Cooling of cast billets
AssigneeAlusuisse-Lonza Services Ltd.
InventorsMiroslaw Plata, Jean-Jaques Theler
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The method and the apparatus serve to cool cast billets made of an aluminum alloy after a homogenizing anneal. The billets emerging from a full-annealing furnace continuously one after the other in the longitudinal direction at a first temperature are guided in-line through a spray unit at a program-controlled feed rate and while being sprayed on all sides with the cooling medium in a program-controlled manner to reach an adjustable surface temperature. The internal and surface temperature of the billets are equalized a short time after leaving the spray unit. The spray unit for the billets (16) passing through in-line is equipped over its entire length and over the entire periphery of its inner space with nozzles which can be adjusted as a whole, in groups or individually.
Claims13
Method of cooling cast billets made of an aluminum alloy after a homogenizing anneal, which comprises:
- providing billets having a surface and an internal portion;
- feeding the billets emerging from a full-annealing furnace continuously one after the other in the longitudinal direction at a first temperature (T.sub.1) to a spray unit;
- guiding said billets in-line through the spray unit at a program-controlled feed rate and while being sprayed on the surface with a cooling medium in a program-controlled manner to reach an adjustable surface temperature (T.sub.2);
- and
- equalizing the internal and surface temperature of the billets after leaving the spray unit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.