Patent ID: 7476276

Claim:
Device for hot dip coating a metal strand ( 1 ), said device comprising: a coating tank ( 3 ) that contains the molten coating metal ( 2 ) and a guide channel ( 4 ), wherein the guide channel ( 4 ) is arranged upstream, relative to the direction of travel of a metal strand ( 1 ), of the coating tank ( 3 ) such that the strand ( 1 ) is passed vertically through the guide channel ( 4 ) and then through the coating tank ( 3 ), and wherein the guide channel ( 4 ) is comprised of at least two inductors ( 5 ) for inducing an electromagnetic field, which are installed on both sides of the metal strand ( 1 ) in the area of the guide channel ( 4 ) in order to keep the coating metal ( 2 ) in the coating tank ( 3 ), wherein distance (d) between the walls ( 6 ) that bound the guide channel ( 4 ) is not constant in the direction (N) normal to the surface of the metal strand ( 1 ) in the region (H) of the vertical extent of the guide channel ( 4 ) between the lower end ( 7 ) of the guide channel ( 4 ) and the bottom ( 8 ) of the coating tank ( 3 ), such that the walls ( 6 ) that bound the guide channel ( 4 ) have a constriction ( 10 ) or an expansion ( 11 ), wherein at least one flow deflection element for reducing turbulence of the coating metal ( 2 ) therein is arranged in the guide channel ( 4 ).