Claims
- 1. In or for use in a continuous casting steel mill having a caster for producing steel castings, severing means downstream of the caster for transversely severing castings emanating from the caster, a reheat furnace downstream of the severing means, and a conveyor for conveying castings from the caster to the reheat furnace;quench apparatus located in-line downstream of the caster and upstream of the reheat furnace for quenching a surface layer of the casting to a selected depth of penetration so as to transform austenite in the surface of the casting to a non-austenitic microstructure, said quench apparatus comprising: (a) an array of spray nozzles arranged in transversely separated groups above and below castings passing therebetween; (b) at least one valve for each group for controlling the amount of spray provided by each group to the castings passing therebetween; (c) a control unit for controlling the valves thereby to regulate the amount of spray provided by each group, in response to selected parameters including casting width and casting speed; thereby to provide transversely differentiated spray to the castings being quenched.
- 2. Quench apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the selected parameters include post-quench surface temperature of the casting.
- 3. Quench apparatus as defined in claim 2, located upstream of the severing means.
- 4. Quench apparatus as defined in claim 2, located downstream of the severing means.
- 5. Quench apparatus as defined in claim 2, wherein the array of nozzles underneath the casting is substantially the mirror image of the array of nozzles above the casting.
- 6. Quench apparatus as defined in claim 5, wherein the nozzles are operable to apply air-mist to the castings.
- 7. Quench apparatus as defined in claim 5, additionally including suction means above the casting for removing surplus fluid.
- 8. Quench apparatus as defined in claim 5, wherein the array of nozzles underneath the castings is operable to provide a greater amount of spray to the castings relative to the spray provided by the nozzles above the castings.
- 9. Quench apparatus as defined in claim 5, additionally including spray nozzles arrayed in longitudinally speed transversely extending groups, said last mentioned groups being controlled by the control unit to provide a longitudinally differentiated spraying of castings.
RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/113,428 filed Jul. 10, 1998 and now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (58)
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09/113428 |
Jul 1998 |
US |
Child |
09/350319 |
|
US |