GB1560154A

GB1560154A - Apparatus for conveying and manipulating rolls

Info

Publication number: GB1560154A
Application number: GB1958477A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Hoesch Werke AG
Current assignee: Hoesch Werke AG
Priority date: 1976-05-21
Filing date: 1977-05-10
Publication date: 1980-01-30
Also published as: FR2351888A1; FR2351888B1; DE2622772B2; DE2622772C3; DE2622772A1; JPS52143571A

Description

(54) IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING AND MANIPULATING ROLLS (71) We, HOESCH WERKE AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT, of Eberhardstrasse 12, 4600 Dortmund, Federal Republic of Germany, a German Company, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: The invention relates to an apparatus for the conveyance and replacement of rolls in roll repairing machines and to roll treatment plant incorporating such apparatus.

In rolling mills it is necessary, after certain running periods and a certain amount of wear, to dismantle the rolls and to replace them by rolls which have had their surfaces prepared for use.

It is already known to use mobile cranes and gallery transport equipment to transfer the worn rolls to waiting positions in the roll repairing workshop and, after a cooling period, to machine the rolls on roll repairing machines. The machining can be carried out on the rolls either with or without the roll supporting equipment. When a roll is to be machined without its supporting equipment (bearings and bearing housings) the latter must be dismantled from the roll in advance.

This can be done either by means of a crane or, for example, by means of hydraulic equipment. Then the roll is deposited by means of a mobile crane upon the roll repairing machine provided with special holding devices and is there machined.

After the completion of this operation the roll is again removed from the roll repairing machine by means of the crane, which is again used to replace the bearings and bearing housings and to deposit it at a storage site, from whence it is taken, if convenient, by the mobile crane and transported to the rolling mill.

If a roll is to be machined whilst assembled to its roll support members (bearings and housing), then these parts remain upon the roll during the operation. However, the bearing housings must, by means of special equipment, be rotated through 90" before the roll is deposited by means of the mobile crane upon the roll repairing machine. The bearing housings must be returned by rotation into their initial position after the removal of the machined roll from the roll repairing machine by means of the mobile crane.

However, this known equipment has the disadvantage that at any one time only one roll is being transported and machined, that is to say that in each case, after the removal and the depositing of a machined roll by means of the mobile crane, a certain period must pass until the next roll can be deposited by means of the same crane upon the roll repairing machine. Because the mobile crane or cranes are frequently also required to do other tasks in the vicinity of the roll repairing machine, the result is that fairly long non-productive periods ensue whilst waiting for the cranes to operate. This means that the total of the setting-up and non-productive periods is very great in relation to the full operating period so that, in the case of modern rolling mills with high rolling outputs and quality standards requiring a correspondingly large number of rolls to be machined in a prescribed time, the requirement is for a large number of roll repairing machines, which means an enorm ous capital expenditure.

Furthermore it is already known to provide special equipment with the object of avoiding the crane waiting periods, this equipment operating by the aid of gallery controlled column cranes and the interposition of a certain number of rolls in the vicinity of the column cranes. Even in this case however there are still long setting-up times because the machine roll must first be suspended, deposited and then uncoupled before the next roll can be suspended and then deposited upon the roll repairing machine.

A further disadvantage of using cranes (both mobile cranes as well as column cranes) for depositing the rolls upon the roll repairing machines resides in the fact that the roll holding equipment in the roll repairing machine can be displaced by inaccurate and heavy depositing of the rolls thereon, which displacement results in inaccuracies during the machining operation.

The present invention provides an apparatus for the conveyance and replacement of rolls in roll treatment machines comprising an intake conveyor upon which the rolls to be machined can lie with their axes arranged transverse to their direction of conveyance, an offtake conveyor upon which the rolls which have been machined can lie with their axes transverse to their direction of conveyance which is common for both the intake and offtake conveyors and, situated between the intake conveyor and the offtake conveyor, a rotary manipulator having two pairs of gripper arms, the manipulator being rotatable about a first axis lying perpendicular to said direction and to the axes of said rolls during conveyance thereof and each pair of gripper arms being displaced through 90" with respect to the other pair of gripper arms about said first axis and being arranged for movements both in common towards and away from said first axis and about a further axis perpendicular to said first axis.

By apparatus embodying the invention it is possible to avoid disadvantages of known arrangements for transporting and replacing rolls upon roll treatment machines and to obtain reliable deposition of the rolls upon such machines and to restrict setting-up periods and non-productive periods to a minimum and to substantially increase throughput, which means a smaller capital investment where a substantial number of rolls is to be machined.

Advantageously devices for rotating a roll bearing or support member are located between the manipulator and the intake conveyor and the offtake conveyor respectively.

Preferably both the intake conveyor and the offtake conveyor are designed as walking beam conveyors.

The invention will be further explained below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a plan view of an apparatus embodying the invention; Fig. 2 shows the apparatus in front elevation; and Fig. 3 is a functional schematic diagram of the apparatus.

As shown in figs. 1 and 2, the apparatus comprises an intake conveyor 2, in the form of a walking beam conveyor, arranged to one side and in front of the roll repairing machine 1, upon which conveyor the rolls 3 to be machined lie with their axes transverse to the direction of conveyance "A", and an offtake conveyor 4 arranged at the other side and in front of the roll repairing machine 1, upon which conveyor the rolls 5 which have been machined can be deposited with their axes transverse to the "B" direction of conveyance. Situated centrally between the intake conveyor 2 and the offtake conveyor 4 and centrally in front of the roll repairing machine 1, is a rotary manipulator 6 having two pairs of gripper arms 7, 8 arranged in super-imposed relation and relatively angularly spaced by 90" about the axis of rotation of manipulator 6 and lowering movement about an axis perpendicular to said axis of rotation and for extending movement. The manipulator includes pneumatic or hydraulic means for effecting these movements of the arms and control means for co-ordinating the movements.

Devices 9, 10 for rotating a roll support member are arranged at the manipulator side of the apparatus adjacent the intake conveyor 2 and the offtake conveyor 4 respectively.

For the replacement of the rolls and their replacement into and out of the roll repairing machine 1, the intake conveyor 2 conveys in succession a certain number of rolls 3 in a regular working cycle, during which the rolls traverse the length of the path "Y" to the device 9 for rotating the roll supporting equipment, deposits a roll 3 upon said device, whereupon the roll supporting equipment 11 of the roll is rotated through 90" by the device 9 for rotating the roll supporting equipment. Whilst the roll 3 is being deposited upon the device 9 for rotating the roll supporting equipment, all the other rolls 3 are shifted forward through the length of path "Y" upon the intake conveyor 2.

Thereafter the upper pair 7 of gripper arms of the manipulator 6 are lowered and extended into a position underneath the roll 3 which has been deposited upon the device 9 for rotating the roll supporting equipment, the roll 3 is lifted by means of the pair of gripper arms 7 which are then retracted.

Simultaneously a roll 12 which has been remachined and which is lying upon the roll repairing machine 1, is taken up out of the roll repairing machine 1 and retracted by means of the lower pair 8 of gripper arms, which are in the staggered position at 900 in the manipulator 6, this operation being performed in the same manner as the taking up of the roll 3 which was lying upon the device 9 for rotating the roll supporting equipment.

Thereafter the entire manipulator 6 is bodily rotated together with the rolls 3 and 12 upon a roller turntable 13 through an angle of 90" in the direction towards the offtake conveyor 4.

When the manipulator has reached this 90" displaced position, both of the pairs of gripper arms 7, 8 together with the respective rolls 3 and 12 are simultaneously extended and then lowered, in the one case over the roll repairing machine 1 and in the other case over the device 10 for rotating the roll supporting equipment, the result of this operation being that the roll 3 is deposited in the roll repairing machine 1 and the roll 12 is deposited in the device 10 for rotating the roll supporting equipment.

The machining of the particular roll 3 which has been deposited in the roll repairing machine begins as soon as both of the pairs of gripper arms 7,8 have again been retracted. At the same time the roll 12, which has been deposited upon the device 10, has its roll supporting equipment 11 rotated through 90" into the normal operating position.

Whilst the roll 3 is being machined in the roll repairing machine 1, a new roll 3 is being loaded by the intake conveyor 2 onto the device 9 for rotating the roll supporting equipment, and the other device 10 for rotating the roll supporting equipment is being unloaded by means of the offtake conveyor 4, whilst all the rolls lying upon the intake and offtake conveyors 2, 4 are further shifted forward in cyclic fashion through the path "Y". Thereafter the roll supporting equipment 11 of the roll 3, which has just been deposited by the intake conveyor 2 upon the device 9, is rotated through 90" into the position ready for machining. Moreover the manipulator 6, together with the retracted pairs of gripper arms 7, 8 is rotated upon the roller turntable 13 through 90" to return to the initial position. The above described replacement and transporting operation, the individual working steps of which are made clear in fig. 3, is repeated every time as soon as a roll situated in the roll repairing machine 1 has been machined to the ready-for-use condition.

Because the net machining time for the rolls is greater than the sum total of the setting-up and non-productive times, it is possible if required to modify the apparatus shown in the drawing by adding a further roll repairing machine at a position opposite the first roll repairing machine and arranged to be supplied by the same roll handling apparatus, whereby the apparatus of the invention is doubly employed and therefore used to better advantage.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. Apparatus for the conveyance and replacement of rolls in roll treatment machines comprising an intake conveyor upon which the rolls to be machined can lie with their axes arranged transverse to their direction of conveyance, an offtake conveyor upon which the rolls which have been machined can lie with their axes transverse to their direction of conveyance which is common for both the intake and offtake conveyors and, situated between the intake conveyor and the offtake conveyor, a rotary manipulator having two pairs of gripper arms, the manipulator being rotatable about a first axis lying perpendicular to said direction and to the axes of said rolls during conveyance thereof and each pair of gripper arms being displaced through 90" with respect to the other pair of gripper arms about said first axis and being arranged for movements both in common towards and away from said first axis and about a further axis perpendicular to said first axis.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which each conveyor is a walking beam conveyor. An 3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 having intake and offtake devices between the manipulator and the intake and offtake conveyors respectively for rotating roll support means associated with a roll about the axis thereof.

4. A roll treatment plant comprising an apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim associated with one or two roll treatment machines, the axis of a roll undergoing treatment in the or each machine extending substantially parallel to the direction of conveyance of the conveyors.

5. A roll treatment plant substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. - - -

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. of 90" in the direction towards the offtake conveyor 4. When the manipulator has reached this 90" displaced position, both of the pairs of gripper arms 7, 8 together with the respective rolls 3 and 12 are simultaneously extended and then lowered, in the one case over the roll repairing machine 1 and in the other case over the device 10 for rotating the roll supporting equipment, the result of this operation being that the roll 3 is deposited in the roll repairing machine 1 and the roll 12 is deposited in the device 10 for rotating the roll supporting equipment. The machining of the particular roll 3 which has been deposited in the roll repairing machine begins as soon as both of the pairs of gripper arms 7,8 have again been retracted. At the same time the roll 12, which has been deposited upon the device 10, has its roll supporting equipment 11 rotated through 90" into the normal operating position. Whilst the roll 3 is being machined in the roll repairing machine 1, a new roll 3 is being loaded by the intake conveyor 2 onto the device 9 for rotating the roll supporting equipment, and the other device 10 for rotating the roll supporting equipment is being unloaded by means of the offtake conveyor 4, whilst all the rolls lying upon the intake and offtake conveyors 2, 4 are further shifted forward in cyclic fashion through the path "Y". Thereafter the roll supporting equipment 11 of the roll 3, which has just been deposited by the intake conveyor 2 upon the device 9, is rotated through 90" into the position ready for machining. Moreover the manipulator 6, together with the retracted pairs of gripper arms 7, 8 is rotated upon the roller turntable 13 through 90" to return to the initial position. The above described replacement and transporting operation, the individual working steps of which are made clear in fig. 3, is repeated every time as soon as a roll situated in the roll repairing machine 1 has been machined to the ready-for-use condition. Because the net machining time for the rolls is greater than the sum total of the setting-up and non-productive times, it is possible if required to modify the apparatus shown in the drawing by adding a further roll repairing machine at a position opposite the first roll repairing machine and arranged to be supplied by the same roll handling apparatus, whereby the apparatus of the invention is doubly employed and therefore used to better advantage. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. Apparatus for the conveyance and replacement of rolls in roll treatment machines comprising an intake conveyor upon which the rolls to be machined can lie with their axes arranged transverse to their direction of conveyance, an offtake conveyor upon which the rolls which have been machined can lie with their axes transverse to their direction of conveyance which is common for both the intake and offtake conveyors and, situated between the intake conveyor and the offtake conveyor, a rotary manipulator having two pairs of gripper arms, the manipulator being rotatable about a first axis lying perpendicular to said direction and to the axes of said rolls during conveyance thereof and each pair of gripper arms being displaced through 90" with respect to the other pair of gripper arms about said first axis and being arranged for movements both in common towards and away from said first axis and about a further axis perpendicular to said first axis.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which each conveyor is a walking beam conveyor. An

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 having intake and offtake devices between the manipulator and the intake and offtake conveyors respectively for rotating roll support means associated with a roll about the axis thereof.