JP3002356B2 - Upper electrode connection device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electric furnace used for melting and refining a metal material, which is used when an upper electrode of the electric furnace is consumed and a new upper electrode is added to the electric furnace. The present invention relates to an electrode connection device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an electric furnace, since an upper electrode is constantly consumed, it is necessary to successively add a new upper electrode. One of the most important operations in the extension work of the upper electrode is alignment of the upper electrode. That is, the extension of the new upper electrode and the upper electrode in use held by the electrode holder is made by screwing the nipple male thread of the new upper electrode and the female thread of the upper electrode in use, so that If the screw is not aligned properly,
Centering of both electrodes is a very important problem, as it leads to breakage of the screw and also breakage of the upper electrode. In addition, in this centering operation, the vicinity of the electric furnace has a high temperature and a lot of dust,
Since the environment is extremely poor for manual work, there is a problem that work efficiency is reduced and safety is lacking. Further, it is conceivable that the work efficiency is further reduced due to the increase in the diameter of the upper electrode accompanying the increase in the size of the electric furnace.

[0003] Therefore, proposals have been made to solve the above problems. For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 55-46036
In the publication, in order to perform the centering work remotely, the device main body, the rotation drive unit, the gripping unit, and the like can be integrally tilted with respect to the suspension arm by the tilt drive device. Also, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 56-17797,
A new upper electrode that is flexibly suspended from the upper electrode connection device via a universal joint by providing a cylindrical electrode guide whose diameter gradually increases upward on the electrode holder and raising the electrode holder The tip of the electrode will gradually enter toward the center of the guide tube, and as a result,
It is possible to align the male thread of the new upper electrode with the female thread of the upper electrode in use.

In Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. Sho 62-104396, a plurality of guide rods are arranged on an electrode holder, and the upper electrode connection is suspended flexibly and rotatably by a ceiling crane via a crane hook. When a guide hole is provided in the device and the nipple male screw part of the new upper electrode is screwed into the female screw part of the upper electrode in use, the above-mentioned guide hole and the above-mentioned guide rod receive the rotation reaction force of the main body with the electrode holder. Is possible.

[0005]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, Japanese Patent Publication No. 55-
In the proposal of JP-A No. 46036, the mechanism and structure are complicated by tilting the apparatus main body including the rotation mechanism by the tilt drive device, and using a plurality of drive mechanisms such as rotation, tilt, and the like, and The control system and the position detection system tend to be sophisticated. For this reason, assembly and maintenance became difficult, and the equipment cost was high.

In Japanese Patent Publication No. 56-17797, the guide tube itself does not have the function of receiving the rotational reaction force of the main body, and other means, such as supporting the rotational reaction force from a crane girder, etc. Means (for example, Tokiko Sho 61
-165992). In addition, since the new upper electrode is flexibly suspended from the upper electrode connecting device via the universal joint, the crane is lifted by the upper electrode connecting device so that the new upper electrode is positioned above the upper electrode in use. When the crane moves, the alignment operation cannot be performed until the shaking of the new upper electrode due to the inertia at the time of starting and stopping the crane stops. In addition, since the centering operation is performed by bringing the corner of the new upper electrode into contact with the edge of the guide tube, there is a disadvantage that the corner of the electrode is sometimes lost.

In Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. Sho 62-104396, since the upper electrode connecting device is rotatably suspended by a ceiling crane via a crane hook, the above-mentioned guide may be changed depending on the rotation angle of the connecting device. Since the position of the hole and the guide rod is displaced in the rotation direction, the worker must rise to the electric furnace and manually rotate the connection device to align the position of the guide hole and the guide rod, and the centering work must be performed remotely. It has the disadvantage that it cannot be performed reliably in a short time.

An object of the present invention is to provide an upper electrode connecting device having the following features. The centering operation can be reliably performed in a short time by remote control with a simple structure without the need for a complicated tilt drive device and an advanced control system and position detection system. It has a simple mechanism that has both a centering function and a rotation reaction force receiving function. The corners of the electrodes do not break during alignment. After the center of the electrode in use and the center of the new electrode are aligned by the centering guide, the insertion of the guide rod into the guide tube can be performed reliably and easily by rotating the entire apparatus.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is to connect a lower end of a new upper electrode by screwing it to an upper end of a used upper electrode held in an electrode holder of an electric furnace. In the device, a plurality of guide rods are arranged on the main body of the upper electrode connecting device downward around the new upper electrode, and a horizontal centering guide slidable up and down is provided at the lower end of the guide rod. Providing a guide tube on the upper surface of the electrode holder at a position corresponding to the guide bar, forming the guide tube so as to gradually increase in diameter toward the entrance of the guide bar, and / or terminating the end of the guide bar. , Or the electrode holder is provided with two positioning blocks for the centering guide.

[0010]

In the present invention, by providing a U-shaped centering guide disposed horizontally at the lower end of the guide rod, the upper electrode connecting device can be made horizontal from the direction in which the U-shaped centering guide is released. By moving and the centering guide hitting the upper electrode in use, the centering operation between the upper electrode in use and the new upper electrode can be performed reliably and easily.
When a new upper electrode is lifted by the upper electrode connection device,
The new upper electrode between the guide rod and the centering guide of the device can be confirmed reliably, so even when the device is moved horizontally and moved over the upper electrode in use, the new upper electrode There is no collision with the upper electrode and no loss.

A plurality of guide rods are arranged on the main body of the apparatus downward around the new upper electrode, and a guide tube is provided on the upper surface of the electrode holder in an arrangement corresponding to the guide rod. By lowering the apparatus main body, the tip of the guide rod gradually enters toward the center of the guide tube, and as a result, the nipple male thread of the new upper electrode is being used by the rotation drive unit. Alignment of the upper electrode with the internal thread can be reliably performed in a short time by remote control.

[0012] Alternatively, the U-shaped centering guide for centering is formed by two positioning blocks, and the horizontal movement of the crane causes the nipple male thread of the new upper electrode and the female thread of the upper electrode in use. Alignment can be reliably performed in a short time by remote control. In addition, when the nipple male screw portion of the new upper electrode is screwed into the female screw portion of the upper electrode in use by the rotation drive unit, the rotation reaction force of the main body can be received by the electrode holder by the guide rod and the guide tube. .

[0013]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view showing one embodiment according to the present invention, and shows a state in which an upper electrode connecting device 1 has been moved to a position above an upper electrode 9 in use. FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a side view of a state before the nipple 16 male thread of the new upper electrode 8 is screwed into a female thread of the upper electrode 9 in use, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a side view showing a state in which the nipple 16 male screw portion is screwed into the female screw portion of the upper electrode 9 in use, that is, a state in which the electrode is connected. FIG. FIG. 6 is a side view of a state in which the upper end of the upper electrode 8 is gripped and replaced with a lower end of the new upper electrode 8, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a side view showing a state in which the lifting rod 3 at the lower portion of the upper electrode connecting device 1 is released, and then the upper electrode connecting device 1 is wound up and the guide rod 5 is separated from the guide tube 11. FIG. 8 shows another alternative of the embodiment according to the present invention, in which the U-shaped centering guide 6 is applied to the positioning block 23 in a state where the upper electrode connecting device 1 is located above the upper electrode 9 in use. It is the whole perspective view which shows a state.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the upper electrode connecting device 1 is hung by a hook 4 of an overhead crane, provided with a rotary drive unit 2 at an upper portion, and a lower portion of the rotary drive unit 2 is connected via a connection shaft. A structure in which a new upper electrode 8 is lifted by the lifting screw portion 3, a plurality of guide rods 5 are provided around the lower part of the main body 21, and a support plate 22 is provided in the middle of the guide rods 5. A centering guide 6 is provided at the lower end of the guide rod 5 with a rope 7 suspended from a support plate 22 so as to be vertically slidable. Compressed air hose 1 for supplying compressed air to blowout port 13 for blowing off and cleaning
4 and a power cable 15 for supplying power to the drive unit 2.

The centering guide 6 installed horizontally at the lower end of the guide rod 5 has a U-shaped structure in which one direction is open instead of the entire circumference as shown in FIG. When the centering guide 6 moves horizontally from the opening direction of the centering guide 6 and hits the upper electrode 9 in use, the center of the upper electrode 8 in use and the new upper electrode 9 are aligned. It can be performed reliably in a short time without any auxiliary work. As shown in FIG. 1, when a new upper electrode 8 is lifted by the upper electrode connecting device 1, the new upper electrode 8 can be reliably visually recognized from between the guide rod 5 and the centering guide 6 of the upper electrode connecting device 1. Therefore, even when the upper electrode connecting device 1 is moved horizontally and moved on the upper electrode 9 in use, there is no danger that the new upper electrode 8 and the upper electrode 9 in use will collide.

Further, in this embodiment, in order to ensure the work, the guide rod 5 of the upper electrode connecting device 1 and the guide tube 11 on the electrode holder 12 side are roughly aligned. Spout 1 for right turn
7 and the left-turning jet port 18 are provided, and the compressed air is jetted from these jet ports to easily rotate the entire upper electrode connecting device 1 suspended from the overhead crane 4 without using the power of an operator. Control. By opening the right turn control valve 19 when turning right and opening the left turn control valve 20 when turning left, the rotation direction can be easily controlled. Needless to say, the compressed air outlet may be omitted.

In the upper electrode connecting device 1, a plurality of guide rods 5 are arranged downward around a new upper electrode 8, and a guide tube 11 is provided on the upper surface of the electrode holder 12 in an arrangement corresponding to the guide rods 5. Since it is provided, by lowering the upper electrode connection device 1, the tip of the guide rod 5 gradually enters the center of the guide tube 11. As a result, the center alignment of the nipple 6 male thread of the new upper electrode 8 and the female thread of the upper electrode 9 in use can be reliably performed in a short time by remote control. With the cores aligned, compressed air is blown out from the air outlet 13 to blow off dust from the female screw portion of the upper electrode 9 in use.

FIG. 3 shows a state in which the upper electrode connecting device 1 is lowered after the alignment is completed, and before the nipple 16 of the new upper electrode 8 is screwed into the female screw portion of the upper electrode 9 in use. As the guide rod 5 gradually enters the guide tube 11, the centering is ensured as described above, and the centering guide 6 slides up and down along the guide rod 5 in a structure in which the rope 7 sags, so that the guide rod 5 is in use. The upper electrode 9 and the new upper electrode 8 have such a structure that the core is securely maintained.

FIG. 4 shows a state in which the rotation drive unit 2 of the upper electrode connection device 1 is driven, the new upper electrode 8 is rotated together with the hanging screw unit 3, and the nipple 16 is screwed into the female thread of the upper electrode 9 in use. It is in a state. When screwing the male screw of the nipple 16 of the new upper electrode 8 and the female screw of the upper electrode 9 in use, the guide rod 5 and the guide tube 11 are screwed.
Accordingly, the electrode holder 12 receives the rotational reaction force of the upper electrode connection device 1.

FIG. 5 shows a state in which after the connection of the electrodes is completed by the upper electrode connecting device 1, the new upper electrode 8 and the upper electrode 9 in use are simultaneously lifted by the hook 4 of the overhead crane via the upper electrode connecting device 1. 5 shows an operation of gripping the electrode holder 12 from the upper end of the upper electrode 9 in use to the lower end of a new upper electrode 8. At the time of the operation of gripping the electrode holder 12, the centering guide 6 suspended by the rope 7 is in a state of being placed on the electrode holder 12. By moving the electrode holder 12 upward, the rope 7 sags, and the centering guide 6 simultaneously moves upward to the lower surface of the support plate 22.

FIG. 6 shows that after rotating the electrode holder 12 to the lower end of the new upper electrode 8, the rotation drive unit 2 of the upper electrode connecting device 1 is rotated in the reverse direction to release the lifting screw 3 from the upper end of the new upper electrode 8. I do. Since the lower end of the new upper electrode 8 is gripped by the electrode holder 12, there is no danger that the nipple 16 of the new upper electrode 8 and the upper electrode 9 in use will be loosened by the reverse rotation force of the rotary drive unit 2.

FIG. 7 shows a state in which after the lifting screw portion 3 is released from the upper end of the new upper electrode 8, the upper electrode connecting device 1 is wound up by the hook 4 of the overhead crane, and the guide rod 5 is disengaged from the guide tube 11. . When the upper electrode connection device 1 is hoisted by the hook 4 of the overhead crane, the centering guide 6 is arranged at a position where tension acts on the rope 7 suspended from the support plate 22 and is located near the middle of the new upper electrode 8. . From this state, the upper electrode connecting device 1 is connected to the hook 4 of the overhead crane in a direction opposite to the opening direction of the centering guide 6.
The work is completed by moving with. U of centering guide 6
By moving in the direction opposite to the direction in which the upper electrode 8 is opened in the shape of a letter, the upper electrode connecting device 1 can separate the new upper electrode 8, so that the centering guide 6 does not need to jump over the upper end of the new upper electrode 8, and The hoisting height of the crane hook 4 can be reduced.

As shown in FIG. 8, the upper electrode connecting device 1 is suspended by an overhead crane,
In order to fix the position, two positioning blocks 23 are provided at both ends of a guide hole 24 provided in the electrode holder 12. Alignment is easily and reliably performed by these positioning blocks 23 without using a complicated control mechanism.

[0024]

As described above, the present invention has the following effects. Alignment work can be performed reliably and in a short time by remote control with a simple structure without the need for a complicated tilt drive device and sophisticated control and position detection systems. No sophisticated control system or position detection system is required, assembly and maintenance are simple, and equipment costs are low. Safety and workability can be improved as compared with the case where direct manual operation is performed. It has a simple mechanism that has both a centering function and a rotation reaction force receiving function. The corners of the electrodes do not break during alignment. Since it is not necessary to jump over the upper end of the upper electrode to which the entire apparatus is attached, the hoisting height of the overhead crane can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view showing an embodiment according to an upper electrode connecting device of the present invention,

2 is a side view of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a side view describing in detail a series of operation states according to the upper electrode connection device of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a side view showing a state where the electrodes according to the present invention are connected;

FIG. 5 is a side view showing a series of operation states according to the upper electrode connection device of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a side view showing another series of operation states according to the upper electrode connection device of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a side view showing another series of operation states of the upper electrode connection device of the present invention,

FIG. 8 is an overall perspective view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Upper electrode connection device 2 Rotation drive part 3 Lifting screw part 4 Overhead crane hook 5 Guide rod 6 Centering guide 7 Rope 8 New upper electrode 9 Upper electrode in use 10 Arm 11 Guide tube 12 Electrode holder 13 Compressed air blow Outlet 14 Compressed air hose 15 Power cable 16 Nipple 17 Right turning spout 18 Left turning spout 19 Right turning control valve 20 Left turning control valve 21 Main body 22 Support plate 23 Positioning block 24 Guide hole

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Hiroshi Ichikawa 46-59 Ohara Nakahara, Tobata-ku, Kitakyushu-shi, Fukuoka Nippon Steel Corporation Machinery & Plant Business Department (72) Inventor Makoto Takahashi Tobata-ku, Kitakyushu-shi, Fukuoka Ohara Nakahara 46-59 Nippon Steel Corporation Machinery & Plant Business Department (56) References Japanese Utility Model 61-120197 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H05B 7/00-7/22

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An apparatus for connecting a lower end of a new upper electrode by screwing the upper end of a used upper electrode held by an electrode holder of an electric furnace, wherein a plurality of guide rods are provided on a main body of the upper electrode connecting device. A horizontal centering guide slidable up and down is provided at the lower end of the guide bar, and a guide tube is provided on the upper surface of the electrode holder at a position corresponding to the guide bar. The guide tube is formed so as to gradually increase in diameter toward the entrance of the guide rod, and / or is formed so as to gradually decrease in diameter toward the end of the guide rod. Upper electrode connection device. 2. An apparatus for screwing and connecting a lower end of a new upper electrode to an upper end of a used upper electrode held in an electrode holder of an electric furnace. Disposed downward around the new upper electrode, provided a horizontally installed centering guide slidable up and down at the lower end of the guide rod, and provided two positioning blocks for the centering guide in the electrode holder. An upper electrode connecting device, comprising: