# US 11,441,203 B2 · Method for quenching steel pipe, equipment for quenching steel pipe, and method for manufacturing steel pipe > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,441,203 B2 - Document ID: US11441203B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/954,273 - Filed: 2018-11-20 - Published: 2021-03-25 - Granted: 2022-09-13 - Earliest claimed: 2017-12-19 - Assignees: Jfe Steel Corporation - Applicants: JFE Steel Corporation - Inventors: Hiroyuki Fukuda; Hiroyuki Yamasaki; Yasuhiro Nagayama; Ryosuke Tachi; Shunsuke Sasaki - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11441203B2 ## CPC - C21D 9/085: {Cooling or quenching} - C21D 1/00: General methods or devices for heat treatment, e.g. annealing, hardening, quenching or tempering - C21D 1/18: Hardening (C21D1/02 takes precedence); Quenching with or without subsequent tempering (quenching devices C21D1/62) - C21D 1/667: for spray quenching - C21D 8/10: during manufacturing of tubular bodies - C21D 9/08: for tubular bodies or pipes - B05B 9/035: {to several spraying apparatus (B05B9/0423 takes precedence)} - B21B 45/0215: {using liquid coolants, e.g. for sections, for tubes} - C21D: MODIFYING THE PHYSICAL STRUCTURE OF FERROUS METALS; GENERAL DEVICES FOR HEAT TREATMENT OF FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS METALS OR ALLOYS; MAKING METAL MALLEABLE, e.g. BY DECARBURISATION OR TEMPERING (surface treatment of metallic material involving at least one process provided for in class C23 and at least one process covered by this subclass C23F17/00; unidirectional solidification of eutectic materials or unidirectional demixing of eutectoid materials C30B) - B05B: SPRAYING APPARATUS; ATOMISING APPARATUS; NOZZLES (spray-mixers with nozzles B01F25/72; processes for applying liquids or other fluent materials to surfaces by spraying B05D) - B21B: ROLLING OF METAL (auxiliary operations used in connection with metal-working operations covered in B21, see B21C; bending by rolling B21D; manufacture of particular objects, e.g. screws, wheels, rings, barrels, balls, by rolling B21H; pressure welding by means of a rolling mill B23K20/04) ## Abstract The invention is intended to provide a method for quenching a steel pipe, equipment for quenching a steel pipe, and a method of manufacturing a steel pipe that enable a steel pipe to be conveyed at high speed. The method for quenching a steel pipe includes the steps of: conveying a steel pipe onto a rotatable supporting member using a walking-arm type revolving conveyance apparatus; and rapidly cooling the steel pipe with first spray nozzles disposed above the pipe while the steel pipe is being rotated about a pipe axis of the steel pipe on the rotatable supporting member in a state where movements of the steel pipe in a direction parallel to and in a direction perpendicular to the pipe axis are stopped. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method for quenching a steel pipe, the method comprising the steps of: conveying a steel pipe onto a rotatable supporting member using a revolving conveyance apparatus; and cooling the steel pipe with first spray nozzles disposed above the pipe while the steel pipe is being rotated about a pipe axis of the steel pipe on the rotatable supporting member in a state where movements of the steel pipe in a direction parallel to and in a direction perpendicular to the pipe axis are stopped, the first spray nozzles being disposed along an axial direction of the steel pipe with an angle of 20 to 70° from the uppermost part of the pipe in a circumferential direction, the first spray nozzles being disposed except a swept range W of the revolving conveyance apparatus in a longitudinal direction of the steel pipe, the first spray nozzles including inclined spray nozzles that are disposed by being tilted toward the swept range W, and flat spray nozzles that are disposed adjacent to the inclined spray nozzles at equal intervals with a predetermined pitch D in the longitudinal direction of the steel pipe, the inclined spray nozzles being disposed by being offset by a distance S from the predetermined pitch D, and being tilted with an angle θ of 30° or less, where the angle θ is determined in terms of the relationship θ=arctan(S/H), where S is the distance from the predetermined pitch D of the flat spray nozzles and H is an injection height of the first spray nozzles, and the inclined spray nozzles spraying water asymmetrically with respect to a center axis of the inclined spray nozzles to produce a uniform distribution of water flow in the longitudinal direction of the steel pipe. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method for quenching a steel pipe according to claim 1, wherein the first spray nozzles disposed above the pipe are disposed opposite to each other across the longitudinal direction of the steel pipe lying in the middle. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method for quenching a steel pipe according to claim 2, wherein the first spray nozzles disposed above the pipe are disposed opposite to each other with offset of a pitch of D/4 to 3D/4 along the longitudinal direction of the steel pipe. ### Claim 4 (depends on 2) The method for quenching a steel pipe according to claim 2, wherein the revolving conveyance apparatus includes a pipe hold-down member that holds down the steel pipe rotating on the rotatable supporting member. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The method for quenching a steel pipe according to claim 4, wherein the revolving conveyance apparatus includes second spray nozzles that cool a region where the first spray nozzles disposed above the pipe interfere with the pipe hold-down member. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method for quenching a steel pipe according to claim 1, further comprising moving the rotatable supporting member, and/or the first spray nozzles disposed above the pipe in a vertical direction based on an outer diameter of the steel pipe. ### Claim 7 Equipment for quenching a steel pipe, the equipment comprising: a revolving conveyance apparatus for conveying a steel pipe; a rotatable supporting member that supports the steel pipe conveyed by the revolving conveyance apparatus, the rotatable supporting member supporting the steel pipe by rotating the steel pipe about a pipe axis of the steel pipe in a state where movements of the steel pipe in a direction parallel to and in a direction perpendicular to the pipe axis are stopped; and first spray nozzles that cool the steel pipe from above the steel pipe rotating on the rotatable supporting member, the first spray nozzles being disposed along an axial direction of the steel pipe with an angle of 20 to 70° from the uppermost part of the pipe in a circumferential direction, the first spray nozzles being disposed except a swept range W of the revolving conveyance apparatus in a longitudinal direction of the steel pipe, the first spray nozzles including inclined spray nozzles that are disposed by being tilted toward the swept range W, and flat spray nozzles that are disposed adjacent to the inclined spray nozzles at equal intervals with a predetermined pitch D in the longitudinal direction of the steel pipe, the inclined spray nozzles being disposed by being offset by a distance S from the predetermined pitch D, and being tilted with an angle θ of 30° or less, where the angle θ is determined in terms of the relationship θ=arctan(S/H), where S is the distance from the predetermined pitch D of the flat spray nozzles and H is an injection height of the first spray nozzles, and the inclined spray nozzles spraying water asymmetrically with respect to a center axis of the inclined spray nozzles to produce a uniform distribution of water flow in the longitudinal direction of the steel pipe. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The equipment for quenching a steel pipe according to claim 7, wherein the first spray nozzles disposed above the pipe are disposed opposite to each other across the longitudinal direction of the steel pipe lying in the middle. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The equipment for quenching a steel pipe according to claim 8, wherein the first spray nozzles disposed above the pipe are disposed opposite to each other with offset of a pitch of D/4 to 3D/4 along the longitudinal direction of the steel pipe. ### Claim 10 (depends on 8) The equipment for quenching a steel pipe according to claim 8, further comprising a pipe hold-down member that holds down the steel pipe rotating on the rotatable supporting member. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The equipment for quenching a steel pipe according to claim 10, further comprising second spray nozzles that cool a region where the first spray nozzles disposed above the pipe interfere with the pipe hold-down member. ### Claim 12 (depends on 7) The equipment for quenching a steel pipe according to claim 7, wherein the rotatable supporting member, and/or the first spray nozzles disposed above the pipe are movable in a vertical direction according to an outer diameter of the steel pipe. ### Claim 13 A method of manufacturing a steel pipe by quenching whereby a steel pipe as raw material is cooled after heating, or a hot-rolled high-temperature steel pipe is directly subjected to cooling, the cooling in the quenching comprising the steps of: conveying a steel pipe onto a rotatable supporting member using a revolving conveyance apparatus; and cooling the steel pipe with first spray nozzles disposed above the pipe while the steel pipe is being rotated about a pipe axis of the steel pipe on the rotatable supporting member in a state where movements of the steel pipe in a direction parallel to and in a direction perpendicular to the pipe axis are stopped, the first spray nozzles being disposed along an axial direction of the steel pipe with an angle of 20 to 70° from the uppermost part of the pipe in a circumferential direction, the first spray nozzles being disposed except a swept range W of the revolving conveyance apparatus in a longitudinal direction of the steel pipe, the first spray nozzles including inclined spray nozzles that are disposed by being tilted toward the swept range W, and flat spray nozzles that are disposed adjacent to the inclined spray nozzles at equal intervals with a predetermined pitch D in the longitudinal direction of the steel pipe, the inclined spray nozzles being disposed by being offset by a distance S from the predetermined pitch D, and being tilted with an angle θ of 30° or less, where the angle θ is determined in terms of the relationship θ=arctan(S/H), where S is the distance from the predetermined pitch D of the flat spray nozzles and H is an injection height of the first spray nozzles, and the inclined spray nozzles spraying water asymmetrically with respect to a center axis of the inclined spray nozzles to produce a uniform distribution of water flow in the longitudinal direction of the steel pipe. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The method of manufacturing a steel pipe according to claim 13, wherein the first spray nozzles disposed above the pipe are disposed opposite to each other across the longitudinal direction of the steel pipe lying in the middle. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The method of manufacturing a steel pipe according to claim 14, wherein the first spray nozzles disposed above the pipe are disposed opposite to each other with offset of a pitch of D/4 to 3D/4 along the longitudinal direction of the steel pipe. ### Claim 16 (depends on 14) The method of manufacturing a steel pipe according to claim 14, wherein the revolving conveyance apparatus includes a pipe hold-down member that holds down the steel pipe rotating on the rotatable supporting member. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The method of manufacturing a steel pipe according to claim 16, wherein the revolving conveyance apparatus includes second spray nozzles that rapidly cool a region where the first spray nozzles disposed above the pipe interfere with the pipe hold-down member. ### Claim 18 (depends on 13) The method of manufacturing a steel pipe according to claim 13, further comprising moving the rotatable supporting member, and/or the first spray nozzles disposed above the pipe in a vertical direction based on an outer diameter of the steel pipe.