EP0286492A1 - Apparatus for supporting and cooling a continuously cast product at its exiting from the mould - Google Patents

Abstract

Device for supporting and cooling a continuous casting product on leaving the ingot mold (12) consisting of a part (18) fixed under the ingot mold so that one of the faces of the cast product comes into contact with a surface of support (20) of this part and slides thereon and provided with sprinkler heads (24) placed in cells or openings (22) of said part and capable of projecting jets of cooling fluid onto said face of the cast product. To allow the use of an atomization cooling system, the device comprises an atomization chamber (30) fixed on said part (18), away from said cells or openings (22), and connected by channels (28) drilled in said part with several sprinkler heads (24) installed at the outlet of said channels in said cells or openings.

Description

The present invention relates to a device used on continuous casting machines to support and cool the cast product at its exit from the mold and consisting of a solid or perforated piece, fixed under the mold so that the cast product comes in contact with a surface of this part and slide thereon, and provided with sprinkler heads placed in cells or openings in the part and capable of projecting jets of jets onto the face of the cast product in contact with said part a coolant. The invention relates more particularly, but not exclusively, to devices of this type used to support and cool the small faces of a cast product with a rectangular section of large width.

In known devices of this type, spray nozzles supplied with water or other coolant are used. Although it is known that atomization cooling, that is to say by spraying onto the cast product fine droplets of water suspended in a stream of air, is much more flexible and effective than cooling by spraying, it has so far been unsuccessful in using this cooling mode with the devices concerned because the atomizing nozzles are too large to be able to be installed in the cells or openings of the support piece. Indeed, whatever their design, these nozzles always include an atomization chamber, where the liquid is divided in droplets and the latter dispersed in the air stream, and a more or less long channel bringing the air-liquid mixture to a head pierced with an orifice of suitable shape to produce a jet of the desired shape.

The object of the present invention is to allow the use of an atomization cooling system on the devices concerned.

The device which is the subject of the invention is characterized in that it comprises at least one atomization chamber fixed to the support piece, away from the cells or openings, and connected by channels drilled in said piece with several heads pierced with slots or orifices and installed at the outlet of said channels in said cells or openings.

The invention is of particular interest when the device which is the subject of it is used to support and cool the two adjacent internal faces of the two bars emerging from a mold with double cavity. In this case, in fact, the space available between the bars, under the mold is particularly reduced. For this application, said heads will be housed in openings in the part opening onto its opposite faces in contact with the internal faces of the cast bars, and will be pierced with orifices or slots directed towards the two faces, and the chamber or chambers atomization will be fixed laterally on one or both sides of the part.

• La figure 1 est une vue de face d'un dispositif de soutien et du refroidissement des petites faces internes de deux brames jumelles produites par une lingotière à section droite rectangulaire dont la cavité intérieure est divisée en deux par une cloison transversale ; et
• La figure 2 est une coupe suivant 2-2 du dispositif de la figure 1.

Other characteristics of the invention will appear reading the description which follows and refers to the accompanying drawings which show, by way of nonlimiting example, an embodiment of the invention and in which:

• FIG. 1 is a front view of a device for supporting and cooling the small internal faces of two twin slabs produced by an ingot mold with rectangular cross section, the internal cavity of which is divided in two by a transverse partition; and
• Figure 2 is a section on 2-2 of the device of Figure 1.

The device shown in the drawings is fixed under the partition 10 of the mold 12, so that its opposite faces are in contact with the small internal faces of the two slabs 14 and 16, at their exit from the mold, and their serve as support. It consists of a grid 18 vertically elongated and comprising at its upper part wings serving for its fixing. Through the bars 20 of this grid, on which the bearing surfaces are formed, are formed through openings 22. In these openings and under the grid are placed sprinkler heads 24 having one or more slots on their faces turned towards the small slab faces. The heads are screwed into the threaded ends of vertical channels 26 drilled through the bars 20. The channels 26 are connected to channels 28 which open on the sides of the grid substantially at the same level. Atomization chambers 30 disposed laterally on either side of the grid, between the two parallel planes defined by the bearing surfaces of the bars, are fixed on the latter and connected to the channels by fittings 32. Each chamber atomization is connected to air and water supply pipes, not shown, and supplies two sprinkler heads, each head producing two opposite jets watering the small internal faces of the two slabs.

The atomization chamber can be of any known type. One could, for example, use a chamber of the type comprising an axial air inlet, a lateral water inlet and an anvil placed opposite the latter and on which the current of water entering the chamber is broken.

Thanks to the invention, the grid can be equipped with a spray cooling system despite the limited space available between the two slabs.

The invention is obviously not limited to the embodiment described. The number of sprinkler heads, the number of slots in these heads, their position and the number of atomization chambers could be different. Each atomization chamber could supply more than two heads. The device could also be used to guide and cool the small external faces of the slabs; in this case the sprinkler heads will only have slots or orifices on one side and can be placed in the cells of a full plate. It is understood that these modifications and all those resulting from the substitution of technical means equivalent to those described fall within the scope of the invention.

Claims (3)

1. Device for supporting and cooling a continuous casting product on leaving the ingot mold constituted by a part fixed under the ingot mold so that one of the faces of the cast product comes into contact with a bearing surface of this part and slides thereon and fitted with sprinkler heads placed in cells or openings in this part and capable of projecting jets of cooling fluid onto said face of the cast product, characterized in that it comprises, in addition, at least one atomization chamber (30) fixed on said part (18), away from said cells or openings (22), and connected by channels (28) drilled in said part with several heads of sprinkler (24) located at the outlet of said channels in said cells or openings. 2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that said part (18) has two opposite bearing surfaces, in that said openings (22) pass through said part and open onto said bearing surfaces, in that each sprinkler head (24) produces two opposite jets directed towards the ends of the respective opening and in that said atomization chamber (30) is disposed laterally on said part, between the two planes defined by said surfaces of support. 3. Device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said atomization chamber (30) is fixed to said part (18) and connected to said channels (28) by a connector (32) screwed into the threaded inlet of said channels.

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