The present invention relates to a spray device suitable for equipment for rolling metal strips in motion, and a method for removing/inserting said spray and guidance device from/into said roll stand, according to the preamble of the main claims.
In particular, the invention relates to the lubrication and cooling of the metal strip and elements associated with the cold-rolling of said continuously or reversibly moving strip in at least one roll stand or rolling mill in rolling equipment. In particular, said elements make reference to a set of stacked rolls having parallel longitudinal axes placed approximately in at least a single plane perpendicular to the direction of travel of the strip. The longitudinal axis of one of said rolls is defined as an instantaneous axis of rotation, parallel to a generating line of the roll and passing through the center of mass of said roll. More particularly, the present invention concerns the rolling of certain metal alloys requiring the use of small-diameter rolling rolls, such as for example stainless steels, silicon steels, or even certain non-ferrous alloys. These metal alloys are rolled in equipment comprising at least one roll stand with multiple rolls such as, for example, rolling mills of the 12-High or 20-High type, i.e. fitted with 12 or 20 rolls.
As is known, small-diameter rolling rolls in a roll stand do not have sufficient rigidity to withstand the rolling forces without bending. They are therefore held in the roll stand by rolls and bearing or support rolls. A typical example of a 20-High rolling mill is presented in
In order to facilitate the movement and rolling of the strip 2 between the working rolls 3, 3′, the air gap of the rolls in cold-rolling mills is sprayed and lubricated. For this purpose, lubricant fluid is sprayed onto the strip to be rolled and onto the surface of the working rolls. In certain cases, the spray fluid also plays an important role in the evacuation of heat produced in the air gap of the rolls by the reduction of the strip and its plastic deformation. It is thus current practice, in cold-rolling, to cool the working rolls by spraying under pressure with a cooling and lubricating spray fluid. Generally, systems comprising spray nozzles make it possible to spray at least a part of the strip or a part of the rolls with said cooling and lubricating spray fluid.
In the case of a rolling mill of the traditional duo, quarto or sexto type, working rolls can easily be sprayed, since the accessibility of the rolls and the strip is excellent. On the other hand, the very compact design of multi-roll rolling mills, in particular of the 12- or 20-High type, is such that the space available for a spray device for the working rolls is very restricted. Nonetheless, spray devices providing for spraying of the strip and working rolls are known to a person skilled in the art, such as for example for a 20-High rolling mill. In fact, with reference to
In current practice, it is necessary to undertake periodic cleaning/replacement or inspection of the spray nozzles on each spray table. Unfortunately, the spray devices known to a person skilled in the art do not provide for easy access to said spray nozzles or for easy maintenance inspection of the equipment. In fact, even after dismantling the rolls from the roll stand, the design of the spray table hinders any easy access to the spray nozzles on said fixed part of the spray table. Thus, the inspection or cleaning/replacement of the spray nozzles in spray systems known to a person skilled in the art, and the maintenance in general of said spray systems, are complex maintenance operations, lengthy to perform, and thus economically unfavorable. Furthermore, the spray tables known to a person skilled in the art have another disadvantage, which is low rigidity resulting from their cantilevered assembly.
An object of the present invention is to propose a spray device for a multi-roll roll stand for cold-rolling a metal strip capable of resolving the above mentioned disadvantages, while guaranteeing guidance of the strip and protection of the rolling mill rolls and spray nozzles and very significant enhancement of the maintenance needed for the productive operation of the rolling mill.
For this purpose, a new kind of spray device and a method for removing/inserting said spray device from/into the roll stand are proposed by the content of the main claims.
A set of sub-claims also presents advantages of the invention.
The present invention relates to a spray device comprising a plurality of nozzles for lubricating and cooling the air gap of a multi-roll roll stand for rolling metal strips, characterized in that said spray device comprises
Preferentially, said spray device according to the invention comprises an articulated table of elongated shape, which can be fitted, in particular by sliding, into a groove, for example cylindrical, rectilinear, arranged on one side of said fixed table, on at least preferential zones of its entire length. In particular, said articulated table comprises nozzles for spraying at least one working roll, and preferentially, also for spraying adjacent intermediate and bearing rolls in the roll stand, a dispensing network for said fluid for routing said spray fluid towards said nozzles of the articulated table for said lubricating and said cooling of said working roll and preferentially, also for spraying adjacent intermediate and bearing rolls, and at least one connector for connecting its dispensing network (112) to said network for supplying fluid. For this purpose, said articulated table, and thus its nozzles, are in particular adjustable in position by a system for controlling the movement of said articulated table, so as to be able to be directed mainly in the direction of said working roll, and preferentially, also in the direction of said intermediate rolls when said articulated table is mounted in said roll stand. Preferentially, the dispensing network for said spray fluid in said fixed table is independent of the dispensing network for said spray fluid of the articulated table. Furthermore, the connector of each dispensing network for said spray fluid is in particular capable of being automatically coupled to said network for supplying said spray fluid during the insertion of said row of bearing rolls and/or the articulated table into said roll stand and/or the closure of a door on the operator side of the frame of the roll stand, and conversely, of being automatically uncoupled from the supply network during dismantling of said row of bearing rolls or of said articulated table and/or opening of said door in the frame of the roll stand.
In particular, said articulated table comprises at least at one of its ends, in particular positioned on the motor side when it is mounted in said roll stand, a means for coupling to a system, for example mechanical, for transmitting a command for the movement, for example motorized, of said articulated table, said movement command originating from said movement control system, positioned preferentially on the outside of the roll stand on the motor side. Preferentially, said means for coupling to said transmission system is capable of automatically coupling said supply network to said dispensing network for spray fluid of said articulated table.
Furthermore, said means for coupling the articulated table and its interlocking with said fixed table advantageously provide for removal of the fixed table, in particular in upper position, out of the roll stand, and respectively its insertion into the roll stand, independent of removal, respectively independent of insertion, of said articulated table out of, respectively into, said roll stand, and vice versa. Thus, the dismantling or assembly of the fixed table and the articulated table are preferentially independent of one another and can be performed easily. In particular, after coupling a device for removing a row of bearing rolls to a device for coupling said fixed table of said spray device or to a device for coupling said bearing shaft, said fixed table can be removed or mounted simultaneously with said row of bearing rolls to which it is fixed by longitudinal sliding of said row of bearing rolls out of the roll stand or longitudinal sliding into the roll stand in the case of insertion. In particular, said fixed table may comprise, at one of its ends, in particular on the operator side when said spray device is mounted in the roll stand, said coupling device suitable for coupling the fixed table of the spray device to the device for removing said row of bearing rolls. Thus, the removal/insertion of a row of bearing rolls according to the invention makes it possible simultaneously to remove said fixed table, in particular in upper positions, from the spray device according to the invention.
The fixed table is preferentially intended to spray the strip, when entering or leaving the roll stand, and has in particular a geometry suitable for rigid attachment to said mounting plates, but also, preferentially, said geometry is suitable for being supported by said mounting plates. Preferentially, said attachment means are distributed, for example uniformly, across the width of said fixed table, or preferentially solely on the end mounting plates of the row of bearing rolls. According to a preferential embodiment, only the end mounting plates of the row of bearing rolls are rigidly connected to said fixed table, while each of the other mounting plates of said row of bearing rolls is simply in contact with or resting on said fixed table, so as to strengthen its rigidity. Advantageously, the rigid connection of the fixed table of the spray device to the mounting plates provides for said simultaneous removal of the assembly formed by the row of bearing rolls and said fixed table. Furthermore, said rigid connection of said fixed table to said mounting plates thanks to said attachment means makes it possible to stiffen said fixed table, since the latter comprises several bearing and fixing points not only along its length, but also across all of its width.
The present invention also relates to a row of bearing rolls comprising a plurality of bearing rolls and mounting plates mounted, for example alternating, on a single roll-bearing shaft, each bearing roll being in particular edged by two mounting plates, said row of bearing rolls being intended to take up the rolling forces resulting from a multi-roll roll stand, for example of the 12- or 20-High type, characterized in that it comprises said spray device according to the invention for lubricating and cooling the strip and/or the air gap of said roll stand and as described above. Advantageously, said mounting plates can thus act not only as a support for said bearing shaft for the bearing rolls, but also for the spray device according to the invention, in particular for said fixed table and/or said articulated table of said spray device. In particular, each row of bearing rolls of the roll stand the side of which is directly opposite the strip can be fitted with said fixed table. The latter is in particular capable of being rigidly connected to said side directly opposite the strip so as to be as close as possible to the latter. For example, in the case of a 20-High roll stand, the mounting plates of the rows of bearing rolls furthest upstream and furthest downstream of the roll stand are fitted with the spray device according to the invention.
Preferentially, the mounting plates of said row of bearing rolls are configured to be linked by two plates with adjacent surfaces intended to rest on the frame of the roll stand, said plates having adjacent surfaces forming in particular an angle close to 90° with one another, and providing for, among other things, on the one hand an overall increase in the rigidity of said row of bearing rolls and, on the other hand, removal or insertion of said row of bearing rolls and the spray device by longitudinal movement, in particular by sliding out of or sliding into the roll stand by means of a removal device which can be coupled to the device for coupling said fixed table. Also, the integration of a fixed table into said row of bearing rolls makes it possible to facilitate the assembly/dismantling of the upper rows of bearing rolls, since said fixed table in particular for the upper positions can in particular comprise a bearing zone in the low part, i.e. the part close to the strip when said fixed table is fixed to said mounting plates in the roll stand, said bearing zone comprising in particular at least one longitudinal guide in the shape of a groove for the lateral guidance of said row of rolls fitted with the spray device, said groove 111 being able for example to act as said guide, and a flat bearing surface to support said row of bearing rolls during its removal or insertion by means of a device for removing a row of bearing rolls, said guide being capable of interacting with a part of said removal device having a shape complementary to said guide.
The present invention also claims a roll stand with multiple rolls, for example of the 12- or 20-High type, comprising at least one row of bearing rolls as described above. Preferentially, such a roll stand also comprises said control system for said movement of said articulated table, said control system being in particular positioned on the motor side, outside said roll stand and fixed to the door on the motor side of the frame of the roll stand. The positioning on the motor side of the control system advantageously makes it possible, with respect to the prior art, to avoid a stage of dismantling/assembling actuators of said control system located preferentially on the operator side and intended to control the movement of the articulated table and hoses intended to feed the dispensing network (112) of said articulated table during the dismantling/assembly of the spray device or rows of bearing rolls. Furthermore, said positioning also frees space on the operator side and increases the visibility of the strip when the stand is open.
Finally, the present invention also relates to a method for removing, respectively inserting, a spray device as described above, characterized in that it comprises:
Exemplary embodiments and applications provided using the following figures will help give a better understanding of the present invention.
As an example,
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