Case study

Balco Fuse Technology

Aluminium is produced through electrolysis process. In Balco, all the pots in the pot line are connected in a series and 320 KA current is passed through each pot using risers and shorted joints, to produce aluminium metal. To put pots online, insulation plates are inserted at the shorted joints of the riser to avoid any bypass of current to the next pot. So, to take any pot into line, the power of whole pot line was to be switched off to 0 KA for about 6 to 10 minutes which led to disturbance to operating pots, production losses and increased PFC (per-fluro carbon) emissions.

To tackle this operational issue, BALCO invented a fuse, with which 320 KA current could be bypassed to the next pot through the fuse, instead of the shorted joint for about ten minutes. As the fuse operation depends on the self-generation of heat under conditions of excessive current by means of the fuse’s own electrical resistance, it is designed to withstand ten minutes of the shortened riser current safely. During this period the pot was brought into the circuit by inserting insulation plates between the shorted joints and after ten minutes the fuse melts and the pot is put on power. So by using the fuse technology, pots could be powered on at 320 KA without reducing the power to 0 KA.

Balco has won the Ideas UK Technology Trophy, 2008 and Special prize for “Production Technics” in the European Aluminium Award for the “Balco Fuse Technology”.