Plate condition tool

A plate condition tool for measurement of condition data of slide gate valve plates coupled to the slide gate valve of a metallurgic vessel, said slide gate valve comprising:

• a collector nozzle protruding from an outer wall of said slide gate valve along a collector nozzle main axis parallel to a slide gate valve first axis X1′, said slide gate valve first axis XI′ defining an orthonormal frame of reference together with slide gate valve second axis X2′ and third axis X3′,
• said slide gate valve being able to switch between an open and a closed configuration by sliding at least two slide gate valve plates with respect to one another,
• said collector nozzle being in fluid communication with a casting channel of said metallurgic vessel when said slide gate valve is in the open configuration,
• said plate condition tool comprising:
• a) a main body comprising an obturator for obturating at least partially the collector nozzle;
• b) a gas injecting device comprising a pressure regulator for injecting a gas in the collector nozzle through the obturator at a target pressure;
• c) a gas flow measuring device for measuring the flow of the gas injected by the gas injecting device or a pressure measuring device for measuring gas pressure in the collector nozzle;
• d) a controller being communicatively connected to the gas flow measuring device or to the pressure measuring device and being configured to receive input data relating to the relative position of the slide gate valve plates,
• wherein the obturator comprises a seal holder for holding a collector nozzle seal,
• said seal holder being movable relative to said main body at least along a forward axis XI of said main body,
• said forward axis defining an orthonormal frame of reference of said main body together with main body second axis X2 and third axis X3,
• and wherein:
• i) the plate condition tool comprises an anchoring system for anchoring the main body to an anchoring portion of the metallurgic vessel or to ground in a vicinity of the metallurgic vessel, in that a distance between a reference point of the main body and a reference point of the outer wall of the slide gate valve cannot exceed a maximal distance D max with respect to said slide gate valve first axis C when said main body is displaced relative to the slide gate valve along said slide gate valve first axis C,
• ii) the anchoring system is configured such that when the main body is anchored to the metallurgical vessel or to the ground in the vicinity of the metallurgical vessel, the seal holder faces the collector nozzle in a plane X2′X3′ of the slide gate valve in that the collector nozzle seal can be pressed along the forward axis XI of the main body against the collector nozzle for obturating said collector nozzle;
• and,
• iii) the plate condition tool comprises a mechanical actuator, said mechanical actuator being coupled to main body and to the seal holder, said mechanical actuator being configured to move the seal holder relative to the main body, at least along said forward axis XI of the main body, such to press the collector nozzle seal against the collector nozzle when (a) the main body is anchored to the metallurgic vessel or to the ground in the vicinity of the metallurgic vessel, and (b) is located at the maximal distance D max.