In the iron and steel smelting industry, the generation and removal of steel slag have always been key links affecting production efficiency, equipment safety, and environmental quality. As a core equipment specifically designed for steel slag removal inside steelmaking furnaces, the slag cleaner, with its strong operation capability and precise operating performance, has become an indispensable "steel scavenger" on the iron and steel production line. It provides an important solution for iron and steel enterprises to handle the problem of steel slag efficiently and safely.

The slag cleaner is a heavy-duty specialized equipment that integrates machinery, hydraulics, and electrical control. It is mainly used for in-furnace maintenance operations of steelmaking equipment such as converters and electric furnaces, and one of its core functions is steel slag removal. During the steelmaking process, the reaction between molten steel and furnace lining materials as well as the separation of impurities will produce a large amount of steel slag. This steel slag has an extremely high temperature (up to more than 1500℃) and hard texture. If not removed in a timely manner, it will not only occupy the effective space inside the furnace and affect the smelting capacity of the next batch of steel, but also may adhere to the surface of the furnace lining, shortening the service life of the furnace lining and even causing potential safety hazards such as furnace body damage. The slag cleaner is designed to solve this pain point. It can go deep into the high-temperature furnace, crush, peel off, and remove the steel slag through a special working device, ensuring that the steelmaking furnace always maintains a good operating state.

The reason why the slag cleaner can efficiently remove steel slag lies in its scientific structural design and precise operation logic. The specific process can be divided into three core links:

Steel slag becomes extremely hard after cooling, making direct removal very difficult. The front end of the slag cleaner is equipped with a high-strength crushing hammer or bucket. The hammer is made of wear-resistant alloy material, which can withstand high temperatures and severe impacts. During operation, the slag cleaner drives the hammer to rotate at high speed through the hydraulic system, repeatedly impacting and squeezing the large pieces of steel slag inside the furnace to crush them into small pieces, creating conditions for subsequent removal.

Some steel slag will adhere tightly to the surface of the furnace lining, forming hard-to-remove "nodules". The slag cleaner, through its adjustable working arm and rotating mechanism, can accurately align the crushing hammer or bucket with the adhering steel slag, and apply continuous force using hydraulic thrust to peel the steel slag off the surface of the furnace lining. At the same time, some slag cleaners are also equipped with a "side-turning" function. By adjusting the angle of the working device, they can thoroughly remove the steel slag in hidden positions such as the corners and edges of the furnace lining, preventing residual steel slag from affecting the thermal conductivity and service life of the furnace lining.

After crushing and peeling, the steel slag will accumulate at the bottom of the furnace. The slag cleaner collects the small pieces of steel slag with a bucket, and then transfers the steel slag to the slag pot or conveyor belt outside the furnace by virtue of the lifting and rotating actions of the working arm, completing the entire steel slag removal process. Some advanced slag cleaners are also equipped with an automatic control system, which can observe the internal situation of the furnace in real time through cameras and adjust the operation force and angle based on sensor data, realizing the precision and high efficiency of steel slag removal.

Compared with the traditional manual removal or simple mechanical removal methods, the slag cleaner demonstrates three core advantages in steel slag treatment:

Traditional manual steel slag removal requires workers to operate inside the furnace. Due to the limitations of high temperature and space, the removal efficiency is extremely low. The steel slag removal of a medium-sized converter often takes several hours or even longer. However, relying on mechanical operation, the slag cleaner can remove dozens of tons of steel slag per hour, shortening the steel slag removal time of a single furnace to 1-2 hours. This greatly reduces the downtime of steelmaking equipment, ensures the continuity of iron and steel production, and creates conditions for enterprises to increase production capacity.

The working environment of steel slag removal is harsh, with extremely high risks such as high temperature, dust, and splashing steel slag. When removing steel slag manually, workers face potential safety hazards such as scalding and being hit. The slag cleaner adopts a remote control or automatic operation mode. Operators can perform operations in a control room or a safe area far away from the high-temperature furnace body, without direct contact with the dangerous environment. This fundamentally avoids the safety risks to personnel and also reduces the impact of dust on the health of operators.

With the continuous improvement of the iron and steel industry's requirements for production efficiency, safety management, and environmental protection, the importance of steel slag removal has become increasingly prominent. As a specialized equipment in the field of steel slag removal, the slag cleaner not only solves the pain points of low efficiency and high risk of traditional removal methods, but also provides strong support for iron and steel enterprises to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and achieve green development through its efficient, safe, and environmentally friendly operation mode. In the future, with the continuous integration of intelligent and automated technologies, the slag cleaner will be further upgraded in terms of steel slag removal precision, operation efficiency, and environmental performance, and become an important equipment force promoting the high-quality development of the iron and steel industry.