Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
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The invention relates to a change-over car for
me-taLlurgical vessels, especially steel-plant converters.
Vessel change-over cars are used to transport ~etal-
lurgical vessels, the lining of which has become worn, from
the vessel stand to a relini~ s-tand and back again. To this
end, the vessel mus-t be released from its retaining ~eans. In
steel plants, the said retaining means are in the form of
tilting frames, carrier rings~ pivot arms, casting devices,
and the like. The vessels are transported on intersec-ting
tracks, the chassis of the car being lifted at the track
intersection, rotated through 90, and set down upon the other
- track. To this end, the car of the present invention makes use
of a hoisting piston located at the centre of the car chassis,
it being known to provide hoisting pistons located at the ends
of the car. The latter, however, must be able to hoist to a
considerable height, since the car, with the vessel, must be
lifted to the operating position of the said vessel.
Retaining means for metallurgical vessels are of widely
varying designs. The retaining means employed in the car of
the invention requires a hoisting table which will lift the
vessel in guides which have become distorted due to heat or
wear.
The hoisting table compensates for this inaccuracy by
means of the interposed pivotable joints, preferably ball-and-
socket joints, and tension members hinged thereto.
It is known from German Auslegeschrift 20 08 396 to
compensate for these inaccuracies by means of individual
adjustment of the hoisting table's height and inclination, in
that pairs of hoisting devices are arranged at the corners of
the rectangular car chassis, the said hoisting devices having
universal joints at their ends, to which cylinders are
attached, additional universal joints being provided on tension
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members constituting a connection with a bridge carrying
the vessel. In this configuration, the tension members may
adjust themselves in the form of a parallelogram while the
hoisting devices maintain their vertical positions. Al-
though the adaptability of the two bridges meets practical
requirements, the "bridge" system requires a relatively
wide and long change-over car. Thus known change-over cars
require a wide rail-track which is abnormal.
It is the purpose of the present invention to
provide a transport vehicle or car for metallurgical ves-
sels, equipped with hoisting devices for a hoisting table
having an articulated mounting, in such a manner that they
are compact from the point of view of the arrangement of
the hoisting devices and as regards the hinge system for
the hoisting table, thus making it possible for the vehicle
to be made narrower than heretofore and to run on tracks of
normal width. The vehicle is also to be lighter and is to
be suitable for small and large metallurgical vessels with
minor structural modifications.
The present invention provides a transport vehicle
for metallurgical vessels, comprising a carriage frame; rail
engaging wheels on said carriage frame; an interior frame
rotatably mounted on said carriage frame; ground engaging
fluid pressure means on said interior frame for lifting
said frame from said rails; a lift table on said vehicle
for receiving metallurgical vessels therein; second fluid
pressure means on said interior frame for raising and
lowering said lift table; means connecting said second
fluid pressure means to said lift table, said connecting
means including at least one ball-and-socket joint means
connected to an articulated stabilizer support means; the
improvement characterized by said second fluid pressure
means positionedwithin abase support space defined by the
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diameter of a vessel to be supported; said connection means
includes a plurality of spaced apart intermediate connection
elements in said base support space and rigidly connected to
said lift table and extending below said lift table; said
stabilizer support means includes a plurality of cooperating
stabilizers in said base support space and extending between
said second fluid pressure means and said intermediate con-
nection elements; the top of each stabilizer support means
connected to the top of said fluid pressure means; the
bottom of each stabilizer support means connected to the
bottom of said cooperating intermediate connection elements;
and said top and bottom connections of said stabilizer sup-
port means being said ball-and-socket means. This arrange-
ment provides hoisting units located closer to the centre
of the change-over car. Although this central arrangement
below the vessel results in a very high structure, this
problem is overcome, according to the invention, by the use
of the said intermediate connection elements. The articu-
lated support of these elements in the lower parts of the
car or vehicle results in a considerable reduction in its
height. It is desirable to use stabilizer support means
which are tension members of a cross-section suitable for
high tensile forces and which thus contribute to the reduc-
tion of the width of the structure. The length of the ten-
sion members is a characteristic which increases the adapt-
ability of the supports to distorted vessel surfaces.
Longer tension members assist adaptability by increasing
the horizontal displaceability of the lift table. By vir-
tue of the separation of piston-cylinder units forming the
second fluid pressure means from the tension members, the
use of relatively small cross sections, and long tension
members, the change-over car formed by the transport vehicle
of the invention may be made quite compact. This compact
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design reduces the width, thus allowing the car to travel on
standard steel-plant tracks. Furthermore, the design accor-
ding to the invention saves a considerable amount of weight,
and it may also be used for both large and small metallurgi-
cal vessels.
According to the preferred form of the invention,
the intermediate connection elements are in the form of sup-
ports extending downwardly from the lift or hoisting table
and associated with piston-cylinder hoisting units distri-
buted around its periphery. It is desirable for the length
of the intermediate connection elements to be approximately
equal to that of the intermediate members, thus providing a
substantial reduction in structural height. In this case,
the load on the intermediate members is a buckling load,
wheras the load on the tension members is a tensile load.
The piston-rods of the piston-cylinder units are therefore
stressed only in tension. Although such piston-cylinder
units have a long travel, they are less expensive and are
lighter.
The intermediate connection elements or members
may be in the form of forked supports extending downwardly
from the hoisting table, with one piston-cylinder unit
arranged within each space enclosed by the forks. This
arrangement also reduces the structural width of the car.
In another modification, the intermediate members
are in the form of U-shaped frames each mounted upon one of
the joint housings of the piston-rods. The advantage of
this arrangement is that it achieves double-hinging of the
hoisting table and doubling of the number of support-
points for the hoisting table, which results in still bet-
ter adaptability at the contact points when the vessel is
installed. The invention assumes that the hoisting table
is deformed elastically under the weight of the vessel,
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which may amount to some hundreds of tons. The double hin-
ging action readily compensates for this deformation.
The adaptability of the hoisting table to the
inserts for retaining the vessel may also be improved by
using U-frames in the form of downwardly-open housings
surrounding the periphery of the joint housing with a cer-
tain amount of displacement-play. The independence of
individual support-locations may also be increased by join-
ing all of the U-frames rigidly together, by means of bars,
to form a polygon.
In the case of vessels having retainers on oppo-
site sides of their circumferences, it is desirable for
the piston-cylinder units, with the intermediate members,
to be arranged on the long
.
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sicles of the c,lr to ~o~ access apertures.
~ccording to still another preferred form of the inven-
tion, an arrangement of the ho:is-ting devices and link~system
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which reduces the s-tructural width of the car consists in that
the upper ends of the hois-ting members, hinged to the inter-
mediate members, are hinged to the cross-member of a guide-
column arranged ver-tically and centrally between the supports
and mounted displaceably in a guide housing. This arrangemen-t
reduces the structural width of the car and also provides the
desired horizontal displaceability of the hoisting table and
its supports over a range of about 30 - 70 mm.
In another preferred configura-tion, the tension members
themselves may be in the form of piston-cylinder units, a ball-
and socket joint being provided on each cylinder-housing and
piston-rod.
The guide column, which is displaceable in a guide
housing, may also be in the form of a piston-cylinder unit.
The structural height of the hoisting table may be still
further reduced by making the guide-column, which is displace-
able in the guide-housing, in the form of a telescopic piston-
cylinder unit.
~ For link-systems providing, as with the arrangement
described~ horizontal displacement of the hoisting table over
only a range of about 30 to 70 mm, and for link-systems accor-
iC'C~ /4 f c J
ding to the invention in which dauble~adaptation hinging is
considered desirable, provision is made for the supports carrying
the metallurgical vessel to be in the form of short-lift piston-
cylinder units arranged upon the hoisting table or upon the U-
frames associated with the piston-cylinder units.
Finally, extremely low structural height of the change-
over car may be achieved by providing the inner frame part with
vertical recesses for the downwardly-ex-tending intermediate
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members of piston-cyl:inc1er units.
Embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the
drawings a-ttached hereto, by way of example only, and are
explained in greater de-tail hereinafter. In the said drawings:
Figs. 1 to 4 show longi-tudinal sections through four
different examp]es oE vessel change-over cars according to the
invention;
Fig. 5 shows a longitudinal section through a fifth
example of a vessel change-over car according to the inven-tion;
Fig. 6 is a plan view of the car of Fig. 5;
Fig. 7 shows a longitudinal section through a sixth
example of a vessel change-over car according to the invention;
Fig. 8 is a plan view of the car of Fig. 7.
Referring to the drawings, wherein like reference
numerals indicate like parts, a vessel change-over car l
consists of a frame 2 with an inner frame-part 2a and an outer
frame-part 2b supported on wheels 3, 4. Car l is adapted to
travel on track 5, the width of which is about 4300 mm. In
contrast to this, the track-width for known change-over cars
is 6200 mm, for example. Inner frame part 2a carries exten-
sible pistons 6a, 6b which bear upon surface 7 of the shop
floor at the side of the track. Inner frame-part 2a lifts
outer frame part 2b. In its lifted position, outer frame part
2b can be adjusted to a new track direction by means of a
rotary bearing 8 and a drive which is not necessary to an
understanding of the invention and is therefore not shown.
Cylinder lO for piston ll is supported in hub 9 on
outer frame part 2b. Cylinder lO and piston ll form a piston-
cylinder unit supporting hoisting table 12 through tension
members 13 (Fig. l). These members form at least one group
consisting of three piston-cylinder units, the cylinders of
which, as seen in plan view, are arranged at the corners of a
trian~Jle. Ilowe~ve~, g~oups of ~our or more tension members 13
may also be provicle~:~. In cJeneral, a tension member 13 is
assoc:iated with edch piston-cylinder uni-t 11 arranged externally
of the centre. Each pis-ton-cylinder unit 10, 11 carries a ball-
and-socket join-t 1~. In Figs. 1 to 4, this ball-and-socket
joint is located on ten~ion members 13~ According ta Fig. 2, a
ball-and-socket joint 14a is arranged at the upper end 13a of
each tension member 13, while a ball and-socke-t joint 14b is
arranged at the lower end 13b of each tension member 13.
According to Fig. 1, these tension members may be designed
simultaneously as piston-cylinder units 10, 11 with piston lOa
and cylinder lla. In the design according to Fig. 1, both
piston 10 in cylinder 11, and piston lOa in cylinder lla, are
designed to be acted upon by a pressure fluid.
During the hoisting operation, piston unit 10, 11 is
first actuated. When this has reached its maximal height,
pistons lOa in cylinders lla are actuated. The total lift is
unusually high, as shown in dotted lines 15 ln Fig. 1, but there
is no need to dispense with the link-system of tension member 13.
According to Fig. 2, tension members do not perform a
dual function, i.e. they do not act simultaneously as tension-
rods and piston-cylinder units; instead they are in the form of
tension-rods hinged, by means of ball-and-socket joints 14a, 14b,
. .
to cross-member 16 of piston-rod llb.
In the case of Fig. 2, piston-cylinder unit 10, 11 con-
sists of telescoping piston-cylinder unit 10, 11, 17, piston 11
acting in cylinder 17 as an initial hoisting stage. During the
second hoisting stage, the outside of cylinder 17 forms the
piston itself in cylinder 10.
In the design according to Fig. 3, piston 10 in cylinder
11 is the sole hoisting means. Tension members 13 are in the
form of bars or tubes.
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The desiyn according to Fig. 4 provides a guide column
18 and a guide housing 19 acting merely as vertic~l guides;
they are not supplied with pressure Eluid. The hoisting devices
consist of pistons lOa and cylinders lla acting simultaneously
as tension members 13.
~11 piston-cylinder units 10, 11 and lOa, lla are
located upon approximately a circle corresponding to an
approximately circular surface 20 (Fig. 5) of vertical vessel
21. This arrangement, which is basically disadvantageous for
the operating and s~ructural height o~ hoisting table 12, is
compensated for by two intermediate members 22 (22a, 22b)
extending downwardly from the said hoisting table. In change-
over cars of extremely low structural height, intermediate
members 22 project into recesses 23 in inner frame-part 2a, and
are rigidly attached to hoistiny table 12.
The term "hoisting table" is to be understood to mean
all supports upon which the vessel rests during change-over or
transporting. Thus the "hoisting table" may be in the form of
an annular support, i.e. it may consist of an infinite number
of support points (Figs. 1 to 4), of four supports (Figs. 5 and
6), or of at least three supports (Figs. 7 and 8). In Figs. 1
to 4, the supports are in the form of rings upon which are
arranged supports 24a or short-lift piston-cylinder units 24b.
The latter make it possible to carry out additional hoisting
movements in all directions, in order to adapt vessel 21 to
major inaccuracies in its retainer.
Intermediate members 22 are in the form of supports 22a,
22b, at the lower ends of which are locatea ball-and-sccket
~c;rts ~4b of tension m~mher~ 13 .~llnnnrts 22. ~en~r~ing tn
Figs. 7 and 8, are in the form of forks 25, in spaces 25a, 25b
of which piston-cylinder units lOa, lla are arranged in a
space-savlng manner.
In contrast to ~he desicJns according to Figs. 1 to 4,
outer frame part 2b carries inclividually arranged piston-
cy]inder units 10, 11. Located within ~oint hous:ing 14c is a
further ball-ancl-socket joint 14, not shown, connected to
piston-rod lOc of piston-cylinder unit 10, 11, the connection
being substantially in the form of a ring which prevents the
ball from falling out. Joint housing 15c rests upon the said
ball. Tension members 13 are hinged as described hereinbefore.
Ends 13a, 13b constitute, with ball-and-socket joints 14a, 14b,
the connections to intermediate members 22 consisting of U-
frames 22c, the latter forming a downwardly-open hcusing 26.
The latter surrounds joint housing 14a with a certain amount
of play 27, i.e. an annular gap exists between U-frame 22c and
joint housing 14c, allowing displacement of the said U-frame.
The displacement of the four U-frames 22c takes place jointly,
since all of the said U-frames are connected rigidly together
by means of bars 28a, 28b, 28c and 28d, thus producing an
adaptable hoisting table 12.
In Fig. 5, the sides to the left and right of axis of
symmetry 29 are shown in the raised position (left) and in the
lowered position (right). In the arrangement of piston-
cylinders units lOa, lla according to Fig. 6 (and acçording
to Fig. 8 also), access apertures 30a, 30b are arranged on
longitudinal sides la, lb of the car.
As already mentioned, hoisting table 12 may be annular
(Figs. 7, 8) and may be bent and extend downwardly. In this
case, a car of extremely low structural height may be achieved
by means of recesses 23 provided in outer frame part 2b. As
ind icated in ~igSe 7 and 8 the necessary lifting heiqht of
table 12 extends approximately to the level of control chamber
31 (shown in dotted lines). The structural height of the car
is thus considerably lower than that of known cars in which
the p:is-ton-cy:Linder units projec-t subs-tantially beyond the
control chamber.
The vessel change-over car is equipped with drive motors
32 for wheels 3, 4. Iloisting table 12 has lateral access
apertures 30a, 30b and work plat:Eorms 33a, 33b.
Ins-tead of piston-cylinder units 10, 11 and lOa, lla,
it is also possible to use threaded-shaft-and-nut hoisting
means, in which case the necessary reduc-tion gearing, electric
motors, and oil motors producing a ro-tary motion, if necessary
with universal joints interposed, must be arranged upon outer
frame part 2b.
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