Patent ID: 7568681

Claim:
An apparatus for injecting gas into a metallurgical vessel for a metallurgical process, the apparatus comprising; a gas flow duct extending from a rear end to a forward end from which to discharge gas from the duct; an elongate central tubular structure extending within the gas flow duct from its rear end to its forward end with a forward end of the elongate central tubular structure disposed adjacent the forward end of the gas flow duct; a plurality of flow directing vanes disposed about the central tubular structure adjacent the forward end of the duct to impart swirl to a gas flow through the forward end of the duct, the forward end of the central structure and the forward end of the duct co-acting together to form an annular nozzle for flow of gas from the duct with swirl imparted by said vanes; and cooling water passages within the central tubular structure for flow of cooling water forwardly through the central structure from its rear end to its forward end to internally cool that forward end and to then return back through the central structure to its rear end, said cooling water passages comprising a first water flow passage for flow of water to the forward end of the central structure and a second water flow passage disposed adjacent the first water flow passage for return flow of water from the forward end of the central structure back toward the rear end of the structure; and wherein the forward end of the central structure has a nose portion comprised of a domed outer shell, an inner component disposed within the outer shell and formed with an internal nozzle to receive water from the first water flow passage and to direct that water in a jet against the inner surface of the outer shell to produce an outwardly and backwardly fanning flow of water around the inner surface of the outer shell, and wherein a space between the domed outer shell and the inner component is subdivided by ribs extending outwardly and backwardly alone the nose portion to form a series of discrete water flow passages for cooling water fanning outwardly and backwardly around the inner surface of the domed outer shell.