Patent Application
20140138214
Exemplary embodiments herein generally relate to a melting furnace system, and, more particularly, to a quiet bucket charge for a melting furnace system.
In the casting industry, a metal object is created from the solidification of molten metal in a mold that defines the shape of the object. The metal typically arrives at a casting facility in the form of solid metal bars, generally referred to as ingots. A melting furnace utilizes the ingot bars as its charge material. The ingots generally arrive in a bundle arrangement (e.g., stacked on a palette and secured thereto by a metal banding or the like). The ingots have to be removed from the stack and then carried to a hearth or furnace where the ingots are heated to the molten state required for injection into the mold. When a melting system is employed at a casting facility, the stack can be loaded automatically where it is either broken up or dumped into a bucket via a conveyor, which can require additional equipment and can cause excessive noise. It can also be de-stacked and dropped into a bucket, which again requires extra equipment, high maintenance and can cause excessive noise. The stack of ingots can also be loaded manually (e.g., via a tow motor) into a bucket that requires a manned process. The bucket then drops the ingots into a furnace where the ingots are heated. As the ingots melt, the metal trickles into a bath, where a ladle dips out an amount of the molten metal for injection into a mold. The problems with the current automatic loading methods are the additional equipment that must be purchased, downtime from the extra equipment and associated spare parts costs, and noise to the environment. Further, with the known loading methods, the operator of the casting equipment oftentimes has to stop the equipment, while ingots are being loaded, for example on the conveyor of the melting furnace system. Accordingly, the production of the metal objects can be delayed.
In accordance with one aspect, a melting furnace system comprises a conveyor for moving a stack of ingots toward an ingot melting station. The conveyor includes a platform and a raised part extending from the platform for engaging an underside of the stack of ingots. The conveyor is configured to automatically transfer the stack of ingots to a bucket located at a downstream end of the conveyor. The bucket includes a bottom wall, a back wall and a pair of sidewalls. The bucket is sized to receive the stack of ingots. The bottom wall of the bucket is configured to receive the raised part of the conveyor such that the stack of ingots is initially positioned above the bottom wall of the bucket via the raised part thereby reducing noise associated with the loading of the stack of ingots in the bucket. A carriage provided at the downstream end of the conveyor engages the bucket and includes a lifting mechanism for raising the bucket together with the stack of ingots toward the ingot melting station.
In accordance with another aspect, a melting furnace system comprises a conveyor for moving a stack of ingots toward an ingot melting station. The conveyor includes a platform and a pair of spaced ribs extending from the platform for engaging the stack of ingots. The conveyor configured to automatically transfer the stack of ingots toward a bucket located at a downstream end of the conveyor. The bucket is intertwined with the conveyor and sized to receive the stack of ingots. The pair of spaced, parallel ribs of the conveyor initially positions the stack of ingots above a bottom wall of the bucket. At least one sensing device is associated with the bucket and is adapted to detect whether the bucket is in position for receipt of the stack of ingots from the conveyor and whether the stack of ingots is received in the bucket.
In accordance with yet another aspect, a method for automatically transferring a stack of ingots to an ingot melting station of a melting furnace system comprises positioning the stack of ingots on at least one rib extending from a movable platform of a conveyor; locating a bucket at a downstream end of the conveyor, the bucket being sized to receive the stack of ingots; intertwining the bucket and the conveyor by providing a bottom wall of the bucket with at least one elongated channel and positioning the at least one rib of the conveyor within the at least one channel; positioning an inner surface of the bottom wall below an engaging surface of the at least one rib of the conveyor thereby allowing the stack of ingots to be automatically delivered into the bucket without directly engaging the inner surface of the bottom wall; and raising the bucket together with the stack of ingots toward the ingot melting station.
It should, of course, be understood that the description and drawings herein are merely illustrative and that various modifications and changes can be made in the structures disclosed without departing from the present disclosure. It will also be appreciated that the various identified components of the exemplary melting furnace system disclosed herein are merely terms of art that may vary from one manufacturer to another and should not be deemed to limit the present disclosure.
Referring now to the drawings, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views,
The conveyor 102 can include a motor 130 for rotationally moving a floor or platform 132 toward the bucket 104. The platform 132 can be formed of a plurality of interconnected slats or plates 140 that are operably engaged by a pair of rollers (only downstream roller 142 is shown). The motor 130 can be operably connected to the upstream roller for controlling the speed of the conveyor 102, and motor can be in signal communication with a controller (not shown), thereby allowing the speed of the conveyor to be adjusted so that each stack of ingots 110 is not affected by movement toward the bucket 104. The motor 130 can also have an independent remote disconnect thereby allowing for maintenance of the conveyor 112 without stopping the entire melting furnace system 100, and can have an overload detector to prevent damage to the system. The conveyor 102 can also be provided with a detector (not shown) adapted to sense a material overrun at the conveyor, and an indicator (not shown), such as an alarm, for alerting an operator of the same. It should be appreciated that the alarm should have the ability to reset without ceasing the automatic operation of the delivery of the stacks of ingots 110 to the melting furnace stack 120. It should be also appreciated that the plates 140 can be connected to a conveyor chain which is driven by the motor 130. With this configuration, a drive sprocket can be provided on a drive shaft of the motor 130, a conveyor drive sprocket can be provided on the upstream roller, and a drive chain can be operably engaged by the drive sprockets.
As depicted, the conveyor 102 is sized to receive six stacks of ingots 110; although, it should be appreciated that the size of the conveyor can be adjusted depending on the constraints associated with the footprint or layout for the melting furnace system 100. The downstream roller 142 can be rotatably mounted on a downstream support 150 and the upstream roller can rotatably mounted on an upstream support 152; although, alternative manners for mounting the each of the downstream and upstream rollers are contemplated as long as the conveyor 102 is rigid and robust and maintenance can be easily performed. A plurality of support posts 154 can be provided between the supports 150, 152, each of the support posts 154 being connected to a horizontal support 156. The horizontal support 156 can serve as a supporting surface for the plates 140. A backrest 158 can be connected to one of the plurality of support posts 154 and the horizontal support 156 the conveyor and extends above the platform 132. The backrest 158 can ensure that each stack of ingots 110 is properly aligned on the platform 132 when it is loaded onto the conveyor 102. Catch pans (not shown) can also be provided at downstream and upstream locations of the conveyor 102 for the collection of scrap bandings (which can be used to secure the ingots in the stack) and tags associated with the stacks of ingots 110. The conveyor 102 is designed to allow the bands to fall through to the catch pans while preventing the ingots from wedging into the conveyor.
With reference now to
The bucket 104 includes the bottom wall 180, a back wall 182 and a pair of sidewalls 184, 186, and is sized to completely receive therein the stack of ingots 110 (see
As indicated previously, the bucket 104 is configured to reduce noise associated with the stack of ingots 110 being automatically received in the bucket 104 via the conveyor 102. In addition to the positioning of the bucket 104 relative to the platform 132 and its corresponding raised part 160, the bucket 104 can be at least partially formed of a sound or noise deadening material 200. According to one aspect, at least one of the back wall 182 and sidewalls 184, 186 defines a cavity having the noise deadening material 200 provided therein. In the illustrated embodiment, the back wall 182 defines a cavity 210 and each of the respective sidewalls 184, 186 defines a cavity 212, 214, and each cavity 210, 212, 214 has the noise deadening material 200 provided therein. Further, each cavity 210, 212, 214 can extend the entire dimension of the respective back wall 182 and sidewalls 184, 186; although, with the size of the bucket 104 being significantly larger than the stack of ingots 110 received therein, this is not required. According to another aspect, the back wall 182 and sidewalls 184, 186 can have a tubular design (e.g., tubular members filled with the noise deadening material provided on the walls) for noise reduction.
With reference again to
With continued reference to
The present disclosure also provides a method for automatically transferring the stacks of ingots 110 to the ingot melting station 112 of the melting furnace system 100. The method generally comprises positioning each stack of ingots 110 on at least one rib, such as the pair of spaced, parallel ribs 166, 168 extending from the movable platform 132 of the conveyor 102; locating the bucket 104 sized to receive the stack of ingots 110 at the downstream end 106 of the conveyor 102; intertwining the bucket 104 and the conveyor 102 by providing the bottom wall 180 of the bucket with at least one channel, such as the pair of elongated channels 190, 192 and positioning the pair of ribs 166, 168 of the conveyor within the channels; positioning the inner surface 194 of the bottom wall 180 below the engaging surface 202, 204 of each of the respective ribs 166, 168 of the conveyor thereby allowing the stack of ingots 110 to be automatically delivered into the bucket 104 without directly engaging the inner surface 194 of the bottom wall 180; and raising the bucket 104 together with the stack of ingots 110 toward the ingot melting station 112. The method further includes automatically charging the entire stack of ingots in the ingot melting station as a single load.
As is evident from the foregoing, according to one embodiment, the bucket 104 includes the forked bottom wall 180 defined by the channels 190, 192 that can be positioned slightly above the ingot staging conveyor 102. The conveyor 102 has the raised ribs 166, 168 on the slats 140 that allow the ingot bundles 110 to be set on top of the ribs. The bucket forks 190, 192 mesh in between the ribs 166, 168 of the conveyor 102. This enables the stack of ingots 110 to quietly travel on the conveyor to a position directly above the bottom wall 180 and within the bucket. After the stack of ingots 110 is confirmed in by the sensing device 220, the bucket 104 can be raised by the carriage 116 and lifting mechanism 118 and the entirety of the ingot stack 110 can be charged as a whole unit. Thus, the respective designs of the conveyor 102 and bucket 104 reduce the excessive noise created by the dumping of the ingots (e.g., less than 80 dB's, 1 meter from the source), and also simplify the process and eliminate conveyor equipment. Further charge cycle time is reduced to increase melting capacity.
It will be appreciated that various of the above-disclosed and other features and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be desirably combined into many other different systems or applications. Also that various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications, variations or improvements therein may be subsequently made by those skilled in the art which are also intended to be encompassed by the following claims.
