Patent ID: 6973116

Claim:
A method for equalizing the pressures in a melting chamber and in the cooling water system for an ingot mold/induction coil circuit of a special melting unit, comprising: comparing a pressure of cooling water to a pressure of process gas in a melting chamber of the unit, wherein a pressure difference is maintained in a range from 0 to +/−0.5 bar; feeding a process gas from the melting chamber of the unit first into an intermediate vessel containing hydraulic liquid, and only then supplying said hydraulic liquid to one of two chambers of a piston-type accumulator, whereby, corresponding to a pressure drop or pressure rise in one of the process gas or cooling water, counteraction is provided by adjusting at least one of the pressure of the process gas or the flow of cooling water, and determining the direction of the countereffect for a pressure drop or pressure rise by the magnitude and rate of one of a pressure drops or a pressure rise to equalize the pressures in the melting chamber and in the cooling system.