Integrated plant for the production of rolled stock

Details Integrated plant for the production of rolled stock Integrated plant for the production of rolled stock

1999-05-21

2001-09-18

Dunn, Tom (Department: 1725)

Metal founding

Process

Shaping liquid metal against a forming surface

C164S417000, C164S477000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06289972

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF INVENTION
The present invention relates to an integrated plant for the production of elongated metal products, such as bars or rods, and the like. More particularly, the invention involves an integrated plant in which an elongated metal product is produced in a continuous caster and is thereafter directly operated upon in a rolling mill apparatus disposed in-line with the caster in a substantially continuous sequence. Moreover, the invention relates to an integrated plant for the production of elongated metal products starting from the liquid steel upstream of the continuous caster and, with an automatic and continuous process, obtaining a quality finished product, already treated thermally and in its surface. All the indispensable operations for arriving at the finished and packaged product are executed in line with benefits both as to material yield and as to the mill utilization factor.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Various systems are known for the production of cast, hot rolled and heat treated products, such as bars or rods, and the like. However, such processes conventionally utilize off-line heat treating and metal processing facilities.
It has commonly been the practice to separate the caster and the rolling mill in order to enable product which has been prepared by a variety of preliminary processing procedures to be preliminarily processed and thereafter introduced to the rolling line. More recently, since the development of “hot charging” processes, it is known to provide transport means and storage devices for handling cut to length billets or blooms and to introduce them while hot to a heating furnace. While this practice saves energy and reduces the need for billet storage, it suffers the drawbacks of reduced material output due to the need for cropping the cast product into short lengths, the presence of short bars in the bed, and the generation of scale in the furnace.
Although several of these defects have been overcome by the method for the continuous casting of long products as described in European Patent Application No. EP 0 761 327 to Meroni, et al. and in a co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/315,844 entitled “Endless Casting Rolling System With Single Casting Stand” by the inventor hereof, both of which patent applications are assigned to the assignee hereof, the disclosed methods suffer from their own drawbacks in that the rolling mill is essentially dedicated to a single caster and casting line, and is therefore restricted to rolling speeds which conform substantially with the casting speed of product from the caster. Consequently not only may production output be reduced, but also limitations are imposed on the performance of the rolling mill.
It is to the amelioration of these drawbacks that the present invention is directed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention there is provided apparatus for the production of elongated rolled product comprising continuous casting equipment operative to produce a plurality of parallel lines of elongated product, a rolling mill positioned downstream of the continuous casting equipment in alignment with one of the lines of product, and a tunnel furnace disposed intermediate the continuous casting equipment and the rolling mill along the one line of product. The tunnel furnace has a length at least equal to the length of the product received from the continuous caster and a width effective to enclose all of the plurality of parallel lines of product. Means are provided for sequentially transferring product within the tunnel furnace from a line other than the one line of product into the one line of product for delivery to the rolling mill.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a production line which is adapted for the production of elongated product, particularly, in the form of bars or rods in which the yield of the plant is optimized.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a line for the production of elongated bar or rod product in which the size of the heat treating and metal processing facilities of the plant is minimized, thus to provide production efficiencies.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a production facility in which the operating speed of the casting equipment may not dictate the operating speed of the rolling mill.
It is another object to provide a casting strand aligned with the rolling mill that can be used to continuously feed the mill without intermediate bar cuts. The plant therefore offers, on the one hand, the advantage of using a single strand thereby obtaining high performances, and on the other, the possibility of using two or more strands thus achieving greater operational flexibility.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a facility in which production output is increased through the use of plural casters.
For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and the specific objectives obtained by its use, reference should be made to the accompanying drawings and description which relate to a preferred embodiment thereof.


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