Apparatus for cooling sheet steel by water spraying
AssigneesIshikawajima-Harima Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd.
InventorsOsamu Takeuchi, Haruo Kokubun, Hisashi Yoshinaga, Shuichi Hara, Hiromichi Ban
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Cooling water is sprayed under a predetermined pressure range and at a predetermined discharge rate over the both surfaces of a sheet to be treated which is reciprocated lengthwise at such a velocity that the product of the reciprocating velocity and thickness of the sheet may be maintained within a predetermined range. The spraying direction of each spray nozzle is individually controlled so that any water remaining over the surface of the sheet may be expelled out. The method and apparatus is especially adapted for use in the normalizing process and in the process for cooling hot-rolled sheet steel.
Claims6
An apparatus for cooling sheet steel by water spraying comprising
- (a) a lower wheel conveyor section,
- (b) an upper wheel conveyor section dispoed above said lower wheel conveyor section in symmetrical relationship therewith so as to define a path of travel therebetween of a sheet of steel to be cooled,
- (c) a reversible drive unit drivingly coupled to said lower wheel conveyor section so that said sheet of steel placed thereon may be reciprocated lengthwise,
- (d) lower and upper water spraying systems disposed immediately below and above said lower and upper wheel conveyor sections, respectively, each of said lower and upper water spraying systems including an array of water spray nozzles directed toward said sheet of steel,
- (e) each of said water spray nozzles being constructed whereby the cooling water fed into the inlet of the spray nozzle is divided into two flows or jets having different vectors, and said two flows or jets strike against each other just within the orifice of the spray nozzle, whereby the cooling water may be atomized or broken up into extremely fine droplets only under the pressure of the cooling water,
- (f) each of said spray nozzles being provided with spray-direction control means which causes the associated spray nozzle to change the spray direction or the axis of said associated spray nozzle through a predetermined angle range in a plane widthwise and perpendicular to said sheet of steel on said lower wheel conveyor section in response to deformations of said sheet of steel,
- (g) a vertical drive unit for moving said upper wheel conveyor section up and down in unison with said upper water spraying system,
- (h) a cooling water supply system for supplying the cooling water under pressure to said array of spray nozzles in each of said lower and upper water spraying systems, the spray nozzles in each of said lower and upper water spraying systems being divided into at least two groups in the lengthwise direction of said apparatus, and
- (i) flow control means for supplying cooling water to each of said groups of spray nozzles.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.