The present invention relates to hot rolling mills and hot rolling methods.
Patent Document 1 discloses that a pair of an upper work roll and an upper backup roll and a pair of a lower work roll and a lower backup roll are inclined along a strip material surface around the vertical centerline of a rolling mill, further the centerline of the strip material is offset from the vertical centerline of the rolling mill by a certain distance, and the inclination angles of the pairs of rolls described above, gaps formed between left and right ends of the work rolls described above and bending forces applied to left and right roll shafts of the work rolls are adjusted according to conditions at a time of rolling set on the basis of dimensional data such as the strip width/strip thickness of a rolling-subject strip material, the quality of the material such as a normal steel/special steel and the amount of the offset described above to roll the strip material into a predetermined cross-sectional shape. Thereby, the lifetime of the upper and lower work rolls is extended to be twice or more than that in conventional technologies.
Roll-cross four-high rolling mills that control the strip crown and the strip shape by causing upper and lower rolls to cross are generally classified into pair cross mills and work-roll cross mills. These two types have been developed, and it is known that these types allow wide control ranges.
Pair cross mills adopt a method in which, as described in Patent Document 1, a work roll and a backup roll are treated as a pair, and the axes of a set of pairs of rolls are caused to cross each other on a horizontal plane to thereby control the strip crown and the strip shape.
In a typical batch roll method, the pair cross angle is preset, and control during rolling is performed through work-roll bending in most cases. However, for a case of long rolling campaign as in endless rolling, dynamic pair cross mills that change the pair cross angles during rolling have been put to practical use.
Here, in a typical hot rolling process, in order to perform strip shape control of a second-order component that reaches the strip center by work-roll bending during rolling, the ratio Dw/Lb between the work-roll diameter Dw and the maximum strip width Lb is set greater than 0.30, and the minimum level of the ratio has been 0.32 in terms of the work-roll maximum diameter of a pair cross mill.
Accordingly, despite the fact that work roll bending and a roll cross method like a pair cross method or a work-roll cross method are combined to perform control, both of them perform low-order shape control close to second-order shape control, and there is not a significant difference in terms of order, thus complicated shapes like quarter buckle cannot be controlled.
The present invention provides hot rolling mills and hot rolling methods that are capable of controlling complicated shapes as compared with conventional technologies.
The present invention includes a plurality of means for solving the problems described above, and an example thereof is a hot rolling mill including: a pair of upper and lower work rolls; a pair of upper and lower backup rolls that support the work rolls; bending actuators that apply bending forces to the work rolls; work-roll horizontal actuators that move the work rolls in a horizontal direction; backup-roll horizontal actuators that move the backup rolls in the horizontal direction; and an angle control apparatus that adjusts an angle formed between an upper-side pair of the upper backup roll and the upper work roll and a lower-side pair of the lower backup roll and the lower work roll in a state where the upper-side pair is kept parallel and in a state where the lower-side pair is kept parallel, in which the work rolls satisfy a condition that Dw/Lb is equal to or smaller than 0.30 where Dw is a diameter of the work rolls, and Lb is a maximum strip width of a rolled material.
According to the present invention, it is possible to control complicated shapes as compared with conventional technologies. Problems, configurations and advantages other than those described above are made clear by the following explanation of an embodiment.
An embodiment of hot rolling mills and hot rolling methods according to the present invention is explained by using
Note that identical or corresponding constituent elements in the figures used in the present specification are given identical or similar reference characters, and repetitive explanations of these constituent elements are omitted in some cases.
In addition, in the following embodiment and figures, a drive side (also written as a “DS (Drive Side)”) means a side where electric motors to drive work rolls are installed when a rolling mill is seen from its front side, and a work side (“WS (Work Side)”) means the opposite side.
First, the overall configuration of a hot rolling mill is explained by using
In
The housing 100 includes a pair of an upper work roll 110A and a lower work roll 110B that are provided on the upper side and lower side, a pair of an upper backup roll 120A and a lower backup roll 120B that support the work rolls 110A and 110B, and are provided on the upper side and lower side.
Hydraulic cylinder apparatuses 170 are cylinders that apply rolling forces to the upper backup roll 120A, the upper work roll 110A, the lower work roll 110B, and the lower backup roll 120B by pressing the upper backup roll 120A. The hydraulic cylinder apparatuses 170 are provided on the work side and drive side of the housing 100.
A load cell 180 is provided at a lower portion of the housing 100, as rolling force measurement means for measuring a rolling force on the rolled material S applied by the work rolls 110A and 110B, and outputs measurement results to the control apparatus 20.
Upper work-roll bending cylinders 190A are provided on the entry side and exit side of the housing 100 on each of the work side and the drive side. By being driven as appropriate, the upper work-roll bending cylinders 190A apply bending forces vertically to bearings of the upper work roll 110A.
Similarly, lower work-roll bending cylinders 190B are provided on the entry side and exit side of the housing 100 on each of the work side and the drive side, and by being driven as appropriate, the lower work-roll bending cylinders 190B apply bending forces vertically to bearings of the lower work roll 110B.
A backup-roll sliding apparatus 200A is provided at a portion vertically above the upper backup roll 120A, and a backup-roll sliding apparatus 200B is provided at a portion vertically below the lower backup roll 120B.
The hydraulic apparatus 30 is connected to hydraulic cylinders of work-roll pressing apparatuses 130A and 130B and work-roll position control apparatuses 140A and 140B, to hydraulic cylinders of backup-roll pressing apparatuses 150A and 150B and backup-roll position control apparatuses 160A and 160B, and furthermore to the work-roll bending cylinders 190A and 190B also. Note that parts of communication lines and hydraulic-fluid supply lines are omitted in
The control apparatus 20 receives input of measurement signals from the load cell 180 and position measuring instruments of the work-roll position control apparatuses 140A and 140B and backup-roll position control apparatuses 160A and 160B.
The control apparatus 20 actuation-controls the hydraulic apparatus 30, and supplies and discharges a hydraulic fluid to and from the hydraulic cylinders of the work-roll pressing apparatuses 130A and 130B and work-roll position control apparatuses 140A and 140B to thereby control actuation of the work-roll pressing apparatuses 130A and 130B and the work-roll position control apparatuses 140A and 140B.
Similarly, the control apparatus 20 actuation-controls the hydraulic apparatus 30, and supplies and discharges a hydraulic fluid to and from the hydraulic cylinders of the backup-roll pressing apparatuses 150A and 150B and backup-roll position control apparatuses 160A and 160B to thereby control actuation of the backup-roll pressing apparatuses 150A and 150B and the backup-roll position control apparatuses 160A and 160B.
Due to the actuation control, the control apparatus 20 controls angle adjustment by the work-roll pressing apparatuses 130A and 130B and work-roll position control apparatuses 140A and 140B, and angle adjustment by the backup-roll pressing apparatuses 150A and 150B and backup-roll position control apparatuses 160A and 160B.
Furthermore, the control apparatus 20 supplies and discharges a hydraulic fluid to and from the work-roll bending cylinders 190A and 190B to thereby control actuation of the work-roll bending cylinders 190A and 190B.
Next, configuration related to the upper work roll 110A is explained by using
As depicted in
The upper work roll 110A is rotatably supported by the housing 100 via a work-side roll chock 112A and a drive-side roll chock 112B.
A work-roll pressing apparatus 130A, on each of the work side and the drive side, is arranged between the entry side of the housing 100 and the work-side roll chock 112A or the drive-side roll chock 112B, and presses the roll chock 112A of the upper work roll 110A in the rolling direction at a predetermined pressure.
A work-roll position control apparatus 140A, on each of the work side and the drive side, is arranged between the exit side of the housing 100 and the work-side roll chock 112A or the drive-side roll chock 112B, and has a hydraulic cylinder (pressing apparatus) that presses the roll chock 112A of the upper work roll 110A in the direction opposite to the rolling direction. The work-roll position control apparatus 140A includes a position measuring instrument (illustration omitted) that measures the amount of operation of the hydraulic cylinder, and controls the position of the hydraulic cylinder.
Here, a position control apparatus means the apparatus that measures the oil column position of a hydraulic cylinder as a pressing apparatus by using a position measuring instrument incorporated in the position control apparatus, and controls the oil column position until the oil column reaches a predetermined oil column position.
These work-roll pressing apparatuses 130A and 130B, backup-roll pressing apparatuses 150A and 150B and position control apparatuses 140A, 140B, 160A and 160B play a role of an angle adjustor that adjusts the roll cross angle.
Note that whereas
In addition, whereas the pressing apparatuses are disposed on the entry side of the rolled material S, and the position control apparatuses are disposed on the exit side of the rolled material S in the depicted mode, they may be disposed on the opposite sides in some cases, and the arrangement is not limited to a pattern depicted in
Furthermore, whereas
Next, characteristic configuration of the rolling mill according to the present embodiment is explained with reference to
In the hot rolling mill according to the present embodiment, the work rolls 110A and 110B satisfy the condition that Dw/Lb is equal to or smaller than 0.30, and more suitably satisfy the condition that Dw/Lb is equal to or greater than 0.15 and the condition that Dw/Lb is equal to or smaller than 0.28 where Dw is the diameter of the work rolls 110A and 110B, and Lb is the maximum strip width of the rolled material S.
In addition, the control apparatus 20 adjusts the angle formed between the upper-side pair of the upper backup roll 120A and the upper work roll 110A and the lower-side pair of the lower backup roll 120B and the lower work roll 110B in a state where the upper-side pair is kept parallel and in a state where the lower-side pair is kept parallel, and rolling is performed in this so-called pair-cross state. The angle adjustment in this pair-cross state is executed during the rolling. Note that the adjustment can be performed not during the rolling but before the start of the rolling.
Furthermore, the rolling is performed in a state where bending forces are applied to the work rolls 110A and 110B.
Details of a limitation of the range of Dw/Lb is explained below.
In typical cross mills, the ratio Dw/Lb between the work-roll diameter Dw and the maximum strip width Lb is within the range of 0.32 or greater, and the control order in this range is generally 1.7 to 1.9. That is, under identical rolling conditions, there is not a significant difference from the control order of cross angle changes which is 1.7.
In addition, as depicted in
In order to control complicated shapes including quarter buckles, it is desirable if not only shapes close to second-order terms are controlled, but control can be performed in combination with a mechanism that controls shapes of higher-order terms that are far from the second-order terms.
Here, as depicted in
Accordingly, it has become clear that, by adopting the condition that Dw/Lb is equal to or smaller than 0.30, control orders equal to or greater than 1.9 can be attained with work-roll bending, and by adjustment of angles in a pair-cross state by horizontal actuators, and adjustment of bending load by vertical actuators, control of complicated strip shapes represented by a formula which is a combination of low orders and high orders can be realized.
Then,
It can be known that, under the conventional range condition of Dw/Lb=0.35 depicted in
In contrast, as depicted in
Here, as indicators of the ranges within which ΔCh25 and ΔCh¼, and ΔC2 and ΔC4 can be controlled individually, respectively, the area size in the parallelogram in the graph of ΔCh25 and ΔCh¼ is defined as Sc, and the area size in the parallelogram in the graph of ΔC2 and ΔC4 is defined as Ss. Taking this into consideration,
As depicted in
Here, in hot rolling processes, typically, work rolls are connected to motors and rotation-driven. In that case, if the diameter of the work rolls is reduced, the spindle diameter is reduced, thus transmittable torque also decreases.
Whereas reduction of the diameter of the work rolls reduces rolling torque also, the influence of the reduction of the diameter of the work rolls is more significant on the limitation of torque transmission of spindles. That is, if the diameter of the work rolls is too small, difficulties in terms of mechanical feasibility arise, and it is considered that disadvantages outweigh advantages.
The rolling torque depends on rolling conditions, and it is determined that it is possible to make feasible modes in which advantages outweigh disadvantages by substantially making Dw/Lb at least equal to or greater than 0.15 in typical hot rolling plants. Because of this, it is desirable if the lower limit of Dw/Lb is set to 0.15.
Summarizing what have been described thus far, it is desirable if the range of Dw/Lb is 0.30 or smaller, and more suitably 0.15 or greater and 0.28 or smaller.
Next, advantages of the present embodiment are explained.
The hot rolling mill 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention mentioned above includes the control apparatus 20 that adjusts the angle formed between the upper-side pair of the upper backup roll 120A and the upper work roll 110A and the lower-side pair of the lower backup roll 120B and the lower work roll 110B in a state where the upper-side pair is kept parallel and in a state where the lower-side pair is kept parallel. The hot rolling mill 1 is configured such that the work rolls 110A and 110B satisfy the condition that Dw/Lb is equal to or smaller than 0.30 where Dw is the diameter of the work rolls 110A and 110B, and Lb is the maximum strip width of a rolled material.
In this manner, because of a finding found by the present inventors for the first time that, by adopting the condition that Dw/Lb is equal to or smaller than 0.30, which means a smaller work-roll diameter than in conventional typical technologies, it becomes possible to use pair crossing for shape control corresponding to low-order terms and use work roll bending for shape control corresponding to higher order terms, an advantage can be obtained that shape control, which could not have been reached with conventional technologies, can be performed.
In addition, to such an advantage, it is possible to improve cross angle control sensitivity, and to enhance control ranges and responsiveness.
Furthermore, it is possible to attain an advantage that the rolling load is reduced due to small-diameter work rolls. Whereas strip shape control requires control performed according to rolling load fluctuations that change during rolling, since it is considered that the rolling load itself decreases, that is, rolling load fluctuations also decrease in proportion to it, this means that strip shapes themselves that need to be controlled during rolling become smaller. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to attain an advantage that product shapes can be enhanced significantly as compared with conventional technologies.
In addition, since the work rolls 110A and 110B satisfy the condition that Dw/Lb is equal to or smaller than 0.28, the order of a term of an approximation formula that can be formed with bending becomes equal to or greater than 2.0, and can be increased further, accordingly, it is possible to attain an advantage that control of more complicated shapes can be performed.
Furthermore, as the diameter of work rolls decreases, one with a shape represented by an approximation formula including higher-order terms can be created; however, as the diameter decreases, the diameter of spindles that transmit the torque to the work rolls decreases also, accordingly, transmittable torque also decreases on the premise of practical materials and motive power; therefore, a practical range can be realized by the work rolls 110A and 110B satisfying the condition that Dw/Lb is equal to or greater than 0.15.
In addition, the control apparatus 20 can execute control for obtaining more desired strip shapes by executing adjustment of the angle between the upper-side pair and the lower-side pair during rolling of the rolled material.
<Others>
Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above, and includes various modification examples. The embodiment described above are explained in detail in order to explain the present invention in an easy-to-understand manner, and the present invention is not necessarily limited to those including all the configurations explained.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/JP2020/018022 | 4/27/2020 | WO |