U.S. patent application number 12/924393 was filed with the patent office on 2012-03-29 for split cooler for a steel mill.
Invention is credited to Mario Fabris.
Application Number | 20120073344 12/924393 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 45869262 |
Filed Date | 2012-03-29 |
United States Patent
Application |
20120073344 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Fabris; Mario |
March 29, 2012 |
Split cooler for a steel mill
Abstract
A cooler that is easily dis-assembled is disclosed here. The
cooler has two halves which co-operate together to form a cooling
passage way to cool a steel work product as it passes through the
cooler. A pair of tubular half sections are fastened to each half
section to expose the passage way when the two halves are
separated. A steel work product normally passes through this
passage way. If the steel work product should break during a
rolling process then the cooler is removed and opened for
inspection. If a piece of the steel work product is present in the
exposed passage way it is easily removable and the cooler is
reassembled and the rolling process begins
Inventors: |
Fabris; Mario; (Grimsby,
CA) |
Family ID: |
45869262 |
Appl. No.: |
12/924393 |
Filed: |
September 28, 2010 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
72/201 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B21B 45/0224
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
72/201 |
International
Class: |
B21B 45/02 20060101
B21B045/02 |
Claims
1. A cooler for a steel mill in which substantially similar hollow
shells are clamped together to which are secured sections of
cooling tubes for the passage of cooling water there through, where
said cooling water impinges on a work product passing through said
tube sections and which is cooled by the exiting of cooling water
passed through said cooling tube sections, said cooler being
dismantable so that said cooling tube sections become accessible in
said dismantled cooler so that clearing of the passageway said tube
sections is facilitated.
2. A cooler as claimed in claim 1 wherein there are two shells in
said cooler.
3. A cooler as claimed in claim 2 wherein said tube sections have a
number of slanted openings therein to permit cooling water to exit
upon said work product.
4. A cooler housing a tubular enclosure extending the length of
said cooler, said tubular enclosure having an interior and an
exterior and comprising at least two parts, said tubular enclosure
being separable along its length into two half tubes so that the
interior of said tubular enclosure may be exposed when said tubular
enclosure is dismantled, each half of said tubular enclosure having
a plurality of slots formed therein, and a source of coolant
supplied to the exterior of said tubular enclosure for passage
through said slots, and said cooler is supplied with suitable
container means for housing said tubular enclosure.
5. A cooler as claimed in claim 4 wherein said tubular enclosure
has an entrance end and an exit end for the passage of a hot steel
work product there through.
6. A cooler as claimed in claim 4 in which the slots in the parts
of the tubular enclosure are slanted with respect to the
longitudinal axis of said tubular enclosure.
7. A cooler as claimed in claim 4 wherein said container comprises
two parts and said tubular enclosure is mounted in and supported by
said container.
8. A cooler to be used in a metal reducing steel mill comprising a
container being constructed of at least two parts, a tubular
enclosure separably joined along the longitudinal axis, mounted in
said container parts, said tubular enclosure having entrance and an
exit apertures which coincide with openings formed in said
container, and slots being formed in said tubular enclosure, said
slots being skewed with the longitudinal axis of said tubular
enclosure, and, coolant being circulated in the space existing
between said container and said tubular enclosure, said coolant
passing through said slots of said tubular enclosure,
Description
[0001] This invention describes an improvement made to U.S. Pat.
No. 7,257,976.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] This invention relates to steelmaking techniques by rolling
the hot work product into a bar or wire and using a cooler between
the various rolling stages. Basically the improvement resides in
using a split cooler which may be easily taken apart when the hot
work product breaks while being manufactured. The hot work product
produces "cobbles" which generally are hot pieces of the metal and
these pieces may be found in each cooler when such breakage of the
hot work product occurs.
[0003] The occurrence of such an event causes a rather large time
delay in the production of steel in the rolling process and it is
here that the present invention makes its presence felt. The split
cooler of this invention may be taken apart quite easily so that
any foreign debris may be removed quickly and the cooling device
re-assembled so that the steel mill is working again in a much
shorter time than with the prior art cooling models.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0004] Two substantially hollow shells are clamped together above a
suitable water header by a suitable clamping device. Four split
tubular coolers are mounted in a suitable fashion in the shells of
the device. A coolant substance (usually water) is introduced into
the cooler device from a water supply from below the device. Water
is allowed to enter the two half shells from below and the water is
fed to a number of plenums which extend around the split tubes and
from these plenums coolant water flows through the cooling
apertures in the split tubes where it impinges on the hot steel
workpiece and then escapes from the cooler device through
especially designed escape routes. These escape routes include,
exits in the shells shown at the ends of the split cooling tubes
(located at the middle of the shells) and at each end of the split
tube where the hot workpiece enters and leaves the cooler.
[0005] When a breakage occurs in the hot metal product (which is
undergoing reduction) it is a relatively straightforward procedure
to unclamp this cooler containing hot metal product (as well as any
other coolers containing the hot metal product being rolled) from
the water trunk line, and remove the hot metal product
therefrom.
[0006] Re-assembly occurs and the line of coolers is soon ready to
receive the hot steel product.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] FIG. 1 is a perspective of a split cooler of applicant's
invention.
[0008] FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the device of FIG. 1.
[0009] FIG. 3 is a perspective drawing showing applicant's device
in a steel mill.
[0010] FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the applicant's device.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0011] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the cooling device of this
invention. Here a steel work product cooler 10 is shown. Cooler 10
is comprised of two substantially hollow shells 12 and 14. Steel
work product enters the cooler 10 via aperture 16 and leaves by
aperture 18.
[0012] Reference may now be had to exploded view FIG. 2. Each shell
captivates two half tubular members in place, shell 12 holding
split tubular members 20 and 22 in place, and shell 14 holding
split tubular members 24 and 26 in place. Shells 12 and 14 are
essentially hollow having water inlets at pipes 28 and 30. The
cooling water circulates in each of the shells 12 and 14 until it
is a passed through cooling apertures 32 to 46 onto the moving work
product (not shown in FIGS. 1 and 2). As the cooling water impinges
upon the moving steel work product it cools it. The half tubes
20-26 are sealed in their respective shells 12 and 14 so that the
cooling water is only allowed to escape only where the hot steel
strand 76 (work product) enters or leaves the half tubes 20-26
sealed in the shells 12 and 14, or at the apertures 48 and 50 of
the shell 14.
[0013] Shells 14 and 16 are held together by suitable clamping
means (not shown) and half tubes 20-26 are suitably located and
held in place by bolts 52-70.
[0014] A pair of dowels 72 and 74 are shown in FIG. 2 and serve to
locate the shells 12 and 14 in their proper working relationship
before being clamped together.
[0015] The cooler 10 functions as follows. A work product 76 is
threaded into the steel reducing mill which includes passage
through coolers such as the cooler shown as 10 in FIG. 1. Because
the diameter of the work product is almost the same as the
apertures 16 and 18 in the cooler 10 as shown in FIG. 1 it is
easier to thread the work product 76 through the mill with the
coolers intact.
[0016] The coolers such as the one shown in FIG. 1 are thus clamped
to a suitable water header (below) which supplies coolant (usually
water) to the coolers (above). The coolers such as cooler 10 are
clamped to the header (not shown) by some method so that the
coolers such as cooler 10 are arranged to be fed with cooling water
through the tubes 28 and 30.
[0017] Work product 76 is threaded through the system which
includes the cooling system comprising coolers such as cooler 10
and the cooling water is running with water cooling the work
product 76 at each cooler located thereat. All is well until a
workpiece 76 strand breaks and a broken part of the work product
remains in a cooler. With prior art models the broken work product
has to be pushed out of the cooling chamber so that the cooler 10
is ready for a new workpiece 76 to be inserted therein.
[0018] With this invention, the cooling water is turned off, the
clamp is released and the cooler is removed from the header. The
shells 14 and 16 are separated and the split tubes 24 and 26 remain
with the half shell 14 while split tubes 20 and 22 remain with half
shell such as 12. Now all that is left for the operator to do is to
pick out the broken piece of the work product 76 that was
previously passing through and re-assemble the cooler and clamp it
in place on the header.
[0019] The system may be restarted with the work product 76 passing
through the mill components as previously.
[0020] Many modifications and other embodiments of the invention
will come to mind of one skilled in the art, having the benefit of
the teachings presented in the foregoing description and the
associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the
invention is not to be limited to the specific embodiments
disclosed, and that the modifications and embodiments are intended
to be included within the scope of the dependent claims.
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