JPH0141433B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a pouring amount adjusting device for an automatic pouring machine that pumps up molten metal such as aluminum or iron in a molten metal furnace using a ladle and pours it into a mold.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, there are automatic pouring machines that can automatically pour a fixed amount of hot water without manual intervention by using robots or special machines.

This automatic pouring machine generally includes a ladle for pumping up the molten metal in the molten metal furnace and pouring the molten metal into the mold from the pouring port, an actuator for tilting the ladle, and an actuator for causing the actuator to perform operations during pouring. The system is equipped with a ladle control device that commands the tilting angle of the hot water and the tilting angle of the pouring water to be performed when pouring hot water.When pouring hot water, the ladle is tilted by a certain angle to drain the hot water, so that the hot water is kept at a constant level in the ladle. A certain amount of molten metal is pumped in, and the ladle is tilted by a certain angle even during pouring, so that the amount of molten metal flowing out is constant, thereby performing a fixed amount of molten metal pouring.

However, when replacing the ladle, there may be a difference in size or capacity between the ladle used previously and the ladle to be used newly, or impurities inevitably contained in the molten metal may solidify and form a type of scum. Changes in the amount of poured metal were unavoidable due to things like slag adhering to the ladle.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) Therefore, in recent years, automatic pouring machines are equipped with a pouring amount adjusting device.

This pouring amount adjusting device will be explained with reference to the drawings.

In FIGS. 14 and 15, 1 is a ladle, 2 is a motor serving as an actuator, 3 is a motor driver, 4 is a ladle control device, 5 is a potentiometer, and 6 is a comparator. Ladle control device 4
outputs a command voltage signal corresponding to the pouring tilt angle α+β shown in FIG. potentiometer 5
detects the tilt angle position of the ladle 1 and outputs the detected voltage signal. The command voltage signal of the ladle control device 4 is inputted to one input terminal of the comparator 6 via an adder to be described later, and the detected voltage signal of the potentiometer 5 is inputted to the other input terminal of the comparator 6. The comparator 6 inputs a comparison voltage signal obtained by taking the difference between these two voltage signals to the motor driver 3. This motor driver 3 is designed to drive the motor 2 until the level of the comparison voltage signal becomes 0, so that the ladle 1 can be tilted by an angle α+β and then stopped.

7 is an adder, and 8 is a potentiometer, which constitute a conventional pouring amount adjusting device. That is, the adder 7 inputs an added voltage signal obtained by adding the command voltage signal of the ladle control device 4 and the output voltage signal of the potentiometer 8 to one input terminal of the comparator 6. As a result, as shown in FIG. If a voltage signal corresponding to the angle γ shown in is output from the potentiometer 8, the angular positions θ ₁ to _{θ 3} will be shifted by the angle γ, so operating the potentiometer 8 will change the angle γ. This means that the amount of poured metal can be adjusted.

However, since this conventional device is composed of circuits that handle analog signals, it has the following problems.

Since circuit characteristics inevitably change over time due to long-term use, it is difficult to guarantee long-term performance.

Because circuit characteristics inevitably change over time due to temperature, adjustments must be made frequently.

For the same reason, the circuit characteristics will not be stable, so adjustments must be made while looking at the ladle, and only an experienced person can operate accurately.

For the same reason, it cannot be installed near the automatic pouring machine, so the wiring will have to be extended that much.
The smaller the electric current handled, the more reliability is affected, and the ladle may become difficult to see, which also makes it impossible to operate accurately.

The present invention has been made in view of this point, and its purpose is to prevent adjustment accuracy from being influenced by changes in circuit characteristics, and to achieve a pouring amount that does not cause the problems described below. The object of the present invention is to provide a regulating device.

(Means for Solving the Problems) Therefore, the first invention of the present application includes a ladle for pumping up molten metal in a molten metal furnace and pouring the molten metal into a mold from a pouring port, and an actuator for tilting the ladle. , an automatic pouring machine comprising: a ladle control device that instructs the actuator to perform a tilting angle of molten metal during pouring and a tilting angle of molten metal to perform during pouring, and pours a fixed amount of molten metal into the mold; Tilt angle data provided in a control device and consisting of reference tilt angle data of at least one of the hot water pumping tilt angle and the pouring tilt angle, and a plurality of offset tilt angle data obtained by multiplying the reference tilt angle data by an offset. a storage unit for storing the tilt angle data group; a digital switch for specifying one tilt angle data from the tilt angle data group; and a designated output of the digital switch is input;
The present invention is characterized by comprising: a programmable controller that instructs the ladle control device to select and output one tilting angle data from the tilting angle data group in accordance with the specified output.

The second invention of the present application also provides a ladle for pumping up the molten metal in the molten metal furnace and pouring the molten metal into the mold from the pouring port, an actuator for tilting the ladle, and an actuator for causing the actuator to perform operations during pouring. a ladle control device for pouring a fixed amount of molten metal into the mold by commanding a molten metal tilting angle and a molten pouring tilt angle in a direction opposite to the molten metal pouring angle to be performed at the time of pouring the molten metal; In an automatic pouring machine configured such that the amount of the molten metal flowing out with respect to the tilting angle is larger when the pouring is performed during the pouring than when the pouring is tilted, the ladle is provided in the ladle control device, a storage unit that stores a tilting angle data group consisting of reference tilting angle data and a plurality of offset tilting angle data obtained by multiplying the reference tilting angle data by an offset for each of the tilting angle and the pouring tilting angle; and a digital switch that specifies one tilting angle data from the tilting angle data group for each of the pouring tilting angles, and a designated output of the digital switch is input,
The present invention is characterized by comprising: a programmable controller that instructs the ladle control device to select and output one tilting angle data from the tilting angle data group in accordance with the specified output.

(Operation of the Invention) First, according to the first and second inventions of the present application, the amount of poured metal can be adjusted using a circuit that handles digital signals. In other words, the ladle control device issues commands in the form of data, and as a result, unlike the analog type, the amount of poured metal will fluctuate unless a constant command voltage value is maintained. This means that it is not affected by changes in circuit characteristics.

Further, according to the second invention, the pouring tilting angle is used for coarse adjustment, and the pouring tilting angle is used for fine adjustment, so that the adjustment width is wide and the adjustment width is wide. Fine adjustments can be made throughout. Since coarse adjustment and fine adjustment are performed separately for tilting during pouring and tilting during pouring, the number of operating points that must be stored in the storage unit and the number of steps that make up the sequence of the programmable controller can be minimized.

(Example) Examples of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

First, to explain the ladle 1, in FIGS. 5 to 7, the opening edge 1A of this ladle 1 has a tapered shape, and its tip is the pouring spout 1B, which is opposite to the pouring spout 1B. A pumping sprue 1C opens at the bottom of the side. Attachment plate portions 1D, 1D are provided in a protruding manner at the central portions of both sides of the opening edge 1A, and a mounting hole 1E is bored in each of the mounting plate portions 1D, 1D. It is pivoted and tilted around this mounting hole 1E. Here, when drawing hot water, the drawing spout 1C is tilted in the direction of arrow X so that it descends when draining the hot water.
At the time of pouring, on the contrary, the pouring port 1B is tilted in the direction of the arrow Y so as to descend.

The ladle 1 has a bottom portion 1F that is connected to the pouring spout 1B in an inclined manner, and an upright plate portion 1G that stands upright with respect to the opening edge 1A is formed at the end of the bottom portion 1F on the side opposite to the side where the pouring spout 1B is located. The molten metal enters up to the height of the tip of this upright plate portion 1G. As a result, the ladle 1 is configured such that when the ladle 1 is tilted during pouring, the amount of molten metal that flows out is greater with respect to the tilting angle than when the ladle 1 is tilted during pouring.

As shown in FIG. 8, this ladle 1 is first placed into a molten metal furnace 9 by a robot or a special machine. Then, the molten metal enters the ladle 1 from the pouring sprue 1C. Then, at an appropriate timing, the ladle 1 is tilted in the X direction, and then taken out from the melting furnace 9. Then, a predetermined amount of molten metal flows out from the pouring sprue 1C and is drained, so that the molten metal in the ladle 1 is reduced to an appropriate amount. After draining the hot water, the ladle 1 is held horizontally and the mold 1 is placed in a horizontal position to prevent the molten metal from leaking.
It is carried to above 0. Here, the ladle 1 is tilted in the Y direction to pour the metal into the mold 10.
That is, first, the molten metal is tilted at a high speed to an angle that brings it almost to the pouring port 1B (second inclination), then it is gradually tilted slowly (third inclination), and then it is tilted at a low speed to the maximum inclination angle ( (4th inclination), and finally it is tilted in the X direction to remove hot water (5th inclination).

In such a series of tilting operations, the present invention attempts to adjust the pouring amount by adjusting the respective tilting operations during drawing and pouring. The relationship between the tilting angle and the pouring amount is shown in FIGS. 9 to 12. Furthermore, when the ladle 1 is tilted by 1 degree during pouring, the amount of change in the pouring amount is 25 c.c. (68 c.c.).
g), and the amount of change in the pouring amount is 65 c.c. (163 g) when the tip is tilted by 1 degree during pouring.

Looking at these characteristics, it can be seen that the tilting angle during pouring can be used for rough adjustment, and the tilting angle during pouring can be used for fine adjustment. That is, for example, if 10 adjustment stages are provided for the tilting angle during pouring and when pouring hot water, then by providing 10 stages of the tilting angle during pouring for each stage of the tilting angle during pouring, This allows for 100 levels of adjustment. Therefore, referring to the graph in Fig. 13, as will be described later, the digital switch for specifying the pouring tilt angle sets the designation number to "2", and the digital switch for specifying the pouring tilt angle sets the designation number to "2". 5", the pouring amount will be 25 c.c., and if one step of the pouring tilt angle is 50 c.c. and one step of the pouring tilt angle is 5 c.c., then 5c.c. with an adjustment width of 500c.c.
Fine adjustments can be made in units.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the pouring amount adjusting device of the present invention, which enables the pouring amount adjustment as described above, together with a ladle drive system.

In this figure, 11 is a motor, 12 is a motor driver, 13 is a ladle control device, 14 is an encoder, and 15 is a ladle drive mechanism. Here, the position of the ladle 1 is controlled by the encoder 14 via the ladle drive mechanism 15. The detection signal is input to the ladle control device 13, and the ladle control device 13 performs control corresponding to the position of the ladle 1. Note that this encoder 14 becomes unnecessary when a motor capable of open loop control, such as a pulse motor, is used as the motor 11.

The ladle control device 13 includes reference tilt angle data (designated number 3) regarding the pouring tilt angle as shown in FIG. 2, as well as offset angle data (designated numbers 1, 2, 4 to N), reference angle data (designation number 4) for the pouring tilt angle as shown in Fig. 3, and offset angle data (designation number 4) obtained by multiplying the standard angle data by an offset. A storage unit is provided for storing a group of water tilting angle data consisting of numbers 1 to 3 and 5 to n.

16 is a digital switch for specifying the pouring tilt angle; 17 is a digital switch for specifying the pouring tilt angle;
18 is a programmable controller. The digital switches 16 and 17 are installed in a control panel together with various operation switches, monitor lamps, etc.
17 designated outputs are input to a programmable controller 18. This programmable controller 18 selects and outputs one piece of tilting angle data from the pouring tilting angle data group and the pouring water tilting angle data group to the ladle control device 13 according to the designated outputs of the digital switches 16 and 17. The detailed control contents regarding the tilting angle of the hot water are as shown in the flowchart of FIG. That is, when the ladle 1 reaches the molten metal drawing angle, for example, the robot is instructed to put the ladle 1 into the molten metal furnace 10. Then, when the robot operates and water is pumped and the timer times up, digital switches 16 and 17 are activated.
The specified content is read from the specified output, and the controller 13 instructs the ladle control device 13 to select and output tilt angle data that matches the specified content. Then, digital switch 1 for specifying the tilting angle of the bath water
When only 7 is operated, only one of the designation numbers 1 to n is selected. Then, the robot is instructed to take the ladle 1 out of the melting furnace 10. When the ladle 1 is taken out of the molten metal furnace 10, the ladle control device 13 is instructed to drain the hot water, and when this is completed, control for pouring the metal begins.

As mentioned above, the digital switches 16 and 17 are installed on a control panel, etc., and in this case, for example, each of the steps for adjusting the tilting angle of the molten metal and the tilting angle of pouring the molten metal is set to 10 steps from 0 to 9. If you place the digital switch 17 for adjusting the tilting angle of hot water at the 1's digit, and the digital switch 16 for adjusting the tilting angle of pouring water at the 10's digit, you will get a normal decimal number. 0 to 99 in the sense of
Adjustment in 100 steps can be easily performed. In other words, the larger the number displayed by each digital switch 16, 17, the larger the amount of poured metal.
When it is 45, the amount of molten metal poured is larger and it is easier to make adjustments.

As for the actual operating procedure, since the amount of adjustment is often small when slag adheres to the ladle 1, first make fine adjustments by operating the digital switch 17 for specifying the tilting angle of the hot water. If the amount is still insufficient, the digital switch 16 for specifying the pouring tilt angle may be operated to make a rough adjustment. In addition, when replacing the ladle 1, the amount of adjustment is often large, so first operate the digital switch 17 for specifying the pouring tilt angle to perform coarse adjustment, and then operate the digital switch 17 for specifying the pouring tilt angle. 16 to perform the adjustment.

(Effects of the Invention) As is clear from the above description, according to the first and second inventions of the present application, the amount of poured metal can be adjusted using a circuit that handles digital signals, so that the adjustment accuracy depends on the circuit characteristics. Since it is not affected by changes, it is possible to guarantee performance over a long period of time, and there is no need for frequent adjustments. Further, since adjustment can be made simply by selecting the tilting angle with a digital switch, accurate adjustment can be made even by non-experts, and individual differences can be eliminated. Furthermore, since the arrangement position of the digital switch for adjustment is not subject to any restrictions compared to the prior art, it can be provided at a position where the ladle can be seen, and from this point of view as well, adjustment can be performed accurately.

On the other hand, according to the second invention of the present application, fine adjustments can be made without increasing the number of operation points to be stored in the storage section of the ladle control device or the number of steps constituting the sequence of the programmable controller as much as possible. Since the programmable controller can be of small capacity and small size, costs can be reduced and maintenance can be simplified. Since it is possible to make fine adjustments, it is possible to maintain the optimal amount of hot water, and since the adjustment width is large, there is a large capacity difference when replacing the ladle compared to the one used up until now. Since the data can be used as much as possible, the frequency of new data updates can be reduced, and running costs can also be reduced.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the pouring amount adjusting device according to the present invention together with a ladle drive system. FIGS. 2 and 3 are diagrams showing the contents of data stored in the storage section of the ladle control device. Figure 4 is a flowchart for explaining the control contents of the programmable controller, Figure 5 is a side sectional view of the ladle, Figure 6 is a front view of the same, Figure 7 is a top view of the same, and Figure 8 is the operation of the ladle. An explanatory diagram for explaining the pattern, Fig. 9 is a characteristic curve diagram showing the relationship between the tilting angle of the molten metal and the amount of poured molten metal, Fig. 10 is a conceptual diagram showing the contents of the tilting angle of the molten metal, and Fig. 11 is a diagram of the molten metal pouring. A characteristic curve diagram showing the relationship between the tilting angle and the pouring amount. Fig. 12 is a conceptual diagram showing the content of the pouring tilt angle. Fig. 13 is a curve diagram showing the relationship between the contents specified by the digital switch and the pouring quantity. FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional molten metal pouring amount adjustment device together with a ladle drive system, and FIG. 15 is a conceptual diagram showing the principle of molten metal pouring amount adjustment. 1...Ladle, 9...Melting furnace, 10...Mold,
11... Motor, 13... Ladle control device, 1
6, 17...Digital switch, 18...Programmable controller.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A ladle for pumping up the molten metal in the molten metal furnace and pouring the molten metal into the mold from the pouring port, an actuator for tilting the ladle, and a molten metal for the actuator to perform when pouring the molten metal. An automatic pouring machine comprising a ladle control device which commands a tilting angle and a pouring tilting angle to be performed during pouring to pour a fixed amount of molten metal into the mold; a storage unit that stores a tilting angle data group consisting of reference tilting angle data of at least one of the pouring tilting angles and a plurality of offset tilting angle data obtained by multiplying the reference tilting angle data by an offset; and the tilting angle data. A digital switch for specifying one tilt angle data from the group, and a specified output of the digital switch is input,
A pouring amount adjustment device for an automatic pouring machine, comprising: a programmable controller that instructs the ladle control device to select and output one tilting angle data from the tilting angle data group according to the designated output; . 2. A ladle for pumping up the molten metal in the molten metal furnace and pouring the molten metal into the mold from the pouring port, an actuator for tilting the ladle, and a tilting angle for the actuator to perform the molten metal tilting angle at the time of pouring the molten metal. a ladle control device for pouring a fixed amount of molten metal into the mold by commanding a tilting angle of molten metal in a direction opposite to that during the pouring process; In an automatic pouring machine configured such that the flow rate of the molten metal increases with respect to the tilting angle when the molten metal is poured at a certain time, the ladle control device is provided with an automatic pouring machine that controls the tilting angle of the molten metal and the tilting angle of the pouring molten metal. a storage unit that stores reference tilting angle data for each of the reference tilting angle data and a tilting angle data group consisting of a plurality of offset tilting angle data obtained by multiplying the reference tilting angle data by an offset; a digital switch for specifying one tilting angle data from the tilting angle data group; and a designated output of the digital switch is input;
A pouring amount adjustment device for an automatic pouring machine, comprising: a programmable controller that instructs the ladle control device to select and output one tilting angle data from the tilting angle data group according to the designated output; .