The invention relates to a device for cooling at least one knife-bearing element of a cross-cutting shear installed in a rolling mill, in particular in a hot rolling mill, and a corresponding cooling method.
Shears for cross-cutting a roll strip, for example in a hot rolling mill, are generally known. Such shears can be designed as drum shears, as described, for example, in DE 199 53 906 A1 or DE 100 01 928 A1. Other types of shears include gate shears, crank shears, etc.
If a shear is not cutting, it is at a standstill. Then, the roll strip runs through the shear and heats up the areas of the shear adjacent to the roll strip. In particular, the lower side of the upper knife-bearing element is exposed to strong heat or heating by the roll strip. This creates unwanted stresses in the upper knife-bearing element, and in the same manner in the lower knife-bearing element.
For cooling the knife drums of a drum shear, it is also known that—if the drum shear is at a standstill—its knife drums are at least partially turned out of the rolling line and cooled with water sprayed from spray bars. Nevertheless, in the case of a drum shear that is equipped with three knives each along the circumference of its knife drums, it is not possible for its knife drums to be rotated out of the radiation area of the roll strip, because this would result in an unintentional cut of the roll strip. In addition, cooling water would thereby arrive onto the roll strip, which would result in a disadvantageous loss of heat.
Furthermore, to cool the knife drums of a drum shear, it is conceivable to drill cooling bores in the knife drums. This is known, for example, from RU 22 27 086 02. However, this is problematic with drum shears with three knives (per knife drum), because this can lead to “bore collisions” with other bores or channels, which are required to tension the knives. In addition, the realization of such an internal cooling is complex in terms of production technology and is therefore cost-intensive. Notwithstanding this, it is also problematic that the internal cooling of a knife drum cannot sufficiently reduce the stress level caused by the heating that arises through the adjacent roll strip. This has been established by the applicant for the present invention in corresponding FEM calculations.
Comparable disadvantages are equally known for other types of shears, for example gate shears or crank shears.
Accordingly, the invention is based on the object of optimizing the cooling for a knife-bearing element of a cross-cutting shear by simple means, preferably in the case of a drum shear, the knife drums of which are each equipped with three knives.
The preceding object is achieved by a device and a method as claimed.
A device in accordance with the present disclosure serves to cool at least one knife-bearing element of a cross-cutting shear installed in a rolling mill, for example in a hot rolling mill. Specifically, such device comprises at least one guard device, and a guide device on which the guard device can be movably guided and thus moved between a cooling position and a cutting position. The guard device is positioned in the cooling position between a knife-bearing element of the cross-cutting shear and a roll strip running continuously through the rolling mill, in such a manner that a side of the knife-bearing element opposite the roll strip is shielded by the guard device. In the cutting position, the guard device is spaced from a field of movement of the knife. In the case of a drum shear, it lies outside the knife circle, such that, when the knife drum rotates or when the roll strip is cut through, the guard device is not touched by such knife drum. The guide device is designed in the form of sliding guides, which are arranged on both sides of the roll strip, wherein the guard device is movably guided with its two end faces on the sliding guides, wherein the sliding guides are attached to the inner sides of the lateral stand frames of the cross-cutting shear. A first arc-shaped guide track and a second arc-shaped guide track are respectively formed in each of the sliding guides, wherein a path curve, which is defined by the arc-shaped guide tracks, points convexly outwards with respect to an adjacent knife drum, and wherein the guide tracks are arranged in a sliding guide in a partially overlapping manner.
In the same manner, the invention also provides for a method of cooling at least one knife-bearing element of a cross-cutting shear installed in a rolling mill, in particular in a hot rolling mill. Thereby, if the shear is at a standstill, at least one guard device is positioned in a cooling position between a knife-bearing element of the shear and a roll strip continuously running through the rolling mill, with the result that a side of this knife-bearing element opposite the roll strip is shielded by the guard device. The guard device is formed in two parts and comprises two shielding elements that are brought in mirror image from the inlet side of the roll strip and from the outlet side of the roll strip into the cooling position. The shielding elements are positioned adjacent to each other and thereby shield a lower side of the upper knife-bearing element from the roll strip. The shielding elements each have a trough area. Cooling water is continuously introduced into the trough areas while the shielding elements are in the cooling position; and the cooling water overflows side edges of the trough areas and flow laterally past the roll strip in a downward direction when the trough areas are fully flooded with cooling water.
The disclosure is based on the essential finding that the cooling of a knife-bearing element of a cross-cutting shear is already effected by introducing into the space or gap between the passing roll strip and the knife-bearing element adjacent thereto—in the cooling position—the at least one guard device, with which the side of the knife-bearing element that is adjacent to the hot roll strip is then physically shielded. In doing so, the use of cooling water is not absolutely necessary. As a result of such positioning of the guard device, the knife-bearing element is shielded or protected against direct heat radiation from the roll strip, such that heating of the knife-bearing element and the resulting stress level is reduced.
In the cooling position, the guard device can be expediently positioned between the upper knife-bearing element and the roll strip continuously running through the rolling mill. Accordingly, the lower side of the upper knife-bearing element is shielded from the roll strip with the assistance of the guard device. In other words, if the guard device is moved to the cooling position, the lower side of the upper knife-bearing element is no longer directly exposed to the heat radiation of the roll strip.
Further improved cooling can be achieved by the guard device having a trough area into which cooling water is introduced if the guard device is in the cooling position. This causes additional cooling of the guard device per se, which also reduces heat radiation in the direction of the upper knife drum. The cooling of the guard device can be further optimized by introducing the cooling water in its trough area in a permanent or circulating manner. This means that, after the trough area is completely flooded with cooling water, the cooling water then drains off laterally from the trough area and flows away downwards past the side of the roll strip and is then collected in a suitable manner.
In contrast to conventional cooling concepts, the present invention achieves the fact that, in connection with the cooling of a knife-bearing element of a cross-cutting shear, cooling water does not arrive on the roll strip and may not be necessary. If the trough area of the guard device, with which the lower side of the upper knife-bearing element is shielded in the cooling position, is additionally filled with cooling water, the overflowing cooling water is, as explained, suitably guided past the side of the roll strip and thus does not arrive on the surface of the roll strip. This reduces heat losses or costs that would otherwise be incurred in having to reheat the roll strip.
In contrast to conventional cooling concepts, the present invention achieves the fact that the entire temperature remains at a lower level due to the shielding of the knife-bearing element of the cross-cutting shear, and thus a temperature difference between areas of the knife-bearing element near the roll strip and areas of the knife-bearing element remote from the roll strip is kept as small as possible. This reduces internal stresses to a large extent without the need to apply cooling water. If additional cooling water is applied to the knife-bearing element and/or the shielding, no harmful internal stresses are created within the knife-bearing element due to the additional cooling. Thus, this shielding with one installation enables two advantageous effects.
In addition, it may be provided that, in the cooling position, that is, when the cross-cutting shear is at a standstill, an additional guard device is also positioned between the roll strip and the lower knife-bearing element. In the same manner as with the upper knife-bearing element, this leads to a shielding of the lower knife-bearing element from the roll strip and its heat radiation, such that a desired cooling for the lower knife-bearing element is achieved.
The guide device, on which the at least one guard is movably guided, serves to move the guard device into a cooling position if the shear is at a standstill, and into a cutting position if the knives of the shear are set in motion and the roll strip is cut accordingly. The guide device causes the guard(s) to move in such a manner that at no time during the transfer or swinging of the guard(s) from the cooling position to the cutting position does it overlap with the field of movement of the knife-bearing element. This means that the guard device does not touch the knife-bearing element both after reaching the cutting position and on the path there. This can be achieved, for example, by the guard device being moved by the guide device between the cooling position and the cutting position along a suitable path curve or line. In this manner, after reaching the cutting position, the guard device is also sufficiently far away from the knife-bearing element such that any pieces of strip flying around, which may be produced when cutting/separating and chopping the roll strip, do not touch or damage the guard device.
With regard to its at least one guard device and the associated guide device, the device is designed in such a manner that the guard device can be swiveled both into the cooling position and out into the cutting position without the guard device touching an adjacent knife-bearing element or its field of movement. For this purpose, it is particularly advantageous in the case of drum shears if the guard device is designed in two parts, specifically in the form of two shielding elements that—from the inlet side of the roll strip into the drum shear or from the outlet side of the roll strip out of the drum shear—are moved towards each other in mirror image in this inlet side or outlet side upon transfer to the cooling position. After reaching the cooling position, the two shielding elements are then positioned adjacent to each other such that they completely shield one side of a knife drum opposite the roll strip from the roll strip. Upon transfer to the cutting position, the two shielding elements are moved out of the inlet or outlet side of the drum shear, and then, after reaching the cutting position, move to a “parking position,” in which they are sufficiently far away from an adjacent knife drum.
For moving a guard device, for example in the form of the latter shielding elements, between the cooling position and the cutting position, an electric motor or a hydraulic cylinder may be used on each side (that is, on the inlet side and on the outlet side of the shear), if applicable using a four-jointed or multiple-jointed mechanism, through which a shielding element is in operative connection with or coupled to the drive (for example, an electric motor or a hydraulic cylinder).
The device in accordance with the present invention is characterized by a modular design of its components. Accordingly, this device can be easily maintained, assembled or disassembled. Furthermore, thanks to this modular design, it is also possible to retrofit existing shears with the device in accordance with the invention.
Cross-cutting within the meaning of the invention described above is understood to mean both the cropping of the beginning or end of a strip and the subdivision of the strip into sections of defined length by cross-cutting or chopping.
Knife-bearing elements within the meaning of the invention are those components of the shear that hold the cutting knives as such. This means, for example, the knife drums of a drum shear or the knife holders of a gate shear, etc.
The field of movement within the meaning of the invention is understood to be the area that a knife with its knife-bearing element passes through during the cutting movement itself. In the example of a drum shear, the field of movement is circular.
An embodiment of the invention is described in detail below, using the example of a drum shears arrangement on the basis of a schematically simplified drawing.
With reference to
The drum shear 103 of
The device comprises at least one guard device 105 (see
The guard device 105 is designed in two parts and comprises two shielding elements 110, one of which is shown in perspective in
Guide pins 113 adjacent to both the trough area 111 and the wall area 112 are attached on the side edges 115 of the shielding element 110. When a shielding element 110 is mounted on two guide tracks arranged opposite one another, such guide pins 113 are brought into engagement with the aforementioned guide tracks 109.1, 109.2, which are formed in a respective sliding guide 108.1-108.4. Accordingly, a shielding element 110 can be swiveled along these guide tracks 109.1, 109.2, which is explained below.
A combination of
The invention now functions as follows:
If the drum shear 103 is at a standstill and correspondingly its knife drums 102.1, 102.2. do not rotate, the shielding elements 110 are swiveled along the guide tracks 109.1, 109.2 of the respective sliding guides 108.1-108.4 into a cooling position. This corresponds to the illustration of the shielding elements 110 in
With regard to the cooling position [K], it should be understood that the shielding elements 110 are positioned between the upper knife drum 102.1 and the roll strip 101. Thus, the lower side of the upper knife drum 102.1 is shielded from the roll strip 101 by the two shielding elements 110, such that heat radiation from the roll strip 101 cannot directly affect the lower side of the upper knife drum 102.1.
The device 100 also includes a coolant supply device 114 in the form of spray bars arranged between the stand frames 104 of the drum shear 103 (see
The trough areas 111 can—in accordance with their designation—hold a certain volume of cooling water. Thus, the two shielding elements 110 are cooled and heat up less due to the heat radiation emitted by the roll strip 101. Indirectly, this also means that the upper knife drum 102.1 heats up less when the drum shear 103 is at a standstill.
As shown by the illustration of
Before the drum shear 103 is set “in action” to cut through the roll strip 101, the shielding elements 110 are transferred from the cooling position [K] (see, for example,
The swiveling of the guard device 105 and its shielding elements 110 between the cooling position [K] and the cutting position [S] is achieved by suitable drive means, for example by hydraulic cylinders (not shown) that are arranged on the inlet side and on the outlet side of the drum shear 103 and that are each in operative connection with the shielding elements 110. In conjunction with such hydraulic cylinders, multiple jointed mechanisms can also be used to control the shielding elements 110. The actuation of such hydraulic cylinders, and also the supply of cooling water to the spray bars 114, can be controlled by a control device 117, which is simplified in
Given the fact that the path curve defined by the respective arc-shaped guide track 109.1, 109.2 on the inlet side and outlet side of the drum shear 103 points convexly outwards, that is, away from the upper knife drum 102.1, in relation to the adjacent upper knife drum 102.1 (see
As soon as the shielding elements 110 have reached the cutting position, as shown in
It is understood that the supply of cooling water, which in the cooling position is spread by the spray bars 114 (as explained) and fed into the trough areas 111 of the shielding elements 110, is stopped before the shielding elements 110 are swiveled from the cooling position [K] to the cutting position [S]. The shielding elements 110 are only swiveled out of the cooling position [K] and moved away from each other after all the cooling water from the trough areas 111 has been discharged downwards through the outflow openings 116, laterally past the roll strip 101. This prevents cooling water from arriving in the roll strip 101 when the shielding elements 110 are swiveled to the cutting position [S].
After completion of a cutting operation, if the rolling process for the roll strip 101 is continued in the usual manner and the drum shear 103 is brought to a standstill again, the shielding elements 110 are swiveled from the cutting position [S] back to the cooling position [K], in accordance with a sequence of
The device described above is particularly suitable for cooling the upper knife drum 102.1 of a drum shear 103, if a total of three knives M (see
As already explained elsewhere, optional cooling or shielding of the lower knife drum 102.2 is also possible by inserting an additional (not shown) guard device into the space between the roll strip 101 and the lower knife drum 102.2 when the drum shear 103 is at a standstill. Such an additional guard device for shielding the lower knife drum 102.2 can also be designed in the form of two separate shielding elements, which are movably guided along the guide tracks formed in a respective sliding guide (see lower area of
In addition to the design shown in the drawing, it is also possible to use the device 100 in accordance with the invention with a drum shear that is only equipped with two knives per knife drum.
Similarly, the invention can also be applied to other cross-cutting shears, for example gate shears, crank shears, etc.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
10 2017 221 764.2 | Dec 2017 | DE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/EP2018/082494 | 11/26/2018 | WO | 00 |