LU88014A1 - Automatic coupling device between pipes on a treatment station and a metallurgical ladle - Google Patents

Abstract

Device for automatic coupling between conduits on a metallurgical treatment station (2) and conduits on a metallurgical ladle (1). The half-coupling (4) associated with the treatment station is supported by a movable element and is kept in a protected stand-by position on the station (2) in order to be automatically positioned by first means in a coupling position with the half-coupling (5) associated with the ladle (1) just before deposition of the ladle (1) on its seat (3) provided on the station (2). Second means bring the movable element supporting the half-coupling (4) back into the protected stand-by position at the moment when the ladle (1) is withdrawn from its seat. <IMAGE>

Description

CLAIM OF THE PRIORITY of the patent application / utility model Brief Description filed in support of an application for

PATENT OF INVENTION at

Luxembourg on behalf of: PAUL WURTH S.A.

32, rue d'Alsace L-1122 LUXEMBOURG for: Automatic coupling device between pipes on a treatment station and a metallurgical ladle t

AUTOMATIC COUPLING DEVICE BETWEEN DUCTS ON A TREATMENT STATION AND A METALLURGICAL POCKET

The present invention relates to an automatic coupling device, between pipes on a metallurgical processing station and pipes on a metallurgical ladle, consisting of a half-coupling associated with the processing station and a half-coupling associated with the pocket, the latter mating automatically when the pocket is placed on its seat fitted on the treatment station. It relates in particular to an automatic connection for the injection of gas into the metallurgical ladle, consisting of a half-coupling with male connection associated with the gas supply pipes on the treatment station and a half-coupling with connection female associated with gas lines on the pocket.

It is well known to treat steel for metallurgical needs by injecting one or more gases through porous stones from the bottom of a pocket. For this purpose the bag is generally deposited in a treatment station equipped with the necessary gas supplies.

For obvious safety and time-saving reasons, manual intervention in the connection of the bag to the gas distribution system should be avoided.

Thus the devices described in patents LU-87082 and LU-87868, are quick couplings with simple respectively with double fluid which carry out the automatic connection of the gas supply pipes installed on the treatment station to the gas pipes fitted to the bag , when the latter is placed on its seat in the treatment station.

In the two aforementioned patents the coupling device consists of a half coupling with a female connector, fixed on the pocket and a half coupling with a male connector, fixed on the chassis of the treatment station at the 'same place where the coupling must take place when the pocket is placed on its seat.

In a harsh and polluted metallurgical environment the aforementioned techniques, and in general all the systems of automatic connection of any pipes operating according to an analogous principle, however have the disadvantage that the half coupling, fixed on the treatment station at the place even of the coupling, is, in the decoupled position, exposed to splashes and projections of molten products, dust and mechanical shock. It is obvious that any fouling and damage to the various elements of the coupling half associated with the treatment station jeopardize the proper functioning of the automatic connector and significantly reduce its service life.

In the coupled position, when the pocket is placed on its seat, the risk of damage and fouling of the sensitive parts is however far lower, if not negligible. The objective of the present invention is to provide the half-coupling associated with the processing station with protection which becomes automatically effective as soon as the decoupling with the half-coupling associated with the bag takes place, that is to say from that the latter has left the treatment station. It goes without saying that this protection should in no case hinder the proper functioning of the automatic connection operation of the pipes when the bag is deposited in the treatment station.

This objective is achieved according to the present invention by an automatic coupling device between pipes on a metallurgical processing station and pipes on a metallurgical ladle, consisting of a half-coupling associated with the processing station and a half -mating associated with the pocket, the latter coupling automatically when the pocket is placed on its seat fitted on the treatment station with the following characteristic elements: a mobile element supporting the half-coupling associated with the treatment station and having 'a protected standby position on this station; first means for automatically bringing this half-coupling mounted on the movable element into the coupling position when the bag is going to be deposited on its seat fitted on the treatment station; second means for automatically recalling it to the protected standby position when the pocket is to be removed from its seat. Even if the present invention has been more specifically designed for an automatic connection for gas pipes, it is however obvious that the invention can also be applied to automatic connections for pipes of other fluids, or even electrical pipes.

The present invention can advantageously be carried out with essentially mechanical means, the operation of which requires no auxiliary energy. It will preferably be carried out with simple and robust mechanical elements, such as a lever, a counterweight, a return spring, control cables, idler pulleys, shock absorbers with springs, etc., so as to guarantee in a harsh and polluted metallurgical environment reliable operation with minimum maintenance.

The choice of elements and their arrangement on the treatment station is a function of the geometric constraints on the latter.

In a preferred embodiment, said movable element supporting the half-coupling associated with the treatment station consists of a roller carriage which slides on a rail integral with the treatment station. For other geometries of the treatment station, it could however be advantageous to produce said movable element by means of an arm fixed on the treatment station by means of a cylindrical articulation. The operation of the present invention would remain the same, the translational movement on rail would simply be replaced by a pivoting movement inside and outside a protected standby position, this pivoting being always controlled by said first and second means of the present invention.

It is the same for said second means which in the preferred embodiment consist of a counterweight which returns the movable member to the protected standby position when the pocket is removed from its seat. For other geometric constraints on the treatment station, it could on the other hand be advantageous to use for said second means a return spring having the same function as the aforementioned counterweight. Other features and characteristics of the invention will emerge from the detailed description of a preferred embodiment adopted for a given geometry of the treatment station. This embodiment is presented below, by way of illustration, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 shows an elevational view of a metallurgical processing station with a pocket. In this view is drawn an oblique section AA which is brought back into the elevation plane by rotation. The purpose of this figure is to show in a vertical plane the positioning of the main elements of the invention.

Figure 2 shows a plan view of the same assembly.

Figure 3 shows a detail of the oblique section AA showing the carriage (with the lower coupling half) mounted on the translation rail. The lower coupling half is in the coupling position, the upper coupling half is not shown.

Figure 4 shows a section through a plane perpendicular to the plane AA.

Figure 5 shows in detail an elevation view of the lever control system.

In Figure 1 a metallurgical pocket 1 is fully engaged in a processing station 2 and rests on a seat 3 of this processing station. Elements 4 and 5 are lower 4 and upper 5 half-couplings of a double flow quick coupling for the automatic and simultaneous connection of the metallurgical ladle 1 to two different gas networks, as described in patent LU-87868. The present invention may however also be applied advantageously to other types of quick couplings providing automatic coupling when the pocket 1 enters its seat.

The upper coupling half 5 is fixed to the outer envelope of the pocket 1. As can be seen more clearly from FIG. 3, it can be seen that the lower coupling half 4, essentially composed of a body 10 on which is mounted its male connector 8 connected to one or more fluid supply pipes 11, is cantilevered on a movable carriage 6. The mounting of the lower coupling half 4 on the carriage 6 is preferably carried out so removable by means of a clevis joint with vertical axis 7 allowing slight angular displacement. Therefore it thus has a degree of freedom in a horizontal plane to balance misalignments during coupling. A second degree of freedom in the same plane, but perpendicular to the first, is given in the embodiment shown in Figure 3 by a sliding assembly 8 of said male connector 9 on the body 10 of the lower coupling half 4. This second degree of freedom could however also be obtained according to another embodiment by determining for the carriage 6 a coupling position using a limit stop provided with a spring (not shown). This spring has its compression axis parallel to the movement of the carriage and thus makes it possible to compensate for misalignments in the direction of movement of the carriage during the coupling operation.

The fluid supply pipe (s) 11 of the lower coupling half 4 are connected by flexible pipes (not shown) to the fluid distribution network (s).

The carriage 6 is in its preferred embodiment a welded assembly composed of two parts 12 symmetrical with respect to the vertical plane containing the axis of the rail 15 (described below) and produced in flat bars (see Figure 4), At their end lower is fixed a tenon 13 in which is housed the vertical articulation 7. At its upper end the carriage 6 has on each side a pair of rollers 14. With the help of these rollers 14 the carriage 6 is suspended on a rail 15 with an I-section which is advantageously produced by welding two U-shaped profiles on each side of a flat iron 16 fixed on a support structure 17. The axis of the rail 15 cuts at a right angle the vertical coupling axis, determined by the position of the upper coupling half 5 on the pocket 1 when the latter is seated on its seat. The structure 17 which supports the rail 15 is housed in a vacuum between the chassis of the treatment station 2 and the pocket 1. It is covered at the top by an inclined sheet 18 and has laterally, on the side of the pocket 1, protection by a vertical plate 19.

This assembly forms a canopy 20 which protects the rail 15 over its entire length.

When the carriage is in the coupling position (A) (see Figure 3), only the lower connector 9, mounted in overhang on the carriage 6 leaves the awning, the carriage itself remains protected through the awning (see Figures 2 and 3).

The first means which must bring the coupling half 4 from its standby position (B) to the coupling position (A) when the bag 1 is going to be placed on its seat 3 fitted on the treatment station 2 are described below with reference to Figures 2 and 5.

In Figure 5 we see an inter-support lever with two arms 24, 26 which is provided with a fork joint 22 with a horizontal axis. The clevis of the articulation is mounted on the chassis of the treatment station 2 so that the lever 21 can pivot in a vertical plane preferably passing through the vertical axis of the pocket 1 installed in its seat 3. The lever 21 is advantageously installed under a canopy 23 which protects it in particular against projections of molten materials. The end of the arm 24 of the inter-support lever 21 is located in the path of penetration of the pocket 1 in the treatment station 2.

The point of contact between the lever 21 and the pocket 1 advantageously consists of a roller 25, with a horizontal axis, fixed to the end of the lever arm 24.

The arm 26 of the inter-support lever 21 comprises at its end a spring damper 27 to which a control cable is fixed 28. The spring damper 27 is preferably articulated around a horizontal axis in order to ensure alignment with the cable 28 for the different positions of the lever 21. The other end of the cable 28 is fixed to the carriage 6. The cable 28 is guided by different deflection and return pulleys in order to be able to exert, during a positive rotation (see FIG. 5) of the lever 21 around its axis 22, on the carriage 6 a traction parallel to the rail 15 and in the opposite direction to that exerted by a counterweight 31 via a return cable 29.

The operation of the first means is as follows: when descending into the treatment station 2 the pocket 1, suspended from an overhead crane, takes up at a determined location on its descent trajectory, pressing on the roller 25 of the lever arm 24 which is then in an almost horizontal position, because the carriage 6 is in its extreme standby position (B) (see Figure 3) and the counterweight 31 is completely lowered. Continuing its vertical path of descent, the pocket 1 rotates the lever 21 about its articulation axis 22 in the positive direction defined in Figure 5. The other lever arm 26 then exerts traction via the cable 28 on the carriage 6 for gradually moving it (and in synchronism with the lowering movement of the pocket) from the extreme standby position (B) to the coupling position (A). In position (A) the carriage is immobilized by a limit stop. The dimensions of the lever 21 and its fixing point are chosen so that the pocket 1 still has to travel, at this moment, when the carriage 6 is already stopped, a residual vertical distance slightly greater than the penetration dimension of the two coupling half fittings, one inside the other.

This final descent of the pocket 1 causes an additional rotation of the lever 21 in the positive direction. The carriage 6 being locked in the coupling position (A) it is essentially the spring damper 27 which takes up the traction of the lever 21 on the cable 28 and thus prevents the latter from breaking.

The second means which ensure the automatic return to the protected standby position of the lower coupling half 4 mounted on the carriage 6 when the pocket 1 is removed from its seat 3 will be described with the aid of FIGS. 1 and 3.

A return cable 29 is fixed to the carriage 6 using an appropriate fixing device and is held parallel to the axis of the rail 15 by a deflection pulley 30 which is mounted in a recess in the chassis of the station. treatment 2. At the other end of the cable 29 is attached a counterweight 31 which moves in a counterweight box 32 whose vertical axis is advantageously tangent to the deflection pulley 30.

In Figure 1 the carriage 6 is shown in its coupling position (A) and the counterweight 31 is raised to the maximum. Indeed, during its travel from its extreme standby position (B) to its coupling position (A), the carriage 6 exerted a traction by the cable 29 on the counterweight 31 and reassembled it in its high position.

When the bag 1 is raised by means of the traveling crane outside of the processing station 2, the carriage 6 is blocked during the initial movement of the bag by the upper coupling half. During this initial phase of the ascent of the pocket, it is essentially the spring damper 27 which, by partially restoring the energy stored during the last phase of the downward movement, causes the arm 26 of the lever 21 to follow the upward movement of the pocket. As soon as the upper coupling half 5 is completely out of the lower coupling half 4, the carriage 6 is pulled by the counterweight 31 from its coupling position (A) to its extreme standby position (B) in which the carriage 6 is stopped by an end of travel stop.

The translational movement of the carriage 6 from (A) to (B) is almost synchronous with the upward movement of the pocket 1, since the roller 25 of the lever arm 21 is constantly supported on the pocket 1 until the carriage 6 is stopped by the limit stop in its extreme waiting position (B). The lever arm 24 is then again almost horizontal.

In the preferred embodiment shown in the figures is shown a number of pulleys for deflecting the control cables 28, 29. It is obvious that the location and the number of these pulleys is a function of the geometry of the chassis of the station. treatment 2, which conditions inter alia the location of the lever 21, the counterweight 31 and the rail 15 as well as the preferred path chosen for the routing of the cables.

It is therefore important to note that the solution shown and described is only a preferred embodiment for this type of workstation. Other geometries of the chassis of the workstation may thus require a higher or lower number of deflection pulleys which will be fixed to the chassis depending on the route chosen for the cables. This path is notably a function of space constraints and the optimal transmission of forces.

Claims (11)

1. Automatic coupling device between pipes on a metallurgical treatment station (2) and pipes on a metallurgical pocket (1), consisting of a half-coupling (4) associated with the treatment station and a half-coupling (5) associated with the pocket, the latter coupling automatically when the pocket is placed on a seat (3) fitted on the treatment station (2), characterized by a mobile element (6) supporting the half coupling (4) associated with the treatment station (2) and having a protected standby position on this station, by first means for automatically bringing this half-coupling (4) mounted on the mobile element (6) in the coupling position when the pocket (1) is going to be placed on its seat (3) fitted on the treatment station (2) and by second means for recalling said half-coupling (4) automatically in the protected waiting when the pocket (1) is removed from its seat (3). 2. Automatic coupling device according to claim 1, characterized in that said half-couplings (4, 5) constitute an automatic connection between pipes for injecting gas into a metallurgical ladle. 3. Automatic coupling device according to claims 1 or 2 characterized in that said first or second means are essentially mechanical means whose operation requires no auxiliary energy. 4. Automatic coupling device according to claims 1, 2 or 3 characterized in that the first means consist of a lever (21) actuated by the body of the pocket (1) when the latter is placed on its seat ( 3) on the treatment station (2). 5. Automatic coupling device according to claims 1, 2, or 3 characterized in that said second means are constituted by a counterweight (31). 6. Automatic coupling device according to claims 1, 2 or 3 characterized in that the mobile element supporting the half-coupling is a carriage (6) with rollers (14) which slides on a rail (15) integral with the treatment station (2). 7. Automatic coupling device according to claim 6 characterized in that the rail (15) is protected over its entire length by a canopy (20). 8. Automatic coupling device according to claims 6 and 7 characterized in that the half-coupling (4) is mounted in cantilever on the carriage (6) by means of a fork joint (7 ) easily removable and whose axis is parallel to the coupling axis. 9. Automatic coupling device according to claims 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that the first means, the second means and the movable element supporting the half-coupling (4) associated with the treatment station (2) are advantageously arranged in existing voids of the treatment station (2) and that they are interconnected by control cables (28) and (29), the optimal path from the point of view of space constraints and transmission forces are produced using deflection pulleys mounted on the treatment station (2). 10. Automatic coupling device according to claims 3, 4 and 9, characterized in that the cable (28) connecting the lever (21) to the movable member comprises a spring damper (27). 11. Automatic coupling device according to claim 6, characterized in that the coupling position of the carriage (6) is defined by a limit stop provided with a spring which makes it possible to compensate for misalignments in the direction of the rail.