Patent Grant
11980931
This application claims priority to Chinese patent application no. 202210386251.2 filed on Apr. 13, 2022, the contents of which are fully incorporated herein by reference.
This disclosure relates a continuous casting machine, and, more specifically, to a guide roller of a continuous casting machine having integrated optical sensors.
A modern continuous casting machine is a highly automated system that includes a large number of sensors to continuously monitor relevant parameters of a continuous casting production process. However, guide rollers, which are important components of continuous casting machines are not provided with sensors. This makes it impossible to monitor health and actual working conditions of the guide rollers and/or to predict the service life of the guide roller, which makes the maintenance cost of the guide roller high. The working environment of the guide roll of a continuous caster is very bad with the complicated conditions such as high temperature, high load and heavy pollution. It would therefore be desirable to provide a low-cost, high-reliability guide roll monitoring system.
The purpose of the present disclosure is to solve at least one of the drawbacks of the prior art, and to provide guide roller for a continuous casting machine that includes an integrated optical sensor, as well as a continuous casting machine that includes such a guide roller.
In a first aspect, the present disclosure provides a guide roller for a continuous casting machine comprising a roller shaft, a roller body, a roller seat and bearings. The roller body is configured to support a billet, and the roller shaft is mounted on a roller seat. A passive optical sensor is installed on the roller seat and is connected to a processor via an optical fiber. The processor determines one or more physical parameters at the installation position of the optical sensor based on optical signals collected by the optical sensor.
According to this solution, the physical parameters at the roller seat can be monitored online using the optical sensor integrated on the roller seat, and the working status and/or remaining service life of the guide rollers can be determined based on the physical parameters, thereby allowing for the detection and replacement of abnormal guide rollers in a timely manner and reducing maintenance costs. Furthermore, the present disclosure uses a passive optical sensor for monitoring, which sensor does not include conductive components and is not affected by adverse factors such as electromagnetic interference, high temperature, and vibration in the environment, thus enabling stable and reliable monitoring and providing accurate monitoring data.
Optionally, the optical sensor includes an optical temperature sensor for detecting a temperature at the installation position. The optical temperature sensor is installed on an upper portion of the roller seat close to the billet.
According to this solution, the optical temperature sensor is arranged in the upper portion of the roller seat which is most affected by the heat of billet so that the temperature change of the roller seat can be monitored accurately with high sensitivity.
Optionally, the optical temperature sensor is embedded in the roller seat from the side surface of the roller seat and is located between the position closest to the billet on the outer surface of the roller seat and the roller shaft. The optical fiber connected with the optical temperature sensor is arranged in a wiring slot extending in a lateral direction, a part of the optical fiber extends in the axial direction, and the other part of the optical fiber extends along the wiring slot in the lateral direction and finally leaves from the lower portion of the roller seat.
According to this solution, the optical temperature sensor is embedded into the roller seat, which is stably installed and can fully contact with the roller seat materials around it to improve the accuracy of temperature monitoring. Moreover, the lateral extending wiring slots are arranged for the optical fibers so that the optical fibers can be wired neatly.
Optionally, the side surface of the roller seat is provided with an axially extending stepped portion, a radially outer surface of the stepped portion is located radially inward of a radially outer surface of the roller seat, a lateral wall connects the radially outer surface of the stepped portion and the radially outer surface of the roller seat, and the optical temperature sensor is embedded into the roller seat through the lateral wall. The side surface of the roller body opposite to the side surface of the roller seat is provided with a concave portion (recess), and the stepped part and the transversely extending portion of the optical fiber connected with the optical temperature sensor extend into the concave portion.
According to this solution, the roller body can cover most portions of the transverse extension of the optical fiber and protect it from external interference.
Optionally, the roller seat comprises a main body and a side cover on one side of the main body, the optical temperature sensor is embedded into the main body from the side surface of the main body; a laterally open groove is formed on the side surface of the side cover at a position corresponding to the optical temperature sensor, and the side cover surrounds the optical fiber around the groove so that it will not be exposed to the outside; and/or a laterally open groove is formed on the side of the main body at a position corresponding to the optical temperature sensor, and the side cover covers the groove to surround the optical fiber so that it will not be exposed to the outside.
According to this solution, the side cover can completely cover the optical fiber and protect it from external interference.
Optionally, the optical sensor includes an optical load sensor for detecting the load at the installation position. An installation slot is formed on the bottom surface of the roller seat opposite to the roller body directly. The optical load sensor is arranged in the installation slot, and the optical fiber connected with the optical load sensor extends out from the installation slot in the axial direction.
According to this scheme, the optical load sensor is arranged on the bottom surface of the roller seat which bears the largest load near the middle part so that the load change of the roller seat can be monitored accurately and highly sensitively.
Optionally, the optical sensor includes an optical vibration sensor for detecting the vibration of the installation position. The optical load sensor is installed on the bottom or side surface of the roller seat.
According to this scheme, the optical vibration sensor can be installed conveniently.
Optionally, the optical sensor comprises an optical grease status sensor for detecting the health status of grease, and the optical grease status sensor is embedded into the roller seat in contact with the grease; and/or the guide roller further comprises an electronic grease status sensor for detecting the health status of grease, and the electronic grease status sensor is embedded into the roller seat and in contact with the grease.
According to this solution, the health status of grease can be detected online, and the failure of grease and the deterioration of guide roller can be found in time.
Optionally, the optical sensor is an integrated sensor with multiple parameter detection functions.
According to this disclosure, integrated sensors can be used to realize various parameter detection functions, improve system integration, and reduce and simplify optical fiber wiring.
In a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a continuous casting machine, comprising: a cooling chamber including a roller array that supports and guides a billet to be transported forward, the roller array including a plurality of the above-mentioned guide rollers; a processor connected with optical sensors on each guide roller via optical fibers, wherein the processor determines one or more physical parameters of the installation position of the optical sensor based on optical signals obtained by the optical sensors, and determines the working status and/or remaining service life of the guide rollers based on the one or more physical parameters.
According to this arrangement, the optical sensor integrated on the guide roller can be used to determine the working status of the guide roller and/or predict the remaining service life of the guide roller so that the abnormal guide roller can be found and replaced in time and the maintenance cost can be reduced.
In order to make the purpose, scheme and advantages of the technical scheme of the present disclosure more clear, the technical scheme of the embodiment of the present disclosure will be described clearly and completely with the attached drawings of specific embodiments of the present disclosure. Unless otherwise specified, the terms used herein have their ordinary meaning in the art. The same reference numerals in the drawings represent the same components.
The lower roller array 107 and the upper roller array 108 each include a plurality of sector segments, and each sector segment includes a plurality of guide rollers 109 mounted on a movable frame (not shown). Among these guide rollers 109, a driving guide roller 1091 is coupled with a driving mechanism to drive the billet 105 to move forward, and a driven guide roller 1092 rotates with the movement of the billet 105.
The continuous casting machine 100 of the present disclosure integrates optical sensors 110 at one or more guide rollers 109 for the on-line monitoring of one or more characteristics of the physical performance of the guide rollers 109, thereby monitoring the working status of the guide rollers 109 and/or predicting the remaining service life of the guide rollers 109.
The optical sensor 110 is passive and is configured to emit a light beam near the installation position at which it is installed on the guide roller 109 and then receive a reflected light beam. Based on the characteristics of the reflected light beam, physical characteristics of the installation position such as temperature, vibration, load and the health status of the grease etc. can be obtained. The optical sensor 110 that can realize the above functions is well known in the prior art, so it will not be discussed in details.
The continuous casting machine 100 of the present disclosure includes a processor 111, which is optically connected to the optical sensor 110 on each guide roller 109 by an optical fiber 112. The processor 111 includes a signal transceiver module 113 that is used to send a light beam to the optical sensor 110 under the instruction of control command and is also used to receive and process the reflected light beam from the optical sensor 110 and convert the reflected light beam signal into an intermediate electrical signal. The parameter determination module 114 in the processor 111 determines physical parameters, such as temperature, vibration, load, grease health status, etc., based on the pre-stored calculation model, lookup table, etc., from the intermediate electrical signals. The status diagnosis module 115 in the processor 111 determines whether the working status of the corresponding guide roller 109 is in a healthy status or a fault status according to one or more physical parameters obtained based on the pre-stored calculation model, lookup table, etc. In addition, the processor 111 may also include a service life prediction module 116 that determines the remaining service life of the corresponding guide roller 109 according to the obtained one or more physical parameters based on the pre-stored calculation model, lookup table, etc. The report module 117 in the processor 111 reports the working status and/or remaining service life of the guide roller 109 to other equipment so that the operator of the continuous casting machine 100 or other processing equipment can know this information and take appropriate action.
In the present disclosure, the optical sensor 110 integrated in the guide roller 109 does not contain conductive connecting parts, i.e., it is non-electronic, so it will not be affected by electromagnetic fields, high temperatures and vibration in the environment and can work more stably and reliably than an electrical sensor. Moreover, optical sensors 110 and optical fibers 112 are arranged on hundreds of guide rollers 109 in the continuous casting machine 100, which has obvious cost advantages over the scheme of arranging electrical sensors and cables, and can use one single processor 111 to realize high-speed and high-flux calculation.
Optical sensors 110 (1101, 1102, 1103, 1104) performing various functions are installed at different positions on the roller seat 203 and are discussed individually below.
An optical temperature sensor 1101 is installed on the upper portion of the roller seat 203 close to the billet 105. Preferably, the optical temperature sensor 1101 can be arranged between the position closest to the billet 105 on the outer surface of the roller seat 203 and the roller shaft 201, which has the highest temperature, and it is most effective to set the optical temperature sensor 1101 at this position to measure the temperature. In addition, an optical temperature sensor 1101 may be provided at other positions on the upper portion of the roller seat 203. The optical temperature sensor 1101 is embedded into a side surface of the roller seat 203. This embedded installation makes the optical temperature sensor 1101 firmly installed and difficult to fall off, and it can fully contact with the material of the roller seat 203 and keep away from the coolant channel 205 inside the roller seat 203, thus improving the temperature measurement accuracy. In addition, the end of the optical temperature sensor 1101 can be fastened to the side surface of the roller seat 203 by using threads to further fasten the optical temperature sensor 1101 and prevent it from being accidentally detached when in use. Optical temperature sensors 1101 may be embedded in the left and right sides of the roller seat 203. According to requirements, a plurality of optical temperature sensors 1101 can be installed on the roller seat 203 to realize multi-point measurement. In addition, a wiring slot 206 extending in the lateral direction for wiring the optical fiber 112 is formed on the side surface of the roller seat 203, and the width of the wiring slot 206 is suitable for the optical fiber 112 to be smoothly bent by 90 degrees. The optical fiber 112 can extend in the lateral direction along the wiring slot 206 and finally extend away from the lower portion of the roller seat 203.
In the embodiment of
In addition, as shown in the partial cross-sectional view of
In the embodiment of
An optical load sensor 1102 is installed at the lower portion of the roller seat 203 on the side away from the billet 105. Preferably, the optical load sensor 1102 can be arranged at the middle position of the bottom surface of the roller seat 203, where the load is the largest, and it is most effective to set the optical load sensor 1102 at this position for measurement. As shown in
An optical vibration sensor 1103 is installed at the lower portion of the roller seat 203 on the side away from the billet 105. Preferably, the optical load sensor 1103 may be arranged on the side surface of the bottom of the roller seat 203. As shown in
An optical grease status sensor 1104 can be installed through the roller seat 203 and contact with lubricant grease near the bearing 204. As shown in
In some embodiments, an integrated sensor with multiple parameter detection functions can be used, for example, a temperature-vibration integrated sensor, a temperature-load integrated sensor, a load-vibration integrated sensor and the like. The use of integrated sensors can improve the system integration, reduce wiring and simplify the system structure.
In some embodiments, different numbers of optical sensors 110 are arranged at different roller seats 203 of the same guide roller 109 to adapt to different working conditions at different roller seats 203. For example, there are more optical temperature sensors 1101 at the inner roller seat 2032 than at the outer roller seat 2031 to more accurately detect the temperature at the inner roller seat 2032, which is usually higher in temperature and more likely to fail.
In some embodiments, different numbers of optical sensors 110 are arranged at different guide rollers 109 of the same continuous casting machine 100 to adapt to different working conditions at different guide rollers 109. Referring to
Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in detail herein with reference to preferred embodiments. However, those skilled in the art can understand that various variations and modifications can be made to the above specific embodiments without departing from the inventive concept, and various technical features and structures proposed by the present disclosure can be combined in various ways without exceeding the scope of protection of the present disclosure, which is determined by the appended claims.
The processor disclosed herein may be formed by a computer processor (CPU=central processing unit), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an integrated circuit (IC), a computer, a system-on-a-chip (SOC), a programmable logic element, or a field programmable gate array (FGPA) including a microprocessor.
Representative, non-limiting examples of the present invention were described above in detail with reference to the attached drawings. This detailed description is merely intended to teach a person of skill in the art further details for practicing preferred aspects of the present teachings and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. Furthermore, each of the additional features and teachings disclosed above may be utilized separately or in conjunction with other features and teachings to provide improved guide rollers for continuous casting machines.
Moreover, combinations of features and steps disclosed in the above detailed description may not be necessary to practice the invention in the broadest sense, and are instead taught merely to particularly describe representative examples of the invention. Furthermore, various features of the above-described representative examples, as well as the various independent and dependent claims below, may be combined in ways that are not specifically and explicitly enumerated in order to provide additional useful embodiments of the present teachings.
All features disclosed in the description and/or the claims are intended to be disclosed separately and independently from each other for the purpose of original written disclosure, as well as for the purpose of restricting the claimed subject matter, independent of the compositions of the features in the embodiments and/or the claims. In addition, all value ranges or indications of groups of entities are intended to disclose every possible intermediate value or intermediate entity for the purpose of original written disclosure, as well as for the purpose of restricting the claimed subject matter.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202210386251.2 | Apr 2022 | CN | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20040055398 | Weyer et al. | Mar 2004 | A1 |
| 20080198900 | Myhre | Aug 2008 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1204986 | Jun 2005 | CN |
| 10039015 | Jan 2002 | DE |
| 102009060639 | Apr 2011 | DE |
| 102020200818 | May 2021 | DE |
| 2012130927 | Jul 2012 | JP |
| 1019602 | Jun 2003 | NL |
| Entry |
|---|
| Machine translation of CN 1204986 C (Year: 2005). |
| Office Action from the Austrian Patent Office dated Oct. 10, 2023 in related application No. 4A A 50253/2023-1, and translation thereof. |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20230330741 A1 | Oct 2023 | US |
