CN104284740B - Modular rolling mill - Google Patents

Abstract

A modular rolling mill has a pass line along which products are rolled in a rolling direction. The rolling mill comprises a first gear unit arranged along a first line parallel to the mill pass line. Each first gear unit is driven by a motor, respectively, and has a pair of mechanically interconnected first shafts. The second gear unit is arranged along a second line between and parallel to the first line and the pass line. Each second gear unit has a pair of mechanically interconnected second shafts. The rolling units are arranged one after the other along the pass line. Each rolling unit is driven by an input shaft and has a pair of mechanically interconnected roll shafts carrying work rolls. A first coupling connects the first shaft of each first gear unit to the second shafts of two successive gear units; and a second coupling releasably connects the second shaft of the second gear unit to the input shafts of two successive rolling units. At least some of the first couplings include clutches that can be selectively disengaged to accommodate removal of a selected rolling unit from the pass line.

Description

Modular Mill

Cross References to Related Applications

This application is a continuation-in-part of US Application Serial No. 12/797,656 filed June 6, 2010, the entire content and subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference.

Background technique

1. Technical field

The present invention relates generally to rolling mills and in particular to an improved modular finishing mill arranged for rolling long products such as wire rod, bars and the like.

2. Description of related technologies

Referring to Figure 5A, a known modular finishing mill of the type described in U.S. Patent No. 5,595,083 to Shore includes a plurality of rolling units R ₁ -R ₅ arranged in sequence on a pass line P, along the rolling Line P rolls the product in the rolling direction indicated by arrow 10 . The gear units A ₁ -A ₄ are arranged along a line L parallel to the rolling line. The gear units are respectively driven by motors M ₁ -M ₄ and are offset relative to the rolling unit in the rolling direction. A continuous drive train is provided by connecting each gear unit to two successive rolling units respectively.

Typically, when rolling smaller product sizes (eg, wire rods with a diameter of 2.0-6.5 mm), all rolling units R ₁ -R ₅ are used with a finishing speed of up to 120 m/s and a tonnage rate of 70 -90tons/hr. In this case the rolling mill utilizes the power provided by all the motors M ₁ -M ₄ acting via a continuous drive train provided by coupling each gear unit to two successive rolling units. However, when rolling larger product sizes at lower speeds and higher tonnage rates of about 150 tons/hr, one or more rolling units located at the exit end of the rolling mill are typically removed from the pass line. If two rolling units are removed, as shown in Figure 5B, the last motor M4 is effectively disengaged from the continuous drive train, thereby reducing the amount of power available to drive the rolling mill when power demand increases due to production at higher tonnage rates. motivation. To compensate for this lack of power, rolling mills are equipped with larger motors, which disadvantageously increases the overall cost of the rolling mill.

In the above rolling mill, the rolling units R ₁ -R ₅ respectively comprise two pairs of counter-inclined roll pairs. This design is unique to the modular mill concept and is not readily applicable to other mill situations, for example, in post finishing mills of the type described in U.S. Patent No. 5,325,697 to Shore et al. .

Contents of the invention

Aspects of the invention relate to the provision of a modular finishing mill driven by multiple motors with a continuous drive train that uses the total power of all motors regardless of the number of rolling units in operation at any given time .

Aspects of the invention also relate to the provision of modular rolling mills, wherein identical rolling units each have a single pair of work rolls on an inclined axis, and wherein the rolling units can be driven from opposite sides, thereby accommodating Alternate opposite inclinations of the work rolls of the rolling unit that occur along the alternate reverse orientation of the rolling line.

A modular rolling mill according to an aspect of the invention comprises a plurality of first gear units arranged along a first line parallel to the rolling line. Each first gear reduction unit may be driven by a motor respectively, and has a pair of mechanically interconnected first shafts.

The second gear unit is arranged along a second line between and parallel to the first line and the rolling line. The second gear units are offset relative to the first gear units in the rolling direction, and each second gear unit has a pair of mechanically interconnected second shafts.

A continuous drive train is provided by coupling the first shaft of each successive first gear unit to the second shafts of two successive second gear units.

The rolling units are arranged successively along the rolling line. The rolling units are interchangeable with each other at successive positions along the rolling line. Each rolling unit has a pair of work rolls carried on mechanically interconnected inclined roll shafts driven by input shafts. The second shaft of the second gear unit is detachably coupled to the input shaft of the subsequent rolling unit.

Coupling the first shaft of the first gear unit to the second shaft of the second gear unit is advantageously achieved by using conventional couplings with suitable strategically positioned clutches, wherein, when the corresponding roll of the selected second gear unit When the rolling unit is removed from the rolling line, strategically positioned clutches can be disengaged to interrupt the drive connection to a selected second gear unit to accommodate different pass designs and rolling schedules.

The respective first and second shafts of the first and second gear units are advantageously driven at progressively increasing rotational speeds when viewed in the rolling direction, the input shafts of the rolling units being geared to the corresponding pair of roller shafts , the gear is dimensioned to achieve the same percentage speed increment for each rolling unit.

In order to achieve twist-free rolling, the input shafts of the rolling unit protrude from opposite sides, thus accommodating the alternate counter-orientation of the rolling unit and the alternate counter-inclination of its roll axes along the pass line.

These and other features and attendant advantages of the present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Description of drawings

Figure 1 is a top view of a modular finishing mill according to the present invention;

Figures 2A and 2B are end views showing opposite orientations of the rolling unit;

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a rolling mill drive train;

Figure 4 is an enlarged schematic view of the internal drive of a typical rolling unit;

5A and 5B are schematic diagrams of a prior art modular finishing mill;

Figure 6 is a schematic illustration of the modular finishing mill of the present invention wherein selected rolling units are removed from the pass line; and

Figure 7 is another schematic view in which a rolling unit is removed from the pass line to provide a different mill configuration.

detailed description

Referring first to FIGS. 1 and 3 , a modular rolling mill according to the present invention is shown at 12 . The rolling mill 12 is designed to roll long products such as rods, wires etc. along a pass line "P" in a rolling direction schematically indicated by arrow 14 . The rolling mill comprises first gear units A ₁ -A ₄ arranged along a first line L ₁ parallel to the pass line P. The first gear units are driven by motors M ₁ -M ₄ , respectively, which are mechanically connected to the pair of first shafts ₁₆ via _an internal gear set 18 .

The second gear units B ₁ -B ₅ are arranged along a _second line L _{2 located between and parallel to the first line L 1 and} the pass line P. Each second gear unit has a pair of second shafts 20 mechanically interconnected by a gear set 22 . The second gear unit B ₁ -B ₅ is offset relative to the first gear unit A ₁ -A ₄ when viewed in the rolling direction. First couplings 24 and 25 are used to connect the first shaft 16 of each first gear unit A ₁ -A ₄ to the second shaft 20 of two successive second gear units B ₁ -B ₅ . Coupling 24 is of the type providing an uninterrupted connection, while coupling 25 includes a clutch which can be disengaged to interrupt the drive connection between its respective first 16 and second 20 shafts.

The rolling units C ₁ -C ₁₀ are arranged successively along the rolling line P. The rolling units are interchangeable with each other. As can be better seen with further reference to FIG. 4 , each rolling unit has a shaft 26 connected by bevel gears 28 a , 28 b and a gear set 30 to a roll shaft 32 carrying work rolls 34 .

In addition, with reference to Figures 2A and 2B, the roll shaft 32 can be inclined at an angle of 45°, and the shaft 26 has ends 26' and 26" protruding from opposite sides of the rolling unit housing. The second coupling 36 is used to connect the second shaft 20 of the second gear unit B ₁ -B ₅ to the shaft 26 of two successive rolling units C. The direction of the rolling unit C can be alternately reversed along the rolling line P (see Fig. 2A and 2B), in order to adapt to the alternate opposite inclination of the roll shaft required for the twist-free rolling of the product, and to meet the needs of right-handed rolling and left-handed rolling.

The gear set 18 of the first rolling unit A ₁ -A ₄ is dimensioned to drive the first shaft 16 at progressively increasing rotational speeds when viewed in the rolling direction. Similarly, also viewed in the rolling direction, the gear set 22 of the second gear unit B ₁ -B ₅ is dimensioned to drive the second shaft 20 at progressively increasing rotational speeds.

The bevel gears 28a, 28b of the rolling units _C1 - _C10 are dimensioned to provide the same percentage speed increment for each rolling unit. In this way, combined with the reversibility of the rolling units as described in Figures 2A and 2B, the rolling units can be interchanged with each other at any position along the rolling line P, correspondingly, this can be achieved with a minimum number of Spare rolling units to run the mill.

It should also be noted that through the continuous drive arrangement provided by the _first and second gear units A1 _- A4 and B1 _- B5, all motors M1 _{- M 4} can all be used to power the rolling mill. Thus, for example, when rolling smaller product sizes, as described in Figures 1 and 3, all motors M ₁ -M ₄ are mechanically coupled to all rolling units C ₁ -C ₁₀ . By removing selected rolling units from the pass line P, larger product sizes can be rolled at higher tonnage rates. One such situation is depicted in Figure 6, wherein, although the rolling units C7 _{- C10} have been removed from the rolling line, the _four motors M1 _- M4 are still all connected to the remaining active rolling unit.

With the clutch 25 disengaged, the rolling units C ₃ , C ₄ and C ₇ , C ₈ can be removed from the rolling line P as described in FIG. 7 . With this arrangement, the drive order would be:

M ₁ -A ₁ -B ₁ -C ₁ 、C ₂

M ₂ -A ₂ -B ₃ -C ₅ 、C ₆

M ₃ -A ₃ -B ₃ -C ₅ 、C ₆

M ₄ -A ₄ -B ₅ -C ₉ 、C ₁₀

Likewise, all motors can be used (however, if the rolling load _on rolling units _C5 , _C6 requires only one motor, _M2 or M3 can be stopped).

This type of mill configuration increases the flexibility to accommodate different pass designs, especially for products with larger diameters above 10mm. When low temperature thermomechanical rolling is performed, a cooling unit (not shown) may be placed in the space along the rolling line vacated by removing the rolling units (C3 and _C4 or _C7 and _{C8 )} .

While embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed by way of example, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that, without departing from the spirit, scope and equivalents of the present invention as set forth in the following claims, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that Below, many changes, additions and deletions can be made.

Claims (11)

1. A modular rolling mill having a rolling line along which a product is rolled in a rolling direction, said modular rolling mill comprising: a plurality of first gear units arranged along a first line parallel to the pass line, each first gear unit being driven by a motor and having a pair of mechanically interconnected first gear units one axis; a plurality of second gear units arranged along a second line between and parallel to the first line and the rolling line, each Each second gear unit has a pair of mechanically interconnected second shafts; a plurality of rolling units arranged successively along the rolling line, each rolling unit being driven by an input shaft and having a pair of mechanically interconnected roll shafts carrying work rolls ; first coupling means for providing a drive connection between the first shaft of each first gear unit and the second shafts of two successive second gear units; second coupling means for releasably connecting the second shaft of the second gear unit to the input shafts of two successive rolling units, CHARACTERIZED IN THAT at least some of said first coupling means comprise clutches which are disengageable to interrupt transmission between their respective first and second shafts with a selected second gear unit connect, Wherein, the first coupling devices that connect a pair of second shafts of the same second gear unit with the first shafts of the corresponding first gear unit each include the clutch, and connect a pair of successive second gear units to each other. None of the first coupling means connecting the second shaft to the first shaft of the respective first gear unit comprises said clutch. 2. A modular rolling mill according to claim 1 , wherein the rolling units are interchangeable with each other at successive positions along the rolling line. 3. The modular rolling mill of claim 1, wherein the first shafts of the plurality of first gear units are driven at progressively increasing rotational speeds when viewed in the rolling direction. 4. The modular rolling mill of claim 3, wherein the second shafts of the plurality of second gear units are driven at progressively increasing rotational speeds when viewed in the rolling direction. 5. The modular rolling mill of claim 1 , wherein the input shaft of each rolling unit is geared to a corresponding pair of mechanically interconnected roller shafts, for each rolling unit the The gears are sized to achieve the same percentage speed increment. 6. The modular rolling mill of claim 2, wherein the input shaft of each rolling unit is geared to a corresponding pair of mechanically interconnected roll shafts, for each rolling unit the The gears are sized to achieve the same percentage speed increment. 7. The modular rolling mill of claim 3, wherein the input shaft of each rolling unit is geared to a corresponding pair of mechanically interconnected roller shafts, for each rolling unit the The gears are sized to achieve the same percentage speed increment. 8. The modular rolling mill of claim 4, wherein the input shaft of each rolling unit is geared to a corresponding pair of mechanically interconnected roll shafts, for each rolling unit the The gears are sized to achieve the same percentage speed increment. 9. The modular rolling mill of claim 1, wherein the rolling units are identically configured with inclined roll axes, and wherein the input shafts of the rolling units protrude from opposite sides to accommodate Alternately reversed orientations of the rolling units along the rolling line and alternately opposite inclinations of their roll axes. 10. A modular rolling mill having a rolling line along which a product is rolled in a rolling direction, said modular rolling mill comprising: a plurality of first gear units arranged along a first line parallel to the pass line, each first gear unit being driven by a motor and having a pair of mechanically interconnected first gear units one axis; a plurality of second gear units arranged along a second line between and parallel to the first line and the rolling line, each Each second gear unit has a pair of mechanically interconnected second shafts; the same plurality of rolling units arranged successively along the rolling line, each rolling unit being driven by an input shaft connected by gears to one of the bearing work rolls For inclined roll axes, the gears are sized to achieve the same percentage speed increase for each rolling unit whose input shafts protrude from opposite sides to accommodate the Alternately reversed orientations of rolling units along said pass line and alternately opposite inclinations of their roll axes; first coupling means for providing a drive connection between the first shaft of each first gear unit and the second shafts of two successive second gear units, in the first coupling means at least some of the clutches are disengageable to interrupt the driving connection between their respective first and second shafts with the selected second gear unit; and second coupling means for releasably connecting the second shaft of the second gear unit to the input shafts of two successive rolling units, Wherein, the first coupling devices that connect a pair of second shafts of the same second gear unit with the first shafts of the corresponding first gear unit each include the clutch, and connect a pair of successive second gear units to each other. None of the first coupling means connecting the second shaft to the first shaft of the respective first gear unit comprises said clutch. 11. A modular rolling mill having a rolling line along which a product is rolled in a rolling direction, said modular rolling mill comprising: a plurality of first gear units arranged along a first line parallel to the pass line, each first gear unit being driven by a motor and having a pair of mechanically interconnected first gear units a shaft, wherein said first shaft of said plurality of first gear units is driven at progressively increasing rotational speeds when viewed in the rolling direction; a plurality of second gear units arranged along a second line between and parallel to the first line and the rolling line, each Each second gear unit has a pair of mechanically interconnected second shafts; a plurality of rolling units interchangeable with each other at successive positions along the rolling line, each rolling unit being driven by an input shaft and having a pair of carrying work rolls mechanically interconnected rollers; first coupling means for providing a drive connection between the first shaft of each first gear unit and the second shafts of two successive second gear units, in the first coupling means at least some of the clutches are disengageable to interrupt the driving connection between their respective first and second shafts with the selected second gear unit; and second coupling means for releasably connecting the second shaft of the second gear unit to the input shafts of two successive rolling units, Wherein, the first coupling devices that connect a pair of second shafts of the same second gear unit with the first shafts of the corresponding first gear unit each include the clutch, and connect a pair of successive second gear units to each other. None of the first coupling means connecting the second shaft to the first shaft of the respective first gear unit comprises said clutch.