Numerical simulation of busbar configuration in large aluminum electrolysis cell

Abstract

Various busbar configurations were built and modeled by the custom code based on the commercial package ANSYS for the 500 kA aluminum electrolysis cell. The configuration parameters, such as side riser entry ratio, number of cathode bars connected to each riser, vertical location of side cathode busbar and short side cathode busbar, distance between rows of cells in potline, the number of neighboring cells, ratio of compensation busbar carried passing under cell and its horizontal location under cell along with large magnetohydrodynamic(MHD) computation based on the custom evaluation function were simulated and discussed. The results show that a cell with riser entry y ratio of 11:9:8:9:11 and cathode busbar located at the level of aluminum solution, 50% upstream cathode current passing under cell for magnetic field compensation, the distance between rows of 50 m is more stable.

Keywords

numerical simulation / aluminum electrolysis cell / busbar configuration / magnetohydrodynamic