1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an auxiliary device for positioning an element during welding, and more particularly to a method and an auxiliary device for precision positioning of welded type nozzles during welding.
2. Description of the Related Art
Although different types of nozzles provide spray pattern in different shapes such as a sectorial, circular, elliptical, square or rectangular shape, the angle, shape and size of the spray pattern depend on the geometric positions of the nozzles. When a plurality of nozzles are arranged on the same header, each nozzle must be positioned at a proper and correct geometric position, in order to avoid interference between the spray patterns or adverse effect.
A nozzle can generally be connected with a main pipe header by thread engagement or welding. Though relatively inexpensive to manufacture, threaded type nozzles are most often for low working pressure applications. Moreover, if a certain offset angle exists between adjacent nozzles, the installation and positioning process becomes difficult and time-consuming. Though relatively expensive, welded type nozzles can be conveniently and rapidly installed, removed or replaced. The correct positioned welded type nozzles are ensured always in the same spray configuration after nozzle replacement, and can be used in high working pressure applications, for example, common and important applications in hot-rolled steel strip plants, such as high-pressure descaling, roll cooling, and steel strip surface cooling and cleaning.
A specific included angle exists between the groove 111 and the positioning structure 112, and the positioning structure 112 of the alignment tip 11 cooperates with a positioning structure (not shown in the drawings) located on an inner surface of a welding adapter 13, so that when a alignment plate 12 is used to correct the groove 111 of the alignment tip 11 to a parallel position, the positioning structures of all the welding adapters 13 are also rotated to the same specific angle accordingly.
Referring to
L0 of the assembled nozzle, and a long-diameter center line 152 of a spray orifice 151 of the nozzle tip 15 forms a required offset angle γ (as shown in
Such a conventional method is disadvantageous in that the machining thickness of the two positioning flat surfaces 211 needs to be taken into consideration, and accordingly, the wall thickness of the welding adapter 21 is thicker than ordinary ones. Therefore, such a conventional method is generally used for positioning of descaling nozzles, and seldom used for positioning of small size cooling nozzles.
The above two conventional welded nozzle positioning methods facilitate positioning of the offset angle or length of the assembled nozzle, but cannot correct positioning for an error in nozzle pitch, an error in parallelism of nozzles or an angle error in lead angle between nozzles (included angle between a center line of the nozzle and a normal line of a working piece surface).
The angle error in lead angle between nozzles is described below by way of example. Assuming that a predetermined lead angle is 15±1°, the lead angles of different nozzles can shift by 1° in different direction, and accordingly the angle error in lead angle between nozzles can reach 2°.
As the positioning accuracy of the conventional nozzle positioning method is insufficient, and due to manufacturing tolerance and assembly tolerance of the nozzle as well as deformation of the welding adapter after welding, there is an error in geometric position of the nozzle after welding and assembly. Such an error in geometric position can be extended and amplified as the spray distance of the nozzle increases (the larger the spray distance is, the larger the error in geometric position is). The correction position of the conventional nozzle positioning method is located nearby the outlet of the nozzle tip. A position error in impact area of spray pattern on the working piece surface can be extended and amplified as the spray distance increases; as the spray distance may be several times the length of the nozzle after welding and assembly, the geometric error at the outlet of the nozzle can be amplified several times according to the spray distance, which is the greatest inevitable disadvantage of the conventional nozzle positioning method.
Therefore, it is necessary to provide an innovative and inventive method and auxiliary device for precision positioning of welded type nozzles, so as to solve the above problems.
The present invention provides a method and an auxiliary device for precision positioning of welded type nozzles, wherein the method comprises the steps of: (a) combining a plurality of alignment tips with each welding adapter, wherein each alignment tip has a first end and a second end opposite to each other, each first end is away from the corresponding welding adapter and has a first positioning portion, and each second end is fixed to the corresponding welding adapter; and (b) combining an alignment bar with the alignment tips, so that the first positioning portions of the alignment tips are aligned with a plurality of second positioning portions of the alignment bar, so as to precision position geometric positions of the nozzles, wherein structures of the second positioning portions cooperate with structures of the first positioning portions of the alignment tips, and after the alignment bar is combined with the alignment tips, a correction distance between an end surface of the alignment bar and a center line of the main pipe header in a longitudinal direction is larger than a length of an assembled nozzle after a nozzle tip is combined with the corresponding welding adapter, and the length of the assembled nozzle is a distance between the nozzle tip and the center line of the main pipe header in the longitudinal direction.
By using the method and auxiliary device for precision positioning of welded type nozzles of the present invention, the alignment tip and the alignment bar can be applied in cooperation during the process of welding the welding adapters of the nozzles and the main pipe header, so that errors in the geometric positions of the nozzles, for example, an error in nozzle pitch, an error in parallelism of nozzles and an angle error in included angle between the center line of the nozzle and the normal line of the working piece surface, can be accurately corrected. In addition, the correction position is close to the impact area of the spray pattern on the working piece surface, so that the extensible error generated by the conventional method can be reduced or avoided, thereby greatly improving the accuracy of the geometric position of the spray pattern of the nozzle.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed descriptions given below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The auxiliary device 4 for precision positioning of welded type nozzles includes a plurality of alignment tips 41 and an alignment bar 42. Each alignment tip 41 has a first end 411 and a second end 412 opposite to each other, each first end 411 is away from the corresponding welding adapter 5 and has a first positioning portion 413, and each second end 412 is fixed to the corresponding welding adapter 5. The second end 412 of the alignment tip 41 has the same external dimension as the nozzle tip.
The alignment bar 42 has a plurality of second positioning portions 423, and structures of the second positioning portions 423 cooperate with structures of first positioning portions 413 of the alignment tips 41. The first positioning portion 413 and the second positioning portion 423 may be a slot and key combination, for example, a combination of a slot with a slot, a combination of a slot with a key, or a combination of a key with a slot. For example, the first positioning portions 413 have key slots 415, and the second positioning portions 423 have key slots 425 (as shown in
In this embodiment, each first positioning portion 413 has a circular shaft 414 and a key slot 415, each second positioning portion 423 includes a circular hole 424 and key slots 425 on two sides of the circular hole 424, a fit tolerance of the circular hole 424 of each second positioning portion 423 preferably cooperates with an outer diameter of the circular shaft 414 of the corresponding alignment tip 41 (preferably, a proper clearance exists), and at least the width of the key slot 425 of each second positioning portion 423 cooperates with the width of the key slot 415 of each first positioning portion 413 (for example, the widths are the same).
A positioning pitch identical to the nozzle pitch E exists between the second positioning portions 423. The alignment bar 42 is combined with the alignment tips 41, so that the circular shafts 414 and the key slots 415 of the first positioning portions 413 are aligned with the circular holes 424 and the key slots 425 of the second positioning portions 423.
An outer shape of the second end 412 of each alignment tip 41 has a first positioning structure 417, the first positioning structure 417 may be a positioning flat surface (as shown in
The cooperation between the first positioning structures 417 of the alignment tips 41 and the second positioning structure of each welding adapter 5 is described below by way of example.
The first positioning structure 417 is parallel to a long-diameter center line 418 of the key slot 415 of the first positioning portion 413, and when the alignment bar 42 is used to adjust and position the alignment tip 41 so that the long-diameter center line 418 of the key slot 415 of the first positioning portion 413 is parallel to a center line 61 of the main pipe header 6 in a longitudinal direction (as shown in
It should be understood that an included angle can exist between the first positioning structure 417 and the long-diameter center line 418 of the key slot 415 of the first positioning portion 413, and when the alignment bar 42 is used to adjust and position the alignment tip 41 so that the long-diameter center line 418 of the key slot 415 of the first positioning portion 413 is parallel to the center line 61 of the main pipe header 6 in the longitudinal direction, an included angle exists between the second positioning structure of each welding adapter 5 and the center line 61 of the main pipe header 6 in the longitudinal direction (as shown in
For example, the included angle between the first positioning structure 417 and the long-diameter center line 418 of the key slot 415 of the first positioning portion 413 is 15°, and after the long-diameter center line 418 of the key slot 415 of the first positioning portion 413 is adjusted to be parallel to the center line 61 of the main pipe header 6 in the longitudinal direction, the second positioning structure of each welding adapter 5 also forms an included angle of 15° with the center line 61 of the main pipe header 6 in the longitudinal direction (anticlockwise). If the positioning structure 91 of the nozzle tip 9 is parallel to the long-diameter center line 93 of the spray orifice 92, the offset angle γ of the nozzle is 15° (as shown in
After the alignment bar 42 is combined with the alignment tips 41, a correction distance L between an end surface 426 of the alignment bar 42 and the center line 61 of the main pipe header 6 in the longitudinal direction is larger than a length L0 of an assembled nozzle after a nozzle tip is combined with the corresponding welding adapter 5, and the length L0 of the assembled nozzle is a distance between the nozzle tip and the center line 61 of the main pipe header 6 in the longitudinal direction. A spray distance between the nozzle and a working piece surface 7 is d, and a relation between L, L0 and d is that:
when d≦200 mm,
L0<L<L0+500 mm;
and
when d>200 mm, L0<L<L0+3d.
The method for precision positioning of welded type nozzles of the present invention is described below by way of example, but the present invention is not limited thereto. First, the alignment bar 42 is used to position two alignment tips 41 (for example, leftmost and rightmost alignment tips 41) or three alignment tips 41 (for example, leftmost, rightmost and intermediate alignment tips 41), where in this embodiment, first, the leftmost and rightmost alignment tips 41 are positioned, and then the circular hole 424 of the second positioning portion 423 is sleeved over the circular shaft 414 of the first positioning portion 413 of the corresponding alignment tip 41, and afterwards, the leftmost and rightmost alignment tips 41 are adjusted so that the key slots 415 of the first positioning portions 413 thereof are aligned with the key slots 425 of the corresponding second positioning portions 423, and at the same time the alignment bar 42 is adjusted so that an end surface 426 thereof is parallel to and aligned with end surfaces 416 of the first ends 411 of the two alignment tips 41.
Next, the alignment bar 42 and the two alignment tips 41 can be fixed at side surfaces of the two alignment tips 41 by lateral screw fixation (but the present invention is not limited to this fixation manner), and then the geometric positions of the other alignment tips 41 are adjusted and aligned in the above manner according to the corresponding first positioning portions 413 and second positioning portions 423. After all the alignment tips 41 are corrected, the welding adapters 5 and the main pipe header 6 are connected by welding. It should be understood that the method for precision positioning of welded type nozzles of the present invention can correct a part of the alignment tips 41 or all of the alignment tips 41 at one time.
The alignment bar 42 and the alignment tip 41 of the present invention are corrected at positions close to the working piece surface 7, so that the clearance between the first positioning portion 413 of the alignment tip 41 and the second positioning portion 423 of the alignment bar 42 is just a position error in impact area of spray pattern on the working piece surface 7, no extensible error that can be extended and amplified due to the spray distance exists, and therefore, almost no angle error exists. For example, the clearance between the first positioning portion 413 of the alignment tip 41 and the second positioning portion 423 of the alignment bar 42 of the present invention and a maximum position error after assembly are 1 mm, and accordingly the maximum position error in spray area between adjacent nozzles after correction is also about 1 mm.
In contrast, in the conventional welded nozzle positioning method, as the correction position is located nearby the exit of the nozzle tip and is spaced from the working piece surface by a spray distance, the angle error needs to be taken into consideration in addition to the position and assembly errors. A position error in impact area of spray pattern can be extended and amplified as the spray distance increases, and as the spray distance may be several times the length of the nozzle after welding and assembly, the position error at the outlet of the nozzle can be amplified several times on the working piece surface. For example, if the clearance between the alignment tip and the alignment plate and a maximum position error after assembly are 1 mm, the error can be amplified several times as the spray distance extends.
Compared with the conventional welded nozzle positioning method, the present invention not only can greatly reduce the angle error in lead angle between nozzles, but also can greatly reduce the extensible position error in impact area of spray pattern.
In addition, through the cooperation of the key slot 415 of the first positioning portion 413 and the key slots 425 of the second positioning portion 423 (or through the cooperation of the key slot and the slot as shown in
First, the circular holes 424 of the alignment bar 42 are sleeved over the circular shafts 414 of the first ends 411 of two alignment tips 41 (or three alignment tips 41), and through the cooperation of the circular holes 424 and the circular shafts 414, an error in nozzle pitch E, an error in parallelism of nozzles and an angle error in included angle β between the center line of the nozzle and a normal line N of the working piece surface 7 are corrected. The end surface 426 of the alignment bar 42 is parallel to and aligned with the end surfaces 416 of the first ends 411 of the two alignment tips 41, thereby correcting error in length of the assembled nozzle.
Next, the alignment bar 42 and the at least two alignment tips 41 are fixed, and then the alignment plate 43 is disposed in the key slots 415 of the first ends 411 of the alignment tips 41, so that the key slots 415 of the first ends 411 of the alignment tips 41 are parallel to the alignment plate 43, thereby correcting the offset angle of the nozzle. After all the alignment tips 41 are corrected, the welding adapters 5 and the main pipe header 6 are connected by welding.
The key 427 of the second positioning portion 423 of the alignment bar 42 is inserted into the slot 418 of the first positioning portion 413 of the alignment tip 41, and the slot 428 of the second positioning portion 423 of the alignment bar 42 is bilaterally sleeved into an outer edge of the alignment tip 41. Through the cooperation of the key 427 and the slot 428 of the second positioning portion 423 with the slot 418 of the first positioning portion 413 and the outer edge of the alignment tip 41, the error in nozzle pitch E, the error in parallelism of nozzles, the angle error in included angle β between the center line of the nozzle and the normal line
N of the working piece surface 7, and the error in length of the assembled nozzle can be corrected at the same time.
In this embodiment, the second end 412 of the alignment tip 41 has the same external dimension as the nozzle tips of the nozzles to be positioned. After the first positioning structure 417 (the positioning flat surface as shown in
In Step S292, an alignment bar 42 is combined with the alignment tips 41, so that the first positioning portions 413 of the alignment tips 41 are aligned with the second positioning portions 423 of the alignment bar 42, so as to position geometric positions of the nozzles.
For the mode of positioning the geometric positions of the nozzles (including the error in nozzle pitch E, the error in parallelism of nozzles, the angle error in included angle β between the center line of the nozzle and the normal line N of the working piece surface 7, and the error in length of the assembled nozzle) by using the first positioning portions 413 of the alignment tips 41 and the second positioning portions 423 of the alignment bar 42, reference can be made to the description of the first embodiment of nozzle positioning by using the auxiliary device for precision positioning of welded type nozzles of the present invention during welding, and the details will not be described herein again.
By using the method and auxiliary device 4 for precision positioning of welded type nozzles of the present invention, the alignment tip 41 and the alignment bar 42 can be applied in cooperation during the process of welding the welding adapters 5 of the nozzles and the main pipe header 6, so that the geometric positions of the nozzles, for example, an error in nozzle pitch E, an error in parallelism of nozzles and an angle error in included angle β between the center line of the nozzle and the normal line N of the working piece surface 7, can be accurately corrected. In addition, the correction position is close to the impact area of the spray pattern on the working piece surface 7, so that the extensible error generated by the conventional method can be reduced or avoided, thereby greatly improving the accuracy of the geometric position of the impact area of spray pattern.
While several embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described, various modifications and improvements can be made by those skilled in the art. The embodiments of the present invention are therefore described in an illustrative but not in a restrictive sense. It is intended that the present invention should not be limited to the particular forms as illustrated and that all modifications which maintain the spirit and scope of the present invention are within the scope defined in the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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100114767 | Apr 2011 | TW | national |