Abstract: A blast furnace charging system for feeding charge material into the hearth of a blast furnace includes at least two hoppers for temporarily storing charge material, each hopper having a discharge assembly for feeding the charge material from the respective hopper into the hearth of a blast furnace, the discharge assembly including an inclined discharge channel having, at its lower end, a material gate providing charge material flow control at the lower end of the discharge channel; and a protection ring arranged in the vicinity of the material gate for leading charge material from the discharge channel to a seal seat of the discharge assembly, where the discharge assembly further includes a heated panel arranged on the protection ring, the heated panel being formed by a panel-like copper body having fluid channels arranged therein so as to form a channel leading from a fluid inlet to a fluid outlet.