US 4,585,411 A · Method and walking beam furnace for the intermediate heating of pipes in hot rolling mills

Abstract

This invention relates to a method of and a walking beam furnace for the intermediate heating of pipes, or the like, in hot rolling mills, by means of a furnace located between the plug-mill and the sizing mill. According to the invention, in a forehearth (17) of the intermediate heating furnace, at the inlet side thereof, there is maintained a temperature which is lower than that at the outlet side, and which, anyway, is such that the hottest pipes will be cooled down and the coldest pipes will be heated up whereby, when exiting from said forehearth (17) of the furnace, the difference between the temperatures of the various pipes is zero or, at least, is small and, in any case, is smaller than that at the inlet, whereas in the successive chamber (18) of the furnace there is maintained such a temperature as to give the pipes the desired temperature when exiting from the furnace. Preferably, the forehearth (17) is not provided with burners and is heated in an indirect manner by the successive furnace chamber (18) which is provided with one or more burners (19). This invention also provides an intermediate heating furnace of the walking beam type, provided with loading or charging means (11;31) permitting some pipes, or the like, to be charged into the furnace even after an emergency interruption of the discharging operation.

Claims15

Dependent claims

A walking beam furnace for hot-rolling pipes or the like, located between a rough-roller and a sizing roller, comprising fixed beams (1) and walking beams (2) formed with a plurality of pipe-carrying grooves over the entire length thereof, characterized in that the number of said grooves is higher than the number of pipes usually accommodated in the furnace, whereby some of them will be left available and are used in case of an emergency to receive the pipes which are upstream of the furnace and which have already been worked in a plug-mill, a charger means (11;

31) for introducing and charging the pipes into the furnace to leave said emergency grooves empty when the furnace is working normally and to introduce into the furnace and position into said empty grooves the pipes coming from the plug mill when as many pipes cannot be discharged from the furnace due to the disactivation of the sizing mill located downstream, said charging means comprising a door (3;
23) for closing the furnace and for introducing the pipes into the furnace, and a charger device (11;
31) adapted to receive the pipes just introduced by said door and to convey said pipes over the grooves to be left empty for said emergency and to place said pipes onto the fixed beams (1) and walking beams (2) to convey them toward the outlet according to the normal operational cycle, said charger device comprising means for selectively effecting strokes above the empty grooves to position in each groove one of the pipes which has been introduced during an emergency.

A walking beam furnace for the intermediate heating of pipes during the hot rolling thereof, said furnace comprising:

(a) a forehearth zone without burners and a heat zone with burners, arranged in series between charging and discharging ends of the furnace,
(b) a plurality of parallel stationary beams extending longitudinally between the charging and discharging ends of the furnace,
(c) a plurality of parallel walking beams extending longitudinally between the charging and discharging ends of the furnace,
(d) pipe-carrying notches in the top side of the stationary and walking beams,
(e) at least one pipe-storage notch provided in the top side of each of the charging ends of the stationary beams which is out of the operating range of the walking beams,
(f) means for raising and lowering the walking beams and moving them back and forth in the longitudinal direction of the furnace to transport the pipes stepwise through the furnace from one of the pipe-carrying notches in the stationary beams to another,
(g) a charging door at the charging end of the furnace, pivotally mounted about an horizontal axis for introducing the pipes one at a time into the furnace,
(h) a charger device mounted in the furnace at the charging end thereof and provided with at least one pipe-carrying notch,
(i) means for raising and lowering said charger device and for reciprocating it in the longitudinal direction of the furnace, from a pipe-receiving position in proximity to the charging door to receive a pipe introduced by the charging door, to a pipe-depositing position to deposit the pipe either in a pipe-storage notch or in a first pipe-carrying notch of the stationary beams, or else from a pipe-withdrawal position, to take up a pipe from a pipe-storage notch of the stationary beams, to a pipe-depositing position to deposit the pipe in said first pipe-carrying notch of the stationary beams.

6 more elements

A walking beam furnace for the intermediate heating of pipes during the hot rolling thereof, said furnace comprising:

(a) a forehearth zone without burners and a heat zone with burners, arranged in series between charging and discharging ends of the furnace,
(b) a plurality of parallel stationary beams extending longitudinally between the charging and discharging ends of the furnace,
(c) a plurality of parallel walking beams extending longitudinally between the charging and discharging ends of the furnace,
(d) pipe-carrying notches in the top side of the stationary and walking beams,
(e) at least one pipe-storage notch provided in the top side of each of the charging ends of the stationary beams within the operating range of the walking beams,
(f) means for raising and lowering the walking beams and moving them back and forth in the longitudinal direction of the furnace, to transport the pipes stepwise through the furnace from one of the pipe-carrying notches in the stationary beams to the other, or from one pipe-storage notch in the stationary beams to the first pipe-carrying notch thereof,
(g) a charging door at the charging end of the furnace, pivotably mounted about an horizontal axis for introducing the pipes one at a time in the furnace,
(h) a charger device mounted in the furnace at the charging end thereof and provided with at least one pipe-carrying notch,
(i) means for reciprocating said charger device in the longitudinal direction of the furnace from a pipe-receiving position in proximity to the charger door, to receive a pipe introduced by the charging door, to a pipe-delivery position, in which its pipe-carrying notch is aligned either with a pipe-storage notch or a pipe-carrying notch in the stationary beams.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Method and walking beam furnace for the intermediate heating of pipes in hot rolling mills

Life of this patent

Method and walking beam furnace for the intermediate heating of pipes in hot rolling mills

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims15