Electrical industry

Power transmission

A large amount of high-conductivity copper needs to be consumed in power transmission, which is mainly used for power wires and cables, bus bars, transformers, switches, plug-in components, and connectors.

In the process of power transmission by wires and cables, electrical energy is wasted in vain due to resistance heating. From the perspective of energy saving and economy, the world is currently promoting the ""best cable cross section"" standard. The popular standard in the past, simply from the perspective of reducing the investment in one installation, in order to minimize the cross-section of the cable, to determine the minimum allowable size of the cable in order to avoid dangerous overheating at the rated current required by the design. Cable laid according to this standard, although the installation cost is low; but in the long-term use process, the resistance energy consumption is relatively large. The ""Best Cable Cross Section"" standard takes into account the two factors of one-time installation cost and power consumption, and appropriately enlarges the cable size to achieve the purpose of energy saving and the best comprehensive economic benefits. According to the new standard, the cable cross-section is often more than doubled than the old standard, and the energy saving effect of about 50% can be obtained.

In the past period of time in my country, due to the short supply of steel, considering that the proportion of aluminum is only 30% of copper, measures have been taken to replace copper with aluminum in overhead high-voltage transmission lines that hope to reduce weight. Underground cables. In this case, compared with copper, aluminum has the disadvantages of poor conductivity and larger cable size, which pales in comparison.

For the same reason, it is also a wise choice to replace the old aluminum winding transformer with an energy-saving and efficient copper winding transformer.

electronics industry

The electronics industry is an emerging industry, and in the course of its flourishing development, new steel products and new application areas have been continuously developed. Its application has developed from electric vacuum devices and printed circuits to microelectronics and semiconductor integrated circuits.

Electric vacuum device

Electric vacuum devices are mainly high-frequency and ultra-high frequency transmitting tubes, waveguides, magnetrons, etc. They require high-purity oxygen-free copper and dispersion-strengthened oxygen-free copper.

Transportation industry

Ship

Due to good seawater corrosion resistance, many copper alloys, such as aluminum bronze, manganese bronze, aluminum brass, gunmetal (tin-zinc bronze), white steel, and nickel-copper alloy (Monel) have become standard materials for shipbuilding. Generally, copper and copper alloy account for 2 to 3% of the weight of warships and merchant ships. The propellers of warships and most large commercial ships are made of aluminum bronze or brass. Each propeller of the big ship weighs 20-25 tons. The propellers of the Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary aircraft carriers each weigh 35 tons. "Admiral" gunmetal is commonly used for the heavy tail shaft of large ships, and the same material is used for the tapered bolts of the rudder and propeller. Steel and copper alloys are also used extensively in engine and boiler rooms. The world's first nuclear-powered commercial ship used 30 tons of cupronickel condenser tubes. Aluminum brass tubes are used as large heating coils for oil tanks. There are 12 such oil storage tanks on 100,000-ton ships, and the corresponding heating system is quite large. The electrical equipment on the ship is also very complicated. Engines, motors, communication systems, etc. almost entirely rely on copper and copper alloys to work. The cabins of large and small ships are often decorated with steel and copper alloys. Even for wooden boats, it is best to use steel alloy (usually silicon bronze) screws and nails to fix the wooden structure. Such screws can be mass-produced by rolling. In order to prevent the ship's hull from being fouled by marine organisms and affecting navigation, copper coating is often used for protection; or copper-containing paint is used to solve the problem.

In World War II, in order to prevent German magnetic mines from attacking ships, an anti-magnetic mine device was developed. A copper strip was attached around the steel hull, and an electric current was applied to neutralize the ship’s magnetic field. Does not detonate mines. Since 1944, all Allied ships, a total of about 18,000, have been equipped with this demagnetization device and have been protected. Some large battleships require a large amount of copper for this purpose. For example, one of them uses copper wire to be 28 miles long and weighs about 30 tons.

Light industry

Light industrial products are closely related to people's lives, with a wide variety of varieties. Because of its good comprehensive properties, copper can be seen everywhere. Here are just a few examples:

Air conditioner and freezer

The temperature control function of the air conditioner and the refrigerator is mainly realized by the evaporation and condensation of the copper tube of the heat exchanger. The size and heat transfer performance of the heat exchange heat transfer tube determine to a large extent the efficiency and miniaturization of the entire air conditioner and refrigeration device. The special-shaped copper pipes with high thermal conductivity are used in these machines. Utilizing the good processing performance of steel, we develop and produce radiator tubes with inner grooves and high fins, which are used to manufacture heat exchangers in air conditioners, refrigerators, chemicals and waste heat collection devices, which can enable new heat exchange. The total thermal conductivity of the heat exchanger is increased to 2 to 3 times that of ordinary tubes and 1.2 to 1.3 times that of ordinary low-fin tubes. It has been used in China, which can save 40% of copper and reduce the volume of heat exchanger by 1/ 3 or more.