US20160107227A1

US20160107227A1 - Method, system, and device for controlling automatic slag feeding of continuous-casting crystallizer

Info

Publication number: US20160107227A1
Application number: US14/787,034
Authority: US
Inventors: Lu Tian; Cunbo Zhou
Original assignee: Hunan Ramon Science and Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Hunan Ramon Science and Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2013-06-26
Filing date: 2014-06-25
Publication date: 2016-04-21
Also published as: CN103341604A; CN103341604B; WO2014206288A1

Abstract

A system and a device for controlling automatic slag feeding of a continuous-casting crystallizer are provided. Based on a slag feeding robot with six motion shafts, and an automatic slag feeding control system and device are formed by using the slag feeding robot as the core, cooperating with a quantified slag feeding device having stability and adaptability, combing air-pressure detection, temperature detection, slag-thickness detection, and material bin detection, and other means, and also using safety protection measures for area protection, so as to improve the stability and uniformity of a slag feeding process. In a method of performing automatic slag feeding by using the system, closed-loop control is applied in combination with existing information of a casting machine and detection information of the slag feeding robot, so that parameters and running states are corrected and adjusted in real time.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE OF RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims the priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201310259944.6, titled “METHOD, SYSTEM, AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING AUTOMATIC POWDER ADDITION OF CONTINUOUS-CASTING MOULD”, filed with the Chinese State Intellectual Property Office on Jun. 26, 2013, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The disclosure relates to the field of metallurgy continuous-casting automatic control technology, and in particular to a method, a system and an apparatus for controlling automatic powder addition of a continuous-casting mould.

BACKGROUND

The most important process in continuous-casting production is to add mould powder to a surface of liquid steel in a mould when a square billet is cast by a continuous-casting machine. The mould powder plays a significant role in the continuous-casting production, for example, preventing secondary oxidation, lubricating and adsorbing impurities. In continuous-casting process, the mould powder may form a three-layer structure of a melting layer, a sintered layer and a slag layer in a casting process, so as to play the role better.
Currently, the powder adding manner mainly includes artificial powder adding manner and mechanical powder adding manner, in which, a speed and amount of the added powder are adjusted in a manual setting way. This will result in lack of stability and uniformity, and thus production quality of a casting blank is unstable. Currently, an automatic powder adding device has been applied to a certain proportion of continuous-casting moulds, which is greatly improved compared with artificial mould powder addition. However, there is serious shortage in mould powder addition for those automatic powder adding devices. For example, a powder adding speed is set manually rather than adjusted automatically in operation; a powder adding action involving swinging only in left and right directions, and therefore is inflexible; and powder can not be added to a dead zone. Since a speed and amount of the added powder are adjusted in a manual setting way in operation, and because of a structure of the device and an open-loop control, there are lack of stability and uniformity in a powder adding process, and thus the production quality of the casting blank is unstable.
Accordingly, an urgent problem for those skilled in the art is to provide a method, a system and an apparatus for controlling automatic addition of a mould powder to a continuous-casting mould, to solve the following problems: since the speed and amount of the added powder are adjusted in a manual setting way in operation, and because of the structure of the device and the open-loop control, there are lack of stability and uniformity in the powder adding process, and thus the production quality of the casting blank is unstable.

SUMMARY

In view of this, a design objective of the present disclosure is to provide a method, a system and an apparatus for controlling automatic addition of a mould powder to a continuous-casting mould, to solve the following problems: since the speed and amount of the added powder are adjusted in a manual setting way in operation, and because of the structure of the device and the open-loop control, there are lack of stability and uniformity, and thus the production quality of the casting blank is unstable.
A method for controlling automatic addition of a mould powder to a continuous-casting mould through a powder adding robot with six motion axes is provided, the method includes:

- obtaining temperature and thickness information of a layer of the mould powder and continuous-casting production information, wherein the temperature and thickness information of the layer reflects the uniformity of the mould powder;
- detecting the uniformity of the layer to control the powder adding robot to increase an amount of the mould powder added to an area where the mould powder is thin, and decrease the amount of the mould powder added to an area where the mould powder is thick; and
- adjusting in real-time, by the powder adding robot, an operating state, a generation parameter or a generation pace based on the continuous-casting production information, so as to control adjustment of parameters and powder adding action of the powder adding robot.

Preferably, the method further includes:

- determining whether air pressure in the continuous-casting mould reaches a preset value, where the continuous-casting mould can't operate normally unless the air pressure reaches the preset value;
- sending an alarm signal, by the continuous-casting mould, that the automatic addition of the mould powder can't be performed in a case that the air pressure in the continuous-casting mould does not reach the preset value; or
- opening a pneumatic electromagnetic valve to ventilate a powder adding tube so that a negative pressure space is formed between the electromagnetic valve and a servo motor, in a case that the air pressure in the continuous-casting mould reaches the preset value;
- starting the servo motor, to drive a screw mechanism to transfer the mould powder from a powder bin to the negative pressure space; and
- slowing and adding uniformly, by a vortex-type device at the front end of a powder adding gun, the mould powder which has entered the powder adding tube due to the negative pressure and is conveyed to the powder adding gun.

Preferably, the method further includes:

- storing, in a database, the temperature and thickness information of the layer and the continuous-casting production information and displaying in a form of table the temperature and thickness information of the layer and the continuous-casting production information.

Based on the method for controlling automatic addition of a mould powder to a continuous-casting mould disclosed above, a system for controlling automatic addition of a mould powder to a continuous-casting mould through a powder adding robot with six motion axes, is further disclosed in the present disclosure, the system includes:

- an obtaining unit configured to obtain temperature and thickness information of a layer of the mould powder and continuous-casting production information, wherein the temperature and thickness information of the layer reflects the uniformity of the mould powder;
- a detection unit configured to detect the uniformity of the layer, to control the powder adding robot to increase an amount of the mould powder added to an area where the mould powder is thin, and decrease the amount of the mould powder added to an area where the mould powder is thick; and
- an adjustment unit configured to adjust in real-time, by the powder adding robot, an operating state, a generation parameter or a generation pace based on the continuous-casting production information, so as to control adjustment of parameters and powder adding action of the powder adding robot.

Preferably, the system further includes:

- a determining unit configured to determine whether air pressure in the continuous-casting mould reaches a preset value, where the continuous-casting mould can't operate normally unless the air pressure reaches the preset value;
- an alarm unit configured to, by the continuous-casting mould, send an alarm signal that the automatic addition of the mould powder can't be performed in a case that the air pressure in the continuous-casting mould does not reach the preset value;
- a ventilation unit configured to open a pneumatic electromagnetic valve to ventilate a powder adding tube so that a negative pressure space is formed between the electromagnetic valve and a servo motor, in a case that the air pressure in the continuous-casting mould reaches the preset value;
- a transferring unit configured to start the servo motor, to drive a screw mechanism to transfer the mould powder from a powder bin to the negative pressure space; and
- a powder adding unit configured to slow and add uniformly, by a vortex-type device at the front end of a powder adding gun, the mould powder which has entered the powder adding tube due to the negative pressure and is conveyed to the powder adding gun.

Preferably, the system further includes:

- a storage and display unit configured to store, in a database, the temperature and thickness information of the layer and the continuous-casting production information and display in a form of table the temperature and thickness information of the layer and the continuous-casting production information.

An apparatus for controlling automatic addition of a mould powder to a continuous-casting mould through a powder adding robot with six motion axes is further disclosed in the present disclosure the device includes:

- a microcontroller configured to perform overall control on the continuous-casting mould;
- a thickness detecting unit, connected to the microcontroller and configured to detect a thickness of mould powder in the continuous-casting mould;
- a stability detecting unit, connected to the microcontroller and configured to detect a temperature of the mould powder in the continuous-casting mould;
- an industrial robot unit, connected to the microcontroller and configured to perform adaptive adjustment and control of the addition of the mould powder to the continuous-casting mould;
- an air-pressure detecting unit, connected to the microcontroller and configured to detect air pressure in the continuous-casting mould;
- an area protection detecting unit, connected to the microcontroller and configured to perform area protection detection on the continuous-casting mould;
- a powder bin detecting unit, connected to the microcontroller and configured to perform detection on the powder bin of the continuous-casting mould; and
- a pneumatic powder adding unit, connected to the microcontroller and configured to perform pneumatic powder adding to the continuous-casting mould.

Specifically, the industrial robot unit is provided with a powder adding gun device for slowing and adding uniformly the mould powder.
Preferably, the device further includes:

- a touch-screen unit for data input and display, connected to the microcontroller; and
- a failure alarm device, connected to the microcontroller and configured to perform failure alarm in a case that the industrial robot unit breaks down.

Compared with the conventional art, a technical solution according to the embodiments of the present disclosure has advantages and disadvantages as follows.
A method, system and apparatus for controlling automatic addition of a mould powder to a continuous-casting mould through a powder adding robot with six motion axes are disclosed according to the present disclosure. In the present disclosure, a new automatic powder addition control system is provided, which includes the powder adding robot as the core, and a quantified powder supply device with good stability and adaptability. Various detection means such as air-pressure detection, temperature detection, thickness detection, powder bin detection and so on are used, and also safety protection measures for area protection are applied. Thus the stability and uniformity in a powder addition process and the production quality of the casting billet are improved. In addition, in the present disclosure, closed-loop automatic control is applied in combination with existing information of a casting machine and detection information provided for the powder adding robot, so that parameters and operating states can be corrected and adjusted in real-time and the stability and uniformity of powder addition in a production process can be ensured without manual interference.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solution in the embodiments of the present disclosure or in the conventional art, in the following, drawings required in the description of the embodiments or the conventional art will be introduced simply. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are just some embodiments of the present disclosure. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can also be obtained according to the provided drawings without any creative work.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a method for controlling automatic powder addition of a continuous-casting mould according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a further flowchart of a method for controlling automatic powder addition of a continuous-casting mould according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a system for controlling automatic powder addition of a continuous-casting mould according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a further schematic structural diagram of a system for controlling automatic powder addition of a continuous-casting mould according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for controlling automatic powder addition of a continuous-casting mould according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The technical solution according to the embodiments of the present disclosure will be described clearly and completely below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiment of the present disclosure. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments according to the present disclosure, and are not all embodiments. Other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without any creative work based on the embodiments in the present disclosure will fall within the scope of protection of the present disclosure.
A method, a system and an apparatus for controlling automatic addition of the powder to a continuous-casting mould through a powder adding robot with six motion axes is provided according to the present disclosure. In the present disclosure, a new automatic powder addition control system is provided, which includes the powder adding robot as the core, and a quantified powder supply device with good stability and adaptability. Various detection means such as air-pressure detection, temperature detection, thickness detection, powder bin detection and so on are used, and also safety protection measures for area protection are applied. Thus the stability and uniformity in the powder addition process and the production quality of the casting billet are improved. In addition, in the present disclosure, closed-loop automatic control is applied in combination with existing information of a casting machine and detection information provided for the powder adding robot, so that parameters and operating states can be corrected and adjusted in real-time and the stability and uniformity of powder addition in a production process can be ensured without manual interference.
Reference is made to FIG. 1, which is a flowchart of a method for controlling automatic addition of the powder to a continuous-casting mould according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. A method for controlling automatic addition of the powder to a continuous-casting mould through a powder adding robot with six motion axes is disclosed according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the method includes steps 101 to 103 as follows.
In step 101, temperature and thickness information of a layer of the mould powder and continuous-casting production information are obtained, where the temperature and thickness information of the layer reflects the uniformity of the mould powder.
In step 102, the uniformity of the layer is detected, the powder adding robot is controlled to increase an amount of the powder added to an area where the mould powder is thin, and decrease the amount of the mould powder to an area where the mould powder is thick.
In step 103, an operating state, a generation parameter or a generation pace are adjusted by the powder adding robot in real time based on the continuous-casting production information, to control adjustment of parameters and powder adding action of the powder adding robot.
The method for controlling automatic addition of the powder to a continuous-casting mould through a powder adding robot with six motion axes is provided according to the present disclosure. In the present disclosure, a new automatic powder addition control system is provided, which includes the powder adding robot as the core and a quantified powder supply device with good stability and adaptability. Various detection means such as air-pressure detection, temperature detection, thickness detection, powder bin detection and so on are used, and also safety protection measures for area protection are applied. Thus the stability and uniformity in the powder addition process and the production quality of the casting billet are improved.
On a basis of the embodiment described above, reference is made to FIG. 2, which is a further flowchart of a method for controlling automatic addition of powder to a continuous-casting mould according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. Furthermore, the method further includes steps 201 to 206 as follows.
In step 201, it is determined whether air pressure in the continuous-casting mould reaches a preset value. Unless the air pressure reaches the preset value, the continuous-casting mould can't operate normally. The method will proceed to step 202 in a case that the air pressure in the continuous-casting mould does not reach the preset value; or it will proceed to step 203 in a case that the air pressure in the continuous-casting mould reaches the preset value.
In step 202, the continuous-casting mould sends an alarm signal that the automatic addition of the powder can't be performed.
In step 203, a pneumatic electromagnetic valve is opened, so as to ventilate a powder adding tube, so that a negative pressure space is formed between the electromagnetic valve and a servo motor.
In step 204, the servo motor is started, to drive a screw mechanism to transfer powder from a powder bin to the negative pressure space.
In step 205, the mould powder which has entered the powder adding tube due to the negative pressure and is conveyed to the powder adding gun is slowed and added uniformly by a vortex-type device at the front end of the powder adding gun.
In step 206, the temperature and thickness information of the layer and the continuous-casting production information are stored in a database, and displayed in the form of table.
The method for controlling automatic addition of the powder to a continuous-casting mould through a powder adding robot with six motion axes is provided according to the present disclosure. In the present disclosure, a new automatic powder addition control system is provided, which includes the powder adding robot as the core, and a quantified powder supply device with good stability and adaptability. Various detection means such as air-pressure detection, temperature detection, thickness detection, powder bin detection and so on are used, and also safety protection measures for area protection are applied. Thus the stability and uniformity in a powder addition process and the production quality of the casting billet are improved. In addition, in the present disclosure, closed-loop automatic control is applied in combination with existing information of a casting machine and detection information provided for the powder adding robot, so that parameters and operating states can be corrected and adjusted in real-time and the stability and uniformity of powder addition in a production process can be ensured without manual interference.
The method is described in detail above in the embodiment according to the present disclosure, and the method can be realized in several forms of system. In addition, a system is further disclosed in the present disclosure, and will be illustrated below in detail by a specific embodiment.
Reference is made to FIG. 3, which is a schematic structural diagram of a system for controlling automatic addition of a powder to a continuous-casting mould according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The system for controlling automatic addition of a powder to a continuous-casting mould through a powder adding robot with six motion axes disclosed in the embodiment of the present disclosure, includes: an obtaining unit 301 configured to obtain temperature and thickness information of a layer of the mould powder and continuous-casting production information, where the temperature and thickness information of the layer reflects the uniformity of the mould powder; a detection unit 302 configured to detect the uniformity of the layer, to control the powder adding robot to increase an amount of the powder added to an area where the mould powder is thin, and decrease the amount of the mould powder added to an area where the mould powder is thick; and an adjustment unit 303 configured to adjust in real-time, by the powder adding robot, an operating state, a generation parameter or a generation pace based on the continuous-casting production information, so as to control adjustment of parameters and powder adding action of the powder adding robot.
The system for controlling automatic addition of the powder to a continuous-casting mould through a powder adding robot with six motion axes is provided according to the present disclosure. A new automatic powder addition control system is provided, which includes the powder adding robot as the core, and a quantified powder supply device with good stability and adaptability. Various detection means such as combing air-pressure detection, temperature detection, thickness detection, powder bin detection and so on are used, and also safety protection measures for area protection are applied. Thus the stability and uniformity in a powder addition process and the production quality of the casting billet are improved.
On a basis of the embodiment disclosure described above, reference is made to FIG. 4, which is a further flowchart of a system for controlling automatic addition of powder to a continuous-casting mould according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. Furthermore, the system further includes a determining unit 401, an alarm unit 402, a ventilation unit 403, a transferring unit 404, a powder adding unit 405 and a storage and display unit 406.
The determining unit 401 is configured to determine whether air pressure in the continuous-casting mould reaches a preset value, where unless the air pressure reaches the preset value, the continuous-casting mould can't operate normally; the alarm unit 402 is configured to, by the continuous-casting mould, send an alarm signal that the automatic addition of the powder can't be performed in a case that the air pressure in the continuous-casting mould does not reach the preset value; the ventilation unit 403 is configured to open a pneumatic electromagnetic valve in a case that the air pressure in the continuous-casting mould reaches the preset value, so as to ventilate a powder adding tube, so that a negative pressure space is formed between the electromagnetic valve and a servo motor; a transferring unit 404 is configured to start the servo motor, to drive a screw mechanism to transfer powder from a powder bin to the negative pressure space; a powder adding unit 405 is configured to slow and add uniformly, by a vortex-type device at the front end of a powder adding gun, the mould powder which has entered the powder adding tube due to the negative pressure and is conveyed to the powder adding gun; and a storage and display unit 406 is configured to store in a database and display in the form of table the temperature and thickness information of the layer and the continuous-casting production information.
The system for controlling automatic addition of the powder to a continuous-casting mould through a powder adding robot with six motion axes is provided according to the present disclosure described above. In the present disclosure, a new automatic powder addition control system is provided, which includes the powder adding robot as the core, and a quantified powder supply device with good stability and adaptability. Various detection means such as air-pressure detection, temperature detection, thickness detection, powder bin detection and so on are used, and also safety protection measures for area protection are applied. Thus the stability and uniformity in the powder addition process and the production quality of the casting billet are improved. In addition, in the present disclosure, closed-loop automatic control is applied in combination with existing information of a casting machine and detection information provided for the powder adding robot, so that parameters and operating states can be corrected and adjusted in real-time and the stability and uniformity of powder addition in a production process can be ensured without manual interference.
On a basis of the method and the system for controlling automatic addition of powder to a continuous-casting mould disclosed above, reference is made to FIG. 5, which is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for controlling automatic addition of powder to a continuous-casting mould according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. An apparatus for controlling automatic addition of powder to a continuous-casting mould through a powder adding robot with six motion axes is further disclosed according to the embodiment of the present disclosure. The apparatus includes: a microcontroller 501 configured to perform overall control on the continuous-casting mould; a thickness detecting unit 502, connected to the microcontroller and configured to detect a thickness of powder in the continuous-casting mould; a stability detecting unit 503 configured to detect a temperature of the mould powder in the continuous-casting mould; an industrial robot unit 504 configured to perform adaptive adjustment and control of the addition of powder to the continuous-casting mould; an air-pressure detecting unit 505 configured to detect air pressure in the continuous-casting mould; an area protection detecting unit 506 configured to perform area protection detection on the continuous-casting mould; a powder bin detecting unit 507 configured to perform detection on powder bin of the continuous-casting mould; a pneumatic powder adding unit 508 configured to perform pneumatic powder adding to the continuous-casting mould; a touch-screen unit 508 configured to perform data input and display; and a failure alarm device 509 configured to perform failure alarm in a case that the industrial robot unit breaks down.
The powder adding gun device 510 for slowing the powder and adding it uniformly is provided for the industrial robot unit 504 described above.
The device for controlling automatic addition of the powder to a continuous-casting mould through a powder adding robot with six motion axes is provided according to the present disclosure described above. In the present disclosure, a new automatic powder addition control system is provided, which includes the powder adding robot as the core, and a quantified powder supply device with good stability and adaptability. Various detection means such as air-pressure detection, temperature detection, thickness detection, powder bin detection and so on are used, and also safety protection measures for area protection are applied. Thus the stability and uniformity in the powder addition process and the production quality of the casting billet are improved. In addition, in the present disclosure, closed-loop automatic control is applied in combination with existing information of a casting machine and detection information provided for the powder adding robot, so that parameters and operating states can be corrected and adjusted in real-time and the stability and uniformity of powder addition in a production process can be ensured without manual interference.
The principle of the present disclosure is introduced as follows. Since the mould powder is transferred in a pneumatic manner, a precondition of normal operation is that the air pressure reaches the preset value. The system will give an alarm and will not perform automatic powder addition in a case that the air pressure is detected not to meet a set condition. In a case that the air pressure is normal, the system starts to operate. The robot moves to an operating position first, and a pneumatic electromagnetic valve is opened to ventilate the powder adding tube, and therefore negative pressure space is formed between the electromagnetic valve and a servo motor. Then the servo motor is started to drive the screw mechanism to transfer the mould powder from the powder bin to the negative pressure space. The mould powder enters the powder adding tube quickly under the effect of the negative pressure, and is conveyed to a powder adding gun, and is slowed and falls down uniformly by a vortex-type device at the front end of the powder adding gun.
In the system for controlling automatic powder addition of a continuous-casting mould based on the industrial robot above, a proper modification may be made onto a selection for an execution unit and a detection method of the detection unit. For example, the servo motor may be replaced with a variable frequency motor or a stepper motor, control principles of which are the same substantially, and only implementation means are different. This will fall within the scope of protection of the present disclosure.
Based on the system for controlling automatic powder addition disclosed above, the present disclosure can realize a data communication function, an adaptive adjustment function for the automatic powder addition, an automatic positioning function, a powder adding statistic function, a failure alarm function and a protection function.
For the data communication function, the microcontroller of the system for controlling automatic powder addition is connected and communicated with a microcontroller of the casting machine, to realize data exchange. The system for controlling automatic powder addition obtains production parameters of the continuous-casting machine, such as information on a section of the mould, information on a steel grade and a casting signal, information on liquid level, information on the thickness of the powder layer, information on a temperature of the mould. The information may be served as an adjustment basis for the action and the powder addition in the system for controlling automatic powder addition.
For the adaptive adjustment function for the automatic powder addition, a mould powder type and amount are different for different steel grades and specifications in casting production, where the specification is developed based on process. The system for controlling automatic powder addition calculates information on amount of the mould powder by the information on the steel grade and information on production specification obtained via communication in conjunction with process, continuously acquires real-time information on the thickness of the powder and temperature in the production process, and then adoptively adjusts speed and amount of the powder under coordination control, so as to realize a good powder adding effect.
For the automatic positioning function, since the specification of the continuous-casting production is varied, different powder adding actions are required to adapt a change in the specification and the size of the mould. The system for controlling automatic powder addition can positioned automatically and recalculated a powder adding action track based on the information on the section of the casting machine obtained via communication, to adapt a change in the continuous-casting production specification.
For the powder adding statistics function, the system for controlling automatic powder addition stores and analyzes powder adding condition periodically, and performs powder adding statistics based on casting times in conjunction with casting information. The result is stored in the form of database in an industrial personal computer and displayed in the form of table.
For the failure alarming function, the system for controlling automatic powder addition, monitors abnormal condition closely. The condition includes failure, alarm and warning. The failure means that a system element is abnormal, and therefore the system can not operate normally; the alarm means that a control flow is time out; and the warning means an abnormal case which has no effect on normal operation of the system.
For the protection function, a detection device is provided in key points in the system for controlling automatic powder addition, such as an area protection device, an air-pressure detecting device and a powder level detecting device. Logical operation is performed on a detected result of those detecting devices in the microcontroller, and then the result is combined with a control function of the system, hence the protection function of the system is realized.
In summary, a method, system and apparatus for controlling automatic addition of a mould powder to a continuous-casting mould through a powder adding robot with six motion axes are disclosed according to the present disclosure. In the present disclosure, a new automatic powder addition control system is provided, which includes the powder adding robot as the core, and a quantified powder supply device with good stability and adaptability. Various detection means such as air-pressure detection, temperature detection, thickness detection, powder bin detection and so on are used, and also safety protection measures for area protection are applied. Thus the stability and uniformity in a powder addition process and the production quality of the casting billet are improved. In addition, in the present disclosure, closed-loop automatic control is applied in combination with existing information of a casting machine and detection information provided for the powder adding robot, so that parameters and operating states can be corrected and adjusted in real-time and the stability and uniformity of powder addition in a production process can be ensured without manual interference.
The embodiments of the present disclosure are described herein in a progressive manner, with an emphasis placed on explaining the difference between each embodiment and other embodiments. The same or similar parts among the embodiments can be referred to each other. For the device disclosed in the embodiments, the corresponding descriptions are relatively simple because the apparatus correspond to the method disclosed in the embodiments. The relevant portions may refer to the description of the method parts.
The above description of the embodiments disclosed herein enables those skilled in the art to implement or use the present disclosure. Numerous modifications to the embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principle herein can be implemented in other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described herein, but in accordance with the widest scope consistent with the principle and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A method for controlling automatic addition of a mould powder to a continuous-casting mould through a powder adding robot with six motion axes, the method comprising:

obtaining temperature and thickness information of a layer of the mould powder and continuous-casting production information, wherein the temperature and thickness information of the layer reflects the uniformity of the mould powder;

detecting the uniformity of the layer to control the powder adding robot to increase an amount of the mould powder added to an area where the mould powder is thin, and decrease the amount of the mould powder added to an area where the mould powder is thick; and

adjusting in real-time, by the powder adding robot, an operating state, a generation parameter or a generation pace based on the continuous-casting production information, so as to control adjustment of parameters and powder adding action of the powder adding robot.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether air pressure in the continuous-casting mould reaches a preset value, wherein the continuous-casting mould can't operate normally unless the air pressure reaches the preset value,

sending an alarm signal, by the continuous-casting mould, that the automatic addition of the mould powder can't be performed in a case that the air pressure in the continuous-casting mould does not reach the preset value; or

opening a pneumatic electromagnetic valve to ventilate a powder adding tube so that a negative pressure space is formed between the electromagnetic valve and a servo motor, in a case that the air pressure in the continuous-casting mould reaches the preset value;

starting the servo motor, to drive a screw mechanism to transfer the mould powder from a powder bin to the negative pressure space; and

slowing and adding uniformly, by a vortex-type device at the front end of a powder adding gun, the mould powder which has entered the powder adding tube due to the negative pressure and is conveyed to the powder adding gun.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

storing, in a database, the temperature and thickness information of the layer and the continuous-casting production information and displaying in a form of table the temperature and thickness information of the layer and the continuous-casting production information.

4. A system for controlling automatic addition of a mould powder to a continuous-casting mould through a powder adding robot with six motion axes, the system comprising:

an obtaining unit configured to obtain temperature and thickness information of a layer of the mould powder and continuous-casting production information, wherein the temperature and thickness information of the layer reflects the uniformity of the mould powder;

a detection unit configured to detect the uniformity of the layer, to control the powder adding robot to increase an amount of the mould powder added to an area where the mould powder is thin, and decrease the amount of the mould powder added to an area where the mould powder is thick; and

an adjustment unit configured to adjust in real-time, by the powder adding robot, an operating state, a generation parameter or a generation pace based on the continuous-casting production information, so as to control adjustment of parameters and powder adding action of the powder adding robot.

5. The system according to claim 4, further comprising:

a determining unit configured to determine whether air pressure in the continuous-casting mould reaches a preset value, wherein the continuous-casting mould can't operate normally unless the air pressure reaches the preset value;

an alarm unit configured to, by the continuous-casting mould, send an alarm signal that the automatic addition of the mould powder can't be performed in a case that the air pressure in the continuous-casting mould does not reach the preset value; the

a ventilation unit configured to open a pneumatic electromagnetic valve to ventilate a powder adding tube so that a negative pressure space is formed between the electromagnetic valve and a servo motor, in a case that the air pressure in the continuous-casting mould reaches the preset value;

a transferring unit configured to start the servo motor, to drive a screw mechanism to transfer the mould powder from a powder bin to the negative pressure space;

a powder adding unit configured to slow and add uniformly, by a vortex-type device at the front end of a powder adding gun, the mould powder which has entered the powder adding tube due to the negative pressure and is conveyed to the powder adding gun.

6. The system according to claim 4, further comprising:

a storage and display unit configured to store, in a database, the temperature and thickness information of the layer and the continuous-casting production information and display in a form of table the temperature and thickness information of the layer and the continuous-casting production information.

7. An apparatus for controlling automatic addition of a mould powder to a continuous-casting mould through a powder adding robot with six motion axes, the apparatus comprising:

a microcontroller configured to perform overall control on the continuous-casting mould;

a thickness detecting unit, connected to the microcontroller and configured to detect a thickness of the mould powder in the continuous-casting mould;

a stability detecting unit, connected to the microcontroller and configured to detect a temperature of the mould powder in the continuous-casting mould;

an industrial robot unit, connected to the microcontroller and configured to perform adaptive adjustment and control of the addition of the mould powder to the continuous-casting mould;

an air-pressure detecting unit, connected to the microcontroller and configured to detect air pressure in the continuous-casting mould;

an area protection detecting unit, connected to the microcontroller and configured to perform area protection detection on the continuous-casting mould;

a powder bin detecting unit, connected to the microcontroller and configured to perform detection on the powder bin of the continuous-casting mould; and

a pneumatic powder adding unit configured to perform pneumatic powder adding to the continuous-casting mould.

8. The device according to claim 7, wherein the industrial robot unit is provided with a powder adding gun device for slowing and adding uniformly the mould powder.

9. The device according to claim 7, further comprising:

a touch-screen unit for data input and display, connected to the microcontroller ; and

a failure alarm device, connected to the microcontroller and configured to perform failure alarm in a case that the industrial robot unit breaks down.