Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
1~ .
- The invention relates.to a casting installation
of the type including a plurality OI melt vessels,
each of which is selectively movable to a casting
~ - station and includes a sliding gate valve and is
! 5~ concerned with the operation of the said slidlng
I gate valves.
In installations of this type it is conventional
to provide an individual drive motor and a reduction
gear for each sliding gate valve and to mount it
; 10~ fixedly on the melt vessel as the gate valve itself
This ~in contrast to actuation of the gate valve by
means of a xemovable hydraulic cylinder) is
I considered to be necessary in order to ensure an
. unimpeded mechanical force transmission between
the motor and thegate valve via the gear membersO
However, in comparison to hydraulic actuation, this
requires a considerably increased expense and the
relatively deli.cate motor is always subject to very
demanding operating conditions, not only at
20.. the casting station but also during transport of the
melt vessel which may be a steel casting ladle or
an intermediate vessel of a continuous casting
illS tallation~
It is the primary object of the present invention
to provi.de a more economical means for actuating the
sliding gate valves on the melt vessels of a
casting installation.
According to the present invention -there is
provided a casting installati~n including a plurality
` 30~ of melt vessels each of which is selectively movable
.~, ~
2~
to a casting station and includes a sliding gate
val~e connected to a reduc-tion gear, each reduction
gear being connected on its input side to a first
rotary coupling member, the installation further
5. including a single rotary drive unit connected to
an extensible universal-jointed sha~t and a second
rotary coupling member which is readily releasably
securable to any one of the first rotary coupling
members .
10. In the installation .in accordance with the
invention, the single drive unit present at the
~ casting station can actuate the sliding ga-te valve
6 of as ~.any melt vessels as is required one a~ter
s the other. ~navoidable differences in positioning
15. and in the dimensions of the individual vessels
are compensated for by the universal-jointed
extensible sha~t and the latter together with the
second rotary coupling member have only a small
' torque to transfer to the drive side of the
`~ 2G. speed reduction gear This ensures that the reaction
forces ~etween the drive unit and the vessel, which
is generally freely suspended, also remain small.
In one embodiment of the invention the rotary
drive unit is fixedly mounted at the casting station.
25~ It can then be accommodated at a protected position
and the ener~y supply, e.g. an electrical or
hydraulic lead, can also be permanently installed.
In this manner maintenance is simpllfied and
; operational security increased~ Alternatively, when
~ 30. the installation includes a plurality of casting
3,
- - ladles which are to be moved into different casting
positions whilst suspended from a crane, e.g. when
ingot casting the rotary drive unit may be readily
releasably securable to any one of the melt
5. vessels when in the casting position so as to be
supported thereby. In addition to a main motor,
the drive unit preferably also includes a standby
or emergency motor. The reduction gear mounted on
each melt vessel must not of necessity be constructed
10. to effect the entire speed reduction, and thus
a speed reduction gear which effects part of the
speed reduction between the drive unit and the sliding
gate valve can be provided on the rotary drive
unit.
15. The invention i5 applicable to all motor driven
types of slidiny gate valve, that is to say
particularly rotary sliding gate valves but also
pivotal sliding gate valves and, with an appropriate
construction of the reduction gear, linear sliding
20. gate valves. In this connection it is also possible
that different types of gate valve variously
"
connected to the melt vessels of the installa-tion
may be operated by one and the same drive unit.
Three specific embodiments of the invention
25. will now be described in more detail with reference
`~ to the accompanying diagran~latic drawings, in which:-
Figure l is a side view of the casting station,
~ of e.g. a continuous casting installation with
`` a drive unit ~ixedly mounted on a ladle truck;
30. Figure 2 is a perspective view of a construction
7~
.
with a drive unit connected to a casting ladle; and
Figure 3 is a detailed scrap underplan view of
the connection between a universal-jointed shaEt
and a reduction gear in conjunction with.a linear
5. sliding gate val~e.
Figure 1 shows a casting truck 1 situated at
the casting station of a casting installation and
.supporting one casting ladle 2 of a plural.ity of such
ladles supported on the truck in a known manner by
10, means of side bars 3, .Beneath the casting ladle
there is an intermediate vessel 5 (tundish),
into which the melt is discharged fxom the ladle 2
A sliding gate valve 10~ in this case a rotary
. sliding gate valve, is mounted on the base of the
I 15. ladle to regulate the melt discharge, and a
`, reduction gear ll.is also mounted on the ladle 2
i to actuate the valve 10.
At a suitable position on the casting station,
in this case on a cantilever 4 projecting from
, 20. the casting truck 1, a rotary drive unit generally
designated 20 is.fixedly mounted. This includes
a drive motor 21 and a telescopically extensible
` universal-jointed shaft 22 which is provided
at its end with a rapid coupling 24. The gear 11
25, has a stub shaft 12 on its input side for rotary
. connection with the rapid coupling 24.
The rotary drive unit 20 with the telescopic
universal-jointed shaft 22 and rapid coupling 24
are thus part of the casting station equipment,
30. whilst each casting ladle 2 intended at some time
to be moved to this casting station is provided
.
~ ~ ~
- ~.9~7~
5,
- with a sliding gate valve 10 and an associated reduction
gear 11. The drive connection between~the motor 21
and the sliding gate valve 10 on the casting ladle
at the casting station is effected by plug connecting
5. the rapid coupling 24 to the stub shaft 12, and when
casting is finished the drive connection is
separated again in a similar manner. The universal-
jointed shaft and the rapid coupling are of a construct-
ion known per se and can be constructed relatively
10, lightly because only a relatively small torque is to
be transmitted to the input side of the reduction
gear. By virtue of the extensible universal-jointed
shaft, the precixe positioning of the casting ladle 2
on the ladle truck 1 with respect to the casting
15, station is not critical. With this construction
the motor 21 can easily be accommodated at a protected
position where it is much less subject to heat
radiation. In this manner the expense of malntenance
is considerably reduced and the operational security
20. increased. In addition to the main motor 21
an emergency or standby motor 21' can, as shown,
be pxovided, e.g. an electric motor as main motor
;~ can be combined with a hydraulic motor as emexgency
motor.
25. If the intermediate vessel 5 is also provided
with a bottom gate valve for the regulation of
the discharge, the same drive arrangement can in
principle also be provided for this valve. A
` bottom gate valve 10' with a reduction gear 11l and
30. a rotary coupling portion 12' on the input side are
`
6,
shown in Figure 1 in chain dotted lines on the
intermediate vessel 5. The associated.rotary drive
unit (not shown), which is part of the
equipment of the casting station, can then be
5. mounted, for instance fixedly or on the tundish
truck. The production and release of the drive
connection between the drive unit and the reduction
gear 11' when exchanging the intermediate vessel
occurs in the same manner as described above in
10, conjunction with.the casting ladle 2 by means of
the rotary coupling portion 12' and the associated
rapid coupling.
A fixed arrangement of the drive unit at the
casting station is possible i the melt vessels
15. always adopt substantially the same casting position.
If~ on the other.hand, as is common when casting
into ingot moulds, casting ladles are moved
successively into different casting positions-
! whilst supported on the casting crane, an arrangement
20. as shown in Figure 2 is appropriate. The rotary
drive unit generally designated 30 is connected in
; an easily releasable manner to a casting ladle 2 of
several such ladles by plug connecting it to
appropriate side bars on the ladle shell by means
. 25. of pintles 35 by using an auxiliary crane to engage
the eyes 34. The casting ladle 2 shown in the casting
position over an ingot mould 6 is again equipped
with a bottom gate valve 10, e.g. a rotary gate valve~
; and an associated reduction gear 13. The rotary
30. drive unit 30 includes a motor 31 mounted on a
~ ~.g ~171
7.
~ support 33 and an extensible universal-jointed
- shaft 22 provided with a rapid coupling 240 When
the unit 30 is secured to the ladle 2 the rapid
coupling 24 can be easily coupled to and uncoupl-ed
5~ from the stub shaft 14 of the gear 13 As shown
in Figure 2, a partial speed reduction can be
provided between the motor 31 and the shaft 22,
as here in the form of a spur gear 32, so that the
gear 13 on the ladle thus does not perform the
10. entire rotary speed reduction. Of importance is that
the torque transmitted between the coupling members
24 and 14 is still relatively small, compared to
the torque necessary at the gate valve 10, whereby
the reaction forces which load the releasible
15. connection between the drive unit and the casting
ladle, i.e. the plug connection 35,also remain small.
j When the ladle 2 is empty, the drive unit 30
is disconnected from it and connected to a fresh
ladle and casting continues.
` 20. Figure 3 is a scrap view on a larger scale
of an embodiment of the invention incorporating
a linear sliding gate valve; the components forming
part of the equipment of the melt vessel but only
the end of the extensible universal-jointed shaft 22
25. with its universal joint 23 and plug coupling 24
of the drive unit associated with the casting station
are illustrated. The schematically illustrating
sliding gate ~alve 1~" is secured to the base of the
ca~ting ladle 2. The associated speed reduction
30. gear 15 includes a threaded spindle 18 of which one
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~` ~ 6~L7~L
end is splined and.radially and axially located
in a bearing 17, The other end of the spindle 18 is
in engagement with a threaded.hollow bush 19 which
is connected to the.slider of the gate valve 10"
5. and moves.the latter linearly when the threaded
splndle 18 is rotated, A coupling box 24 on the
universal joint 23 is plug connected to the shaft
end 16 in a manner known per se and secured, e,g~
by means of a tangential pin and thereby constitutes
l~. a releasible rotary drive connection, Thus this
embodiment also permits the actuation of the bottom
gate valve of a plurality of melt vessels when in
the casting position by means of a single drive
motor associated with the casting station. It is
l5. thus not necessary to equip each vessel with a motor,
such as an electric motor, and furthermore the
relatively delicate motor at the casting station
can be accommodated at a position in which it is
substantially better protected than it would be on the
20, casting vessel itself,
By virtue of the extensible universal-jointed
shaft, which in the instal.lations described above
effects the connection between the casting station
equipment and the respective melt vessel, a precise
25. positioning of the latter at the casting station
is not essential and hori~ontal and vertical
positional deviations and also slight oscillatory
movements can be compensated for without difficulty~
The melt vessel can also be moved away without delay
30, from the casting station in an emergency, even without
a
-- - ~3 96~7~L
- previously releasing the rapid coupling 24, In this
event the inner shaft of the universal~jointed shaft
22 is pulled out of its hollow.outer shaft and
remains hanging and each component remains hanging
5~ on the relevant universal joint.
