remedying of the abnormal condition or conditions, for instance short circuited cathodes or poor contacts, by closing the normallyopen, cathode bar receptive, pivotally mounted, automatically closeable and automatically openable jaws of a sensing head of an electrical current measuring instrument, or of the sensing heads of a plurality of current measuring instrument units depending from a common supporting means of a current measuring apparatus, about one or more of a plurality of spaced apart cathode bars in the tankhouse and from which the cathodes are suspended and immersed in the electrolyte. The sensing head jaws are closed about the cathode bars by lowering the instrument or apparatus whereby shoes of the instrument''s operating mechanism are forcefully applied against the cathode bar or bars due to the weight of instrument or apparatus parts, thereby automatically closing the jaws of the sensing head or heads to substantially encompass the cathode bar or bars. The current passing through each cathode bar is measured by utilizing the magnetic field created by the current passing through the cathode bar to induce a measurable e.m.f. and a measurable electrical current in conductive coils on non-magnetic cores of the sensing head jaws in a preferred embodiment. The current measurement value for the cathode bar or each of the cathode bars is compared with a predetermined desired current measurement value for its suspended cathode thereby positively identifying any cathode or cathodes having an abnormal electrical condition or conditions associated therewith.

Inventors

• 👤 F Shaw

Bibliographic Details