Method and equipment for bringing metal alloy ingots, billets and the like to the semisolid or semiliquid state in readiness for thixotropic forming
AssigneeReynolds Wheels International Ltd.
InventorsGianni Benni, Giorgio Muneratti, William Taddia, Romano Bettarelli
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Equipment for bringing ingots of thixotropic metal alloy to the semisolid or semiliquid state including a heat chamber for holding the solid ingots introduced at ambient temperature, and a source generating air currents within the chamber to heat the ingots principally by convection, and a unit for controlling the temperature of the ingots. The ingots are supported and conveyed through a circular path internally of the heat chamber by a set of radial platforms revolving between an infeed zone and an outfeed zone.
Claims11
Equipment for bringing metal alloy ingots and billets to the semisolid or semiliquid state in readiness for thixotropic forming comprising:
- a heat chamber;
- conveying and positioning means internal of said heat chamber for conveying a plurality of ingots between an infeed zone at which the ingots are introduced into the heat chamber in the solid state and an outfeed zone at which the ingots are removed from the chamber in the semisolid or semiliquid state;
- heating means operating internally of the heat chamber in conjunction with forced ventilation means to establish convection currents of the heated air to flow over the ingots;
- means to sense the temperature of the ingots in the heat chamber;
- a unit responsive to the sensed temperature of the ingots for controlling the operation of the conveying and positioning means, the forced ventilation means and the heating means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.