Metallurgical apparatus – Means sealing or opening aperture in vessel – By means plugging aperture
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-23
2001-06-19
Kastler, Scott (Department: 1742)
Metallurgical apparatus
Means sealing or opening aperture in vessel
By means plugging aperture
C266S271000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06248288
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a swivelling device with jib for swivelling a working unit between a rest position and an operating position. A device of this type is used, for example, to swivel a taphole gun mounted on the jib into an operating position in front of the taphole of a blast furnace and for subsequent pressing of the gun against the taphole.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A conventional swivelling device for a taphole gun comprises in an already known way a jib, the taphole gun being mounted on its free end. The other end of the jib is pivoted in a fixed supporting structure. The swivelling range of the jib should be as large as possible to enable the gun to swivel as far as possible from the runner. Furthermore, it should be stated that modern taphole guns operate with increasingly higher plugging pressures. Consequently the swivelling device, which is to press the plugging gun against the taphole, must also be designed for increasingly higher contact forces.
Hydraulic cylinders are currently used in the taphole plugging machines to swivel the jib. When work was still carried out with lower plugging pressures on the blast furnace, rotary motors were also used as the jib drive instead of the hydraulic cylinders. A taphole plugging machine with an electric motor is described, for example, in DE-A-895604. This electric motor transmits its force moment via a toothed-wheel and worm mechanism to the jib. A magnetic brake permits locking of the jib in the operating position. It is obvious that in the case of modern plugging machines with extremely high contact pressures such a solution is no longer economically viable.
A taphole gun with a hydraulic cylinder and hydraulic rotary motor is already known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,765,663. An arm securely connected to the jib, on which the piston rod of a double-acting hydraulic cylinder is secured by a first swivel joint, extends radially to the swivelling axis of the jib. The casing of this hydraulic cylinder is secured by a second swivel joint to a fixed arm, which projects a long way beyond the supporting structure of the jib. The hydraulic rotary motor is secured in the jib. It engages via a pinion with a gear wheel securely mounted on the supporting structure of the jib. This rotary motor swivels the jib between a rest and an operating position. The task of the hydraulic cylinder is merely to transmit a force moment to the jib in the operating position in order to press the gun against the taphole and subsequently pull it off again. The hydraulic cylinder is switched on only in a short swivelling range near the furnace. Its two pressure chambers are discharged to the tank over the remaining swivelling range. The stroke of the hydraulic cylinder is designed in such a way that during swivelling of the jib the length of the hydraulic cylinder is automatically adapted to the variable distance between the first and second swivel joints. In other words the swivelling device is a closed three-element mechanism, whereby the supporting structure forms the frame, the supporting arm the driven element, and the hydraulic cylinder, as an element with a variable length, closes the mechanism between the supporting structure and the jib.
A swivelling device for a taphole gun, which is intended to be characterised by its compactness, is already known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,247,088. It comprises a jib to carry the taphole gun, a supporting structure, in which the jib is pivoted at one end about a swivelling axis, a rotary drive to swivel the jib between its rest position and operating position and a hydraulic cylinder to generate a contact force. The hydraulic cylinder is supported by a lateral arm of the supporting structure. It is not securely connected to the jib, but can engage in a tooth system when the jib is swivelled into the operating position.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is based on the task of creating a more compact swivelling device.
Like the swivelling device from U.S. Pat. No. 4,247,088, a swivelling device according to the invention comprises a jib to carry the working unit; a supporting structure, in which the jib is pivoted at one end about a swivelling axis; a rotary drive to swivel the jib between its rest position and its operating position and a stroke generating drive to produce a contact force. In this configuration, as already mentioned, the supporting structure forms the frame, the supporting arm the driven element of a mechanism, which is closed by a stroke generating drive between the supporting structure and the jib. The swivelling device according to the invention likewise comprises a coupling device, which is connected in series to the stroke generating drive in such a way that the stroke generating drive can be disconnected from the positive movement of the mechanism. In other words an automatic change in length of the stroke generating drive during swivelling of the jib can be prevented by the coupling device. Consequently the total stroke of the stroke generating drive need be designed only for its actual function, i.e. the generation of a contact force in the operating position. By disconnecting the stroke generating drive during swivelling of the jib additional freedom of design with regard to arrangement of the stroke generating drive in the swivelling device is obtained. According to the invention this freedom of design is utilised in that the hydraulic cylinder is arranged along the jib, is supported by the latter and can bear on the supporting structure via the engaged coupling device to transmit a contact force. Consequently the swivelling device according to the invention is extremely compact. Furthermore, the power requirement of the swivelling device can be clearly reduced in many cases by disconnection of the stroke generating cylinder.
In a first advantageous embodiment the coupling device comprises a swivelling arm, which is pivoted in the supporting structure. The stroke generating drive is mounted between the swivelling arm and the jib. With the coupling device disconnected this swivelling arm can swivel freely in relation to the supporting structure and the jib, its swivelling axis being essentially coaxial with the swivelling axis of the jib. A locking device permits locking of the swivelling arm in the operating position in relation to the supporting structure, with the result that the stroke generating drive is engaged in the swivelling mechanism to transmit a contact force.
In a first embodiment a locking device for the swivelling arm described above has a bolt which can be inserted into and withdrawn from a suitable oblong hole for locking the swivelling arm in relation to the supporting structure. The locking bolt can be inserted in and withdrawn from the oblong hole e.g. by a short-stroke cylinder.
In a second embodiment a locking device for the swivelling arm described above has a swivelling locking bar, which in order to lock the swivelling arm can be swung into a position in which it rests against an abutment when the swivelling arm is in the operating position. The advantage of this locking device is that a shock-absorber, which dampens the coupling of the lifting drive to the swivelling mechanism, can be installed relatively easily in the abutment.
Swivelling devices according to the invention are advantageously suitable, for example, to carry a taphole gun, the latter being pivoted at the free end of the jib. In a first embodiment of this taphole plugging machine a rigid control rod is flexibly connected to the taphole gun and the supporting structure. This control rod thus determines the alignment of the taphole gun as a function of the swivelling angle of the jib in an already known way. If the swivelling device is equipped with the swivelling arm described above, however, the control rod can also be pivoted on this swivelling arm instead of on the supporting structure. In this case an active adjusting element, which allows the length of the control rod to be varied selectively, is mounted in the control rod so that the alignment of the taphole
Kremer Victor
Lonardi Emile
Malivoir Philippe
Berkowitz Marvin C.
Kastler Scott
Nath Gary M.
Nath & Associates PLLC
Paul Wurth S.A.
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