The present invention relates to a deflector roll used to change the travelling direction of a metal strip being threaded by wrapping the metal strip on an outer surface of a roll, and to a method of producing a steel sheet using this deflector roll.
In a steel sheet continuous production facility, a large number of deflector rolls are installed on a threading route for the purpose of changing the travelling direction of a metal strip being threaded. The significance of using deflector rolls lies in making the steel sheet continuous production facility compact and reducing the building cost of the facility. On the other hand, the use of deflector rolls causes an undesirable effect that the metal strip meanders due to a frictional force generated between the metal strip and the deflector rolls.
To prevent the meandering of a metal strip on a deflector roll, a CPC meandering control device has been hitherto commonly used. However, it has often been impossible to install a CPC meandering control device due to restrictions in terms of the cost, the installation place, etc. For example, in a horizontal looper device, it is difficult to install a CPC meandering control device in a deflector roll that is installed in a moving looper car for cost reasons as well as due to restrictions in terms of the space to dispose electrical components, etc.
For a large number of deflector rolls in which a CPC meandering control device cannot be installed, a crown roll having a convex roll profile is used. The crown roll can use a frictional force generated between itself and the metal strip as a centering force, and thus, if not as effective as a CPC meandering control device, can hinder the metal strip from meandering to some extent. Moreover, in this case, there is an advantage of being almost free of restrictions in terms of the roll installation place and the cost, as all it takes is to process the deflector roll so as to have a convex roll profile.
In recent years, as the tensile strength of steel sheets has become higher or magnetic steel sheets have become more upgraded, hot-rolled steel sheets produced in a hot rolling step, which is an upstream step, are becoming more prone to shape defects and camber at a leading end part or a tail end part of a coil. A situation is arising frequently where, when metal strips in which shape defects or camber has occurred are connected to each other and threaded, meandering at the joint cannot be hindered.
If such meandering cannot be hindered, so-called roll-out in which the metal strip departs from a planned threading route occurs, which can result in a major trouble, such as the metal strip breaking on contact with a peripheral frame, thereby making operation impossible. Also, if a metal strip chipped at the edge is cold-rolled as is, the metal strip breaks during cold rolling and thereby makes operation impossible. Therefore, it is necessary to check the metal strip for chipping of the edge before cold rolling, as well as to reduce the transfer speed of the metal strip, and this also causes reduction in the production efficiency of steel sheets.
Since it is difficult to newly install a CPC meandering control device in an existing facility, a measure against meandering such as adjusting the convex shape of a crown roll is adopted. However, there are problems including that, if the convex shape is made too high, a contact mark is left as the metal strip and the roll surface cannot be brought into contact over their entire surfaces. Thus, there is a limit to hindering meandering by a crown roll.
As it is known that meandering of a metal strip is caused by shape defects at the leading end part or the tail end part of the coil, common practice is to remove the affected portions. However, in this case, this is directly linked to lower yield, and so it is of course better not to remove such portions if possible, also for the reduction of CO2 emissions.
Another known method for reducing meandering of a metal strip on a deflector roll is to use a guide roll that comes into contact with the edges of the metal strip in the width direction. However, when the metal strip meanders significantly, the guide roll exerts a large colliding force to restrain meandering. This colliding force inevitably causes a defect such as the metal strip becoming chipped at the edge, and thus the method using a guide roll is not perfect.
The frictional force that amplifies meandering of the metal strip occurs in the axial direction of the deflector roll (thrust direction). Therefore, to reduce meandering of the metal strip, it is effective to use a thrust-free roll that does not generate such a frictional force in the first place. As related arts in this connection, for example, Patent Literature 1 proposes a device in which a belt pulley is movable relative to the thrust direction, and Patent Literature 2 proposes a device in which upper and lower rolls are movable relative to the thrust direction.
However, in the device of Patent Literature 1, there is a concern that when significant meandering of the belt occurs, movement of the belt pulley may cause an end portion of the belt to collide with a support part that supports the belt pulley. In Patent Literature 2, damper resistance is applied to at least one of the upper roll and the lower roll, which puts a limit on reducing such a frictional force that guides meandering of the steel strip. Thus, neither of these techniques is suitable for application to deflector rolls.
An object of the present invention is to propose a deflector roll that enables efficient production of a steel sheet while mitigating meandering of a metal strip due to a frictional force occurring in an axial direction of the roll, without involving structural complication, and a method of producing a steel sheet using this deflector roll.
The present invention is a deflector roll that changes a travelling direction of a metal strip being threaded, characterized in that: the deflector roll comprises a roll main body that is rotatably supported by a roll frame, and a sliding member that is provided so as to be movable relative to an outer surface of the roll main body; and the sliding member is configured to have the metal strip wrapped thereon and to be movable along an axial direction of the roll main body while maintaining that wrapped state.
In the above-described deflector roll, the following are preferable as specific means for solving the problems:
Further, the present invention is a method of producing a steel sheet using a deflector roll that produces a steel sheet by transferring a metal strip having undergone an upstream-side production process to a downstream-side production process so as to pass through a looper device in which at least one deflector roll having the above-described configuration is installed. This method is characterized in that, while the metal strip is passing through the looper device, the sliding member of the deflector roll, along with the metal strip wrapped on the deflector roll, is moved along the axial direction of the roll main body using a frictional force attributable to meandering of the metal strip.
According to the present invention, since the sliding member provided on the outer surface of the roll main body is movable in the axial direction of the roll main body, generation of such a frictional force as to amplify the meandering of the metal strip is avoided. Moreover, according to the present invention, since the roll main body does not move in the axial direction, a problem such as coming into contact with the roll frame does not occur, either.
Further, when producing a steel sheet by transferring a metal strip having undergone an upstream-side production process to a downstream-side production process so as to pass through a looper device, it has been hitherto necessary to reduce the transfer speed of the metal strip in a section from near a joint to the downstream-side production process from the viewpoint of avoiding a problem such as breakage of the metal strip. However, according to the present invention, since meandering of the metal strip can be restricted, the section where the transfer speed of the metal strip is reduced can be shortened to thereby achieve improvement in production efficiency.
In the following, the present invention will be described more specifically using the drawings.
In
The sliding member 3 can be composed of a plurality of plate-shaped bodies 3a of a rectangular shape that is arrayed over an entire circumference of the roll main body 2, with end surfaces 3a1 in a longitudinal direction located on the sides of roll end surface 2a of the roll main body 2 and end surfaces 3a2 in a width direction facing one another. Between the plate-shaped bodies 3a and the roll main body 2, linear guides 4 each formed by a combination of a plurality of rollers are provided such that the plate-shaped bodies 3a are held on the roll main body 2 so as to be unable to come off and that the plate-shaped bodies 3a are individually movable in the axial direction of the roll main body 2. While the sliding member 3 composed of the plurality of plate-shaped bodies 3a has been shown as an example, the sliding member 3 may be formed by a single member.
A member preferably used as the plate-shaped body 3a is, for example, a metal member, a wooden member, or a synthetic resin member (including rubber or the like) that has an arc surface e forming a part of a wrapping circumferential surface of a circular shape in a state where the plate-shaped bodies 3a are arrayed over the entire circumference of the roll main body 2, and that has a cross-sectional profile in which a central part 3a3 in the longitudinal direction protrudes outward relative to both end portions as shown in section C-C of
Reference sign 5 in the drawings denotes a centering guide that is provided facing the end surfaces 3a1 of the plate-shaped bodies 3a in the longitudinal direction, in a region of the roll main body 2 except for a wrapping region of the metal strip S, and that is hit by the end surfaces 3a1 in the longitudinal direction of the plate-shaped bodies 3a in a moving state such that the plate-shaped bodies 3a are returned to their original positions. The centering guide 5 allows the central parts 3a3 of the plate-shaped bodies 3a in the longitudinal direction to be centered to a threading center O of the metal strip S. In the present invention, when the wrapping region of the metal strip Sis denoted by L and the region except for that region L is denoted by L1, the wrapping region L of the metal strip S and the region L1 except for the region L refer to the regions shown in
As the centering guide 5, a member including a base 5a that has a crescent-shaped side surface and is fixed and held on the roll frame 1, and a pair of left and right guide plates 5b that are supported at one end on upper and lower leading end portions of the base 5a can be used.
The guide plate 5b is provided with a guide surface g of which a free end 5b1 is farthest away from the roll end surface 2a of the roll main body 2, and to which the distance from the roll end surface 2a of the roll main body 2 decreases gradually toward a fixed end 5b2. In the embodiment of the present invention, the case has been shown as an example in which two pairs of guide plates 5b are provided at the upper and lower leading ends of the base 5a such that the plate-shaped bodies 3a having moved can be reliably centered also when the roll main body 2 rotates in the reverse direction. However, the shape of the side surface and the arrangement of the centering guide 5 can be changed as appropriate and are not limited to those shown in the drawings.
Further, reference sign 6 in the drawings denotes guide rolls that are provided on the roll frame 1 and respectively located on both sides of the metal strip S to prevent the metal strip S from rolling out while being threaded. As the guide roll 6, a non-driven roller supported at one end that rotates by coming into contact with the metal strip S can be used.
In the deflector roll configured as described above, when a large frictional force occurs in the axial direction of the roll main body 2, those plate-shaped bodies 3a on which the metal strip S is wrapped (the plate-shaped bodies 3a in the region L) among the plate-shaped bodies 3a composing the sliding member 3 move in the axial direction of the roll main body 2 and thereby reduce the frictional force, so that meandering of the metal strip S attributable to this frictional force is hindered. Meanwhile, in the region L1, the end surfaces 3a1 in the longitudinal direction hit the guide plates 5b of the centering guide 5 and are guided along the guide surfaces g, so that the plate-shaped bodies 3a having moved in the axial direction of the roll main body 2 are returned to their original positions and centered to the threading center O of the metal strip S. In the deflector roll according to the present invention, even when an edge of the metal strip S comes into contact with the guide roll 6, the colliding force is only a colliding force attributable to a shearing force of the metal strip S and therefore its magnitude is significantly reduced.
Being a passive mechanism, the deflector roll according to the present invention does not require electrical components and control means, and it is relatively easy to replace an existing deflector roll with this deflector roll. Thus, there is an advantage in that the cost of conversion can be reduced.
The movement of the plate-shaped bodies 3a may be controlled by means of an actuator or the like that uses pneumatic pressure or hydraulic pressure, and in that case, the centering guide 5 is omitted.
Reference sign 7 in
Reference signs 10 and 11 in
Reference sign 12 in
In the horizontal looper device thus configured, it has been hitherto difficult (impossible) to install a CPC meandering control device in the deflector rolls included in the looper cars 10, 11, so that meandering of the metal strip S cannot be hindered by tilting (shifting) the rotational axis of the roll like the steering rolls 8, 9. For this reason, a crown roll is commonly used and the metal strip S is centered using the crown thereof. However, this type of deflector roll cannot be expected to be as effective as the steering roll.
Regarding a conventional deflector roll adapted as a crown roll,
In
It is clear from
In
According to
In
As shown in
In a steel sheet production facility as shown in
When the deflector roll according to the present invention is installed in a looper device, the metal strip S is restricted from meandering significantly, so that the section where the transfer speed of the metal strip S is set to 50 mpm or lower can be shortened to about 30 m at the longest. As a result, efficient production of steel sheets becomes possible.
Just like the deflector rolls shown in
Operation of an actual facility in which the metal strip S was threaded under the same conditions as those used for the above-described simulations was conducted in two cases: in one case, a horizontal looper device in which a conventional deflector roll was disposed in each of the looper cars 10, 11 and guide rolls were installed in the support rolls 12 and the separator rolls 13 (conventional device) was used; and in the other case, a horizontal looper device in which the deflector roll according to the present invention was disposed in the looper car 10 (conforming device) was used.
As a result, in the conventional device, the metal strip S meandered between the looper car 10 and the steering roll 8 and came into contact with the guide rolls, but the metal strip S did not become chipped at the edge therebetween. However, when the metal strip S meandered significantly on the looper car 10, the guide rolls directly upstream of the looper car 10 collided hard with the metal strip S, causing a problem of the metal strip S becoming chipped at the edge.
By contrast, in the device including the deflector roll according to the present invention, even when the metal strip S meandered significantly on the looper car 10 and the edge of the metal strip S came into contact with the guide rolls, a problem such as the metal strip S becoming chipped at the edge did not occur, and it was confirmed that the colliding force in this case was at a level equivalent to that of a colliding force that does not cause chipping of the edge of the metal strip S.
Using the production facility shown in
The present invention can provide a deflector roll on which a metal strip can be threaded without significant meandering and which enables efficient production of a steel sheet, and a method of producing a steel sheet using this deflector roll.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2021-114785 | Jul 2021 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/JP2022/022443 | 6/2/2022 | WO |