RU2678114C2 - Worm and rack rest bar assembly - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: machine building.SUBSTANCE: invention relates to rolling. Assembly (40) is designed to maintain a guide in a rolling mill, which guides the hot-rolled product in the form of a rod or bar into the roll pass or from the roll pass aligned on a mill pass line. Said device contains a node of the support beam, designed to support the guide and for lateral regulation of the guide relative to the mill pass line, core (42), passing transversely relative to the mill pass line, wherein the core has front side (42a) facing the roll pass, and opposite facing back side (42b), saddle (46) moving along the core, while the saddle is made with the possibility of maintaining the guide, and the adjusting mechanism for moving the saddle along the core. Further, the adjusting mechanism includes worm rack and pinion track (50), running along the back side of the core, worm gear (52), supported by the saddle and engaging with the worm rack and pinion, and means for rotary adjustment of the worm.EFFECT: size reduction and ease of maintenance of the device.8 cl, 8 dwg

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO A RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to provisional application US No. 61 / 838,972 dated June 25, 2013, the full contents and essence of the invention of which are incorporated into this description by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention relate to support rail assemblies used in rolling mills to support guides on the input and output sides of the stands of working stands, and are associated, in particular, with an improved support rail assembly having a new adjustment mechanism for laterally adjusting the guides relative to the rolling line.

2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

In the hot rolling process of long products, such as rods, rods and the like, guides are used to accurately feed and receive products from one working stand to the next. To obtain high-quality results, the guides must be accurately positioned and firmly held in place relative to the rolling line.

With reference to FIG. 7 and 8, a typical standard transversely moving support bar assembly comprises a core 10 extending transversely with respect to the rolling line "PL", with integral mounting plates 12 serving to attach the core to the stands 14a, 14b of the working stand frame. The carriage 16 is supported on the core. The guide 18 is mounted on the carriage and held in place between the fixed jaw 20 and the interacting adjustable jaw 22.

When the operator wishes to adjust the position of the guide 18 relative to the rolling line PL and along the rolls 24 of the rolling mill, the clamping mechanism 26 loosens, allowing the carriage 16 to move relative to the core 10. The carriage is controlled by the adjusting mechanism 28. A typical adjusting mechanism is a long threaded shaft passing through the core 10 and held in place by the core 10. The threaded shaft engages with a nut that is held in place by the carriage. When the shaft rotates, the nut moves along the shaft, moving the carriage with it in the desired direction.

This type of construction is prone to many types of problems, including jamming a nut on a threaded shaft, bending the threaded shaft, jamming the nut relative to the shaft, physically damaging the threads on the threaded shaft or nut, or both. In a situation where the nut is stuck in place and cannot be removed, the nut or shaft or both must be destroyed to remove and replace them. There are many variations of this type of transverse movement, but most are based on the same principle of a threaded shaft and nut.

Another disadvantage of this design is that to reduce the likelihood of jamming of the adjusting mechanism, the threaded shaft should be located as close as possible to the center of the adjustable carriage 16, which in combination with the requirement that the shaft should usually be behind the legs 14a, 14b of the bed to provide access to the operator, creates a situation where the carriage becomes excessively large. This large size, combined with placement away from the rolls 24 of the rolling mill, causes the adapter plates for the rails to be excessively large and protrude cantilever. This not only increases the weight, material consumption and costs, but also it increases the torsional load that is applied to the support beam assembly during rolling.

Another disadvantage, independent of the disadvantages associated with the control mechanism, relates to mounting plates 12, which mount the support beam assembly on the mill stand. Each manufacturer of rolling mills and each mill size and production from a particular manufacturer have many different mounting configurations, which complicates and increases the cost of supplying a spare node for the support beam. In a typical design of a transversely moving support beam, the core 10 is designed so that the mounting plates 12 and the core contain a single welded structure or casting with mounting elements machined as necessary. This type of design is good in terms of rigidity, but requires a new design and assembly for every other mounting configuration. This is wasting time and money and overly complicates the task of creating nodes of the support bars to meet the future requirements of customers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Formulating in a broad sense, embodiments of the present invention solve the above problems in part by providing an improved support rail assembly with a new adjusting mechanism.

In illustrative embodiments of the present invention, the support beam assembly comprises a central fixed core, removable dowel-mounted mounting plates, and a transversely movable carriage. The adjusting mechanism comprises a helically-cut rail, which is mounted externally on the rear side of the fixed core, and a worm supported by a carriage, which collinearly engages with the rail. The engagement of the worm and the rack is such that it is self-braking, so that when the support beam is mounted in a vertical orientation and the carriage is not damped, the carriage will not move down the core without rotating the worm. In addition, if damaged, which is less likely due to their substantially stiffer design, the worm and the rack can easily be separated with minimal work and without damage. The engagement of the worm and the rack does not require perfect regulation and is thus less prone to seizing.

In other illustrative embodiments of the present invention, the mounting plates are separate from the core and are detachably attached to the core. With this design, the basic core design, with different lengths, can be serially manufactured and invented, only with mounting plates requiring different designs needed to adapt to differently executed work stands.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon reading the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a support beam assembly in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention supporting a guide on the inlet side of a working stand of a rolling mill;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the support beam assembly of FIG. 1, the closest bed stand removed;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the support beam assembly of FIG. 1 and 2, with the stand racks and mounting plates removed;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a support beam assembly;

FIG. 5 is a rear view of the support beam assembly, the mounting plates being disconnected from the core;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged section taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 6A is an enlarged view of the circumferential portion of FIG. 6;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a conventional support beam assembly; and

FIG. 8 is a side view of a conventional support rail assembly supporting a rail in a typical rolling mill installation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The constituent elements described hereinafter as constituting various embodiments are intended to be illustrative and non-limiting. Many suitable constituent elements that would fulfill the same or similar function, as well as the materials described herein, are intended to be encompassed by the scope of the present invention.

Referring now to figures in which the same reference numerals represent the same parts in all views, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail.

With reference first to FIG. 1 and 2, the inlet side of the working stand 32 of the rolling mill is partially shown comprising a bed stand 34a, 34b and a pair of multi-grooved work rolls 36. The working stand 32 is arranged along the rolling line PL in series with other working stands (not shown).

A guide 38 is used to guide the hot-rolled product along the rolling line PL to the roll gauge formed by the selected pair of streams in the work rolls 36. The support bar assembly 40 in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention is positioned to maintain the guide 38 in its working position.

Furthermore, with reference to FIG. 3-6, the support beam assembly 40 includes a core 42 extending laterally with respect to the rolling line PL. Detachable mounting plates 44 are detachably attached, for example by means of key and bolt connections, to opposite ends of the core 42. The mounting plates are designed and dimensioned to be connected to the bed stands 34a, 34b. The core 42 has a front side 42a arranged so as to face the rolls 36 and an oppositely facing rear side 42b.

The carriage 46 is movably mounted along the core 42. The guide 38 is supported by the carriage 46 and can be detachably fixed between the fixed jaw 48a and the adjustable clamping jaw 48b.

The adjusting mechanism for moving the carriage 46 along the core 42 comprises a screw-shaped worm gear 50 extending externally along the rear side 42b of the core 42. The worm 52 is supported by the carriage 46 on the rotatable shaft 54 and engages with the worm gear track 50. The rotation of the shaft 54 and the worm 52 serves to the displacement of the carriage 46 along the core 42.

The position of the carriage 46 on the core 42 can be locked with the possibility of subsequent release by a clamping mechanism, one example of which is a remotely controlled, hydraulically activated clamp 56, which is best seen in FIG. 6.

The shaft 54 can be rotationally controlled by a remotely controlled motor 58. Although not shown, it should be understood that where remote control is not required, both the shaft 54 and the clamp 56 can be made for manual adjustment by the staff of the rolling mill.

In view of the foregoing, it will now be understood by those skilled in the art that the worm-rack structure of the support beam of the present invention solves most, if not all, of the problems associated with traditional support bars. The adjusting mechanism of the worm 52 and the rack 50 is much less susceptible to jamming, and its location along the back side 42b of the core 42 provides unprecedented access for the rolling mill staff, while allowing the carriage 46 to be fixed as far into the mill stand as required. With a carriage thus positioned in close proximity to the work rolls 36; adapter plates 44 for guiding equipment can be significantly reduced in size, making it possible to reduce costs, weight and torsional loads.

Although the support bar assembly of the present invention has been shown to support a guide for guiding a hot-rolled product into a roll gauge, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that innovative features of the present invention may be included in a support bar assembly supporting a guide for guiding a hot-rolled product exiting a roll gauge .

Only detachable mounting plates 44 must be specially designed to fit different bed designs, thereby making it possible to produce a core in a standard design with different lengths.

Claims (8)

1. The node (40) of the supporting beam for supporting the guide of the rolling mill, which directs the hot-rolled product in the form of a rod or rod into the caliber of the rolls or from the caliber of the rolls aligned on the rolling line, configured to support the guide and lateral adjustment of the guide relative to the rolling line, containing a core (42) extending laterally relative to the rolling line, the core having a front side (42a) facing the roll gauge and an oppositely facing rear side (42b) of the carriages ku (46), moved along the core, while the carriage is configured to support the guide, and an adjustment mechanism for moving the carriage along the core, characterized in that the adjustment mechanism includes a worm gear track (50) extending along the rear side of the core, a worm (52 ) supported by the carriage and engaged with the worm gear track and means for rotationally adjusting the worm. 2. The node according to claim 1, comprising a clamping mechanism configured to operate in a clamping mode for fixing the position of the carriage on the core and in the release mode allowing the carriage to move along the core. 3. The node according to claim 1, wherein said worm gear track is made helical. 4. The assembly according to claim 1, comprising mounting plates detachably attached to opposite ends of the core, wherein the mounting plates are dimensioned in such a way that it is possible to attach a bed frame with work rolls forming a roll gauge. 5. The node according to claim 1, in which the means for rotational regulation of the worm contains a remotely controlled drive motor. 6. The node according to claim 2, in which the clamping mechanism is made with the possibility of hydraulic activation and remote control. 7. The node according to any one of paragraphs. 1-6, which has mounting plates (44), made so and having such dimensions that it is possible to attach to the stands (34a, 34b) of the frame mounted on the input side of the working stand of the rolling mill. 8. The assembly according to claim 7, in which the mounting plates (44) are detachably attached to opposite ends of the core (42).

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