TWO-CHANNEL DEVICE TO BRAKE A ROLLED PRODUCT BEING FED TO A COOLING PLATE

Abstract: Two-channel device (10) to brake a rolled product (20) being fed to a cooling plate (15), the device (10) being located down­ stream of a unit (11) which cuts rolled products (20) to size, and comprising a powered roller conveyor (14), tail-braking means (13), two adjacent channels (16-17) with panels (19) to hold rolled products (20), means (18) to separate the two channels (16-17) momentarily, and switch means (12), in which device (10) the bottom of the two channels (16-17) is stationary, the panels (19) to hold the rolled products (20) can move substan­ tially in a vertical direction to disengage and discharge the rolled pro-ducts (20) onto the cooling plate (15), and the first channel (16) serves to receive the rolled products (20), whereas the second channel (17) serves to brake and discharge the rolled products (20), the tail-braking means (13) being positioned in correspondence with the second channel (17).

Description: "TWO-CHANNEL DEVICE TO BRAKE A ROLLED PRODUCT BEING FED TO A COOLING PLATE" This invention concerns a two-channel device to brake a rolled product being fed to a cooling plate. To be more exact, the invention concerns a device that enables a rolled bar or section which is sliding at speeds considerably higher than those employed hitherto in the state of the art, to be braked with regard to the feeding of the same to a cooling plate. The device of the invention performs the braking of such rolled product downstream from the shears which cut to size the rolled products leaving a rolling train. The device curries out also the discharge of such braked rolled products onto the cooling plate. Brake devices are known which make use of braking channels cooperating with movable panels to brake and discharge a rolled product. Patent GB-A-9 & ,865 discloses a system with multiple channels which is closed above by a panel. The device is of a type in which the braking elements are floorplates, that is to say, the rolled stock is braked by friction caused by its own weight acting against the bottom of the reception channel; a vertically movable floorplate can be lowered to make the rolled stock slide into the neighbouring channel, and lastly a further slide floorplate serves to receive the rolled stock and to discharge it onto the cooling plate. This system is complicated,particularly as regards the working sequence; moreover, auxiliary means such as tail brakes have not been provided to shorten the braking distance. Patent DE-A-1.020.949 discloses a two-channel device in which the braking takes place by sliding on the lower side, or floor, of the channels. The device comprises a first set of slide plates able to lift the rolled stock braked in the first channel so as to make it slide onto the cooling plate; to cause this, bridge elements spaced apart are provided which pass over the second channel. Such bridge elements are raised from below by retractable pivots so as to discharge the rolled stock within the second channel onto the cooling plate; such rolled stock is lifted by raisable slide plates in the same way as in GB-A-989, & 5. Patent US-A-3,236,084 discloses guide-type deviator means to send the rolled stock to one or the other of two brakingshearing lines with a flying shears, two identical braking paths being provided. The speeds of rolled product which can be employed with the known devices do not exceed 16 to 20 metres per second in the case of roll-formed sections such as angle bars, T-beams etc. The reason for this is that the known devices cannot brake a length of rolled product cut to size and discharge it onto the cooling plate before the next length of rolled product arrives into the brake device itself. The device of the invention enables very high speeds of a rolled product entering the device to be employed. For indicational purposes, such speeds can be of the order of 30 to 35 metres per second or higher. In particular, the device of the invention is especially advantageous in the braking of sections such as angle bars, T-beams, etc. which cause the greatest restrictions of speed in the known art. The working principle on which the device of the invention is based envisages the employment of two channels positioned parallel to each other. The rolled product is delivered into the one of such channels which lies in a higher position. It is then discharged from this higher channel into the lower channel by being displaced sideways along the sloping surface formed by the bottom of the channels themselves. In a preferred embodiment the displacement of a rolled product from one channel to the other is obtained by means of vanes which can be lifted and which in their working position support at its side a rolled product sliding in the higher channel. Then, these vanes, being raised or at any rate displaced from their working position, enable the rolled product to descend sideways into the lower channel. The rolled product is braked there by means of a brake that acts on its tail end and is of a known type, and is then discharged onto the cooling plate. Such discharge is performed by lifting the panels forming one wall for the sliding of the rolled product positioned in the second channel. The vanes cited above are independent of the panels and have a separate actuation system. The employment of two channels enables the rolled product to be transferred from the first channel to the second before it is braked. In this way the first of the channels is left free to accept the next length of rolled product. These channels comprise at their bottom a conveyor consisting of powered rollers of a known type to feed the lengths of rolled product and to deliver them to the braking tract. This braking tract, which is linked to the tail-brake, is located so as to correspond with the cooling plate, which in this device is of a conventional type. The brake which acts on the tails of the rolled products is also of a known type and employs specially shaped rollers. The shape of such rollers varies to suit the type of rolled product being processed. According to the invention a switch is provided in the initial part of the roller conveyor. In each braking cycle (apart from the start of processing) this switch sends the rolled product into the first of the two channels. The switch is then positioned in correspondence with the second channel so as to assist the passage of the rolled product from the first channel to the second. According to the invention, before the next length of rolled product arrives, the switch is re-positioned in correspondence with the first of the channels. In this way the movement of the switch always takes place in advance, and the switch is thus pre-arranged in the direction in which the head of the next length of rolled product to arrive is to be sent. The conformation of the vanes cited earlier and, at any rate, of the channel that receives the rolled product is such as to obviate any lift-off or excessive displacement of small sections such as flat bars and small angle irons. In view of their low rigidity such sections could not be suitably conveyed by a mere channel consisting of open rollers. The strueture of the channels is therefore closed. However, the invention can also be employed with rolled products of large cross-sections. In particular, in the case of larger sections, which slide at slow speeds, as is known, the device is envisaged as being used in the form of a onechannel device. For this purpose the preferred embodiment, to which we shall refer hereinafter, envisages that the vanes are taken out of action and one single channel is obtained which has the size of about that of the sum of the sizes of the two parallel channels. When braking has been carried out either with brakes acting on the tails of the rolled products or by natural braking, the sections are discharged from that channel onto the cooling plate by means of the raising of the panels located along the side of the roller conveyor. The invention envisages a first portion of the conveyor in which the arriving rolled product undergoes formation of a bend with a very slight curvature. This curvature, which extends, as we said, along an initial tract of the conveyor, has the purpose of keeping the rolled product separated from the panels delimiting the one single channel thus formed, up to a forward enough position in the channel. The conveyor has an enlarged portion, which is advantageously positioned towards the beginning of the conveyor, for the purpose of obtaining such curvature. In this way, after the length of rolled product braked previously has been discharged onto the cooling plate, there is enough time to re-position the panels without making contact with the next length to arrive. This invention is therefore embodied with a two-channel device to brake a rolled product being fed to a cooling plate, the device being located downstream from a unit which cuts rolled products to size, and comprising a powered roller conveyor, tail-braking means, two adjacent channels with panels to hold rolled products, means to separate the two channels momentarily, and switch means, the device being characterized in that the bottom of the two channels is stationary, the panels to hold the rolled products can move substantially in a vertical direction to disengage and discharge the rolled products onto the cooling plate, and the first channel serves to receive the rolled products, whereas the second channel serves to brake and discharge the rolled products, the tailbraking means being positioned in correspondence with the second channel. We shall describe hereinafter, as a non-restrictive example, a preferred embodiment of the invention with the help of the attached figures, in which: Figs.1 give a plan view of the brake device of the invention; Fig.2 shows a cross-section along A-A of Fig.1; Fig.3 lastly shows a cross-section along B-B of Fig.1. A brake device 10 shown in Fig.1 comprises a roller conveyor 14,which includes an end tract 214 parallel and adjacent to a cooling plate 15. As soon as rolled sections 20 have been braked, they are discharged from this tract 214 onto the plate 15. The direction of movement of the rolled products 20 is from right to left in the figure. At the beginning of the conveyor 14 is located a switch 12, which is preceded iediately by a shears unit 11, here shown diagrasratically. This shears unit 11 may consist of one or two shears. For instance, two flying shears 11 may be provided, one being for small cross-sections moving at high speed and the other being for large cross-sections moving at a slow speed. In such a case the two shears can be set to work and taken out of action by means of one or more movable carriages. The switch 12 serves to direct the rolled product 20 into the proper channel and also to control and assist the rolled product 20 when the latter 20 is moving from one channel to the other. The task of the switch 12 will become clearer hereinafter when the method of working of the device 10 is described in detail. A means to brake the tails of rolled products, or tail brake,13 of a known type can be seen near the cooling plate 15. In this example the tail-brake 13 is of a type with specially shaped rollers 30 (see Fig.3) and engages the tails of the lengths of rolled product arriving near the plate 15. A braking action is obtained by means of such rollers 30. When the rolled product 20 has been braked, it is discharged sideways onto the cooling plate 15. The conveyor 14 is of a type having powered rollers and comprises two channels 16 and 17 respectively. The first channel 16 is the channel that receives the rolled product 20, whereas the second channel 17 is the actual braking channel. Fig.2 shows the channels 16-17 better with a cross-sectional view. As can be seen, the channel 16 has an immovable wall 35 delimiting a substantially quadrangular space and is closed at its other side with a movable vane 18. The movable vane 18 is pivoted at 24 in this case by means of a knife-edge type of suspension cooperating with a notch in a frame 21 of the device 10. Tests conducted by the present applicant have shown that this type of suspension is most suitable for avoiding wear as well as being the best type from constructional and economical points of view. The vanes 18 can be lifted by means of an actuation system including a turnbuckle transmission 27, which is connected to a crank 28 solidly fixed to a shaft 128. Rotation of the shaft 128 is performed by actuators 29, which in this case are jacks and are positioned at intervals along the shaft 128. As can be seen in the figure, when the vane 18 is in its working position, which is shown with full lines, the channel 16 is almost wholly closed. This obviates any undesired sideways skidding or lifting of slender rolled products 20 sliding through the channel 16. The other channel 17 is delimited at its sides by the vanes 18 lowered in their working position and by panels 19. The panels lg too can be raised like the vanes 18. Each panel 19 is moved by a drive cam 25 actuated by a shaft 125. The cam 25 acts on a small roller 26 of the panel 19, which is pivoted on the same axis 24 as the vane 18 with an analogous knife-edge suspension system. Of course, the pivots 24 of the vane 18 and panel 19 are located in different positions along the length of the device 10 owing to reasons of constructional order. The shaft 125 lies along the whole length of the device 10 and therefore has as many caps 29 as there are panels 19, The simultaneous actuation of all the panels 19 is simplified in this way As can be seen in Fig.1, a plurality of panels 19 and vanes 18 is present on the conveyor 14 so as to form two parallel channels 16-17 with a development almost continuous along the whole conveyor 14. The roller conveyor 14 comprises powered rollers 22 supported at one end. Each roller 22 is driven by a motor 23. As can be seen in Fig.2, both the vane 18 and the panel 19 are reinforced to obtain maximum rigidity so as to provide the whole device 10 with maximum strength. This is particularly important when rolled products with a large cross-section are being processed. Lastly, Fig.3 shows in particular the tail-brake unit 13 located iwedistely upstream from the cooling plate 15. The figure also shows the roller conveyor 14, of which a powered 23 roller 22 can be seen. The panels 19 and vanes 18 can also be seen in a lengthwise view. Specially shaped rollers 30 of the tail-brake 13 have a profile corresponding to that of the rolled sections to be braked. In this example the rollers 30 are sustained by supports 130 and are driven by electric motors 32 and universal joints and propeller shafts 31. The distance between centres of the rollers 30 can be varied in a known manner,suitable actuators such as jacks or equivalent means being provided but not shown in Fig.3 for reasons of simplicity. To take the tail-brake unit 13 thus shown out of work a slider 33 is employed onto which the motors 32 and supports 130 are fitted. As an alternative, an overturning system, for instance, can be used. In any event, the tail-brake 13 is of a type known in the art and we shall therefore not dwell upon it further. The device 10 works as follows. The switch 12 is located initially at position 12A in Fig.1, that is to say, it is pointed towards the second channel, or channel of panels, 17. When the head of the first length of rolled product 20 arrives, it is therefore sent into channel 17. When such length has covered a greater part of the channel 17 in the direction of the lengthwise development of the latter 17, the switch 12 is moved to position 12B corresponding to channel 16 before the next length of rolled product 20 arrives. When the head of this next length arrives, it is therefore introduced into channel 16 by virtue of the pre-positioning 12B of the switch 12. At the same time the channel 17 is ready for discharge; the length of rolled product 20 in the channel 17 is braked by the tail-brake 13, and the panels 19 are then raised for discharge of the rolled product 20 onto the plate 15. In the meanwhile the head of the next length of rolled product 20 has completed its whole run within the channel 16. The switch 12 is now taken back to position 12A. This positioning of the switch 12 assists descent of the rolled product 20 sideways from channel 16 into channel 17. The panels 19 are lowered and the vanes 18 are raised, and therefore the length of rolled product 20 in channel 16 is brought by the force of gravity into channel 17. This descent is assisted by the inclination of the switch 12 at position 12A. As we said earlier, channel 17 is positioned at a lower level than channel 16, the channels 16-17 having their bottoms sloped sideways, and the bottoms consisting of the rollers 22 (see Fig.2) Passage from channel 16 to channel 17 having now been carried out, the vanes 18 are lowered once again. The switch 12 is taken back to position 12B and in this way the delivery of the next length of rolled product 20 to arrive is pre-set for channel 16. The panels 19 are lifted for the discharge of the length of rolled product 20 present in channel 17 onto the plate 15. The cycle is then repeated. The invention enables portions of rolled product to be eli minted which have a length unsuitable for subsequent use and are the last to arrive along the rolling line. For this purpose it is enough to keep the vanes 18 lowered and thus to prevent the last portion of rolled product arriving from being displaced sideways from channel 16 into channel 17. Such portion therefore continues its run within channel 16 until it reaches a part 116 of that channel 16 not equipped with vanes 18 (see Fig.lb). That portion of rolled product is then displaced from the part 116 of channel 16 to a part 117 of channel 17. The portion is braked lastly by means of a roller conveyor 36 which discharges such portions. This roller conveyor 36 comprises in a known manner a movable bottom 136 which can be raised to brake such portions of rolled product as have to be discarded. One or more parts of this movable bottom 136 can be lifted, depending on the speed of such portions of rolled product. The portions thus braked are butted against a final abutment 236 and are then evacuated in any known way in a collection container 37. Besides the method of working which has now been described and which is suitable for rolled products of small crosssections travelling at high speed, this invention is suitable also for use with rolled products of a large cross-section travelling, therefore, at a slow speed. With such latter types of rolled products the method of working is as follows. The vanes 18 are lifted by the pneumatic actuators 29 so that they always remain out of action. In this way the brake device 10 works as a normal brake device with one single channel. As the vanes 18 are no longer in their working position, the channel formed by the union of the channels 16 and 17 has a width great enough to receive even the biggest sections, as can be seen in Fig.2. As we said earlier, the part 114 of the roller conveyor 14 comprises a width of channel 16 greater than that in the remainder of the conveyor 14. This is due to the fact that, when large sections are being processed and the vanes 18 are therefore always out of action, a rolled product 20 arriving has to undergo a curvature shown in Fig.1, so as to be kept distant from the panels 19. In fact, the panels 19 have to have time to be able to ascend and descend so as to discharge the preceding length of rolled product located on the roller conveyor 14. The device 10 can work in this way with one single channel and therefore possesses considerable versatility, being able to serve not only thin sections moving at high speed but also large sections travelling at a slow speed. INDEX 10 - brake device 11 - shears unit 12 - switch 12A - position of switch 12B - position of switch 13 - tail-brake 14 - roller conveyor 114 - enlarged tract 214 - end tract 15 - cooling plate 16 - first channel 116 - end part 17 - second channel 117 - end part 18 - vanes 19 - panels 20 - rolled product 21 - frame 22 - rollers 23 - motor 24 - pivot 25 - cam to drive panels 125 - shaft 26 - small roller 27 - turnbuckle 28 - crank 128 - shaft 29 - actuator or jack 30 - specially shaped rollers 130 - supports 31 - universal joints and propellor shafts 32 - motors 33 - slider 34 - guides 35 - immovable wall 36 - roller conveyor for discharge of discarded portions 136 - movable bottom 236 - abutment 37 - collection container.

Claims: CLAIMS * , * * , 7 1 - Two-channel device (10) to brake a rolled product (20) being fed to a cooling plate (15), the device (10) being located downstream of a unit (11) which cuts rolled products (20) to size, and comprising a powered roller conveyor (14), tail-braking means (13), two adjacent channels (16-17) with panels (19) to hold rolled products (20), means (18) to separate the two channels (16-17) momentarily,and switch means (12), the device (10) being characterized in that the bottom of the two channels (16-17) is stationary, the panels (19) to hold the rolled products (20) can move substantially in a vertical direction to disengage and discharge the rolled products (20) onto the cooling plate (15), and the first channel (16) serves to receive the rolled products (20), whereas the second channel (17) serves to brake and discharge the rolled products (20),the tail-braking means (13) being positioned in correspondence with the second channel (17). 2 - Two-channel device (10) to brake a rolled product (20) being fed to a cooling plate (15) as claimed in Claim 1, in which the panels (19) can be raised. 3 - Two-channel device (10) to brake a rolled product (20) being fed to a cooling plate (15) as claimed in Claim 1 or 2, in which the means (18) that cause momentary separation are independent of the panels (19). 4 - Two-channel device (10) to brake a rolled product (20) being fed to a cooling plate (15) as claimed in any claim hereinbefore, in which the momentary separation means (18) comprise movable vanes (18). 5 - Two-channel device (10) to brake a rolled product (20) being fed to a cooling plate (15) as claimed in Claims 1 and 4, in which the movable vanes (18) have a working position and also a position where they are out of action. 6 - Two-channel device (10) to brake a rolled product (20) being fed to a cooling plate (15) as claimed in any claim hereinbefore, in which the roller conveyor (14) forms the bottom of the two channels (16-17). 7 - Two-channel device (10) to brake a rolled product (20) being fed to a cooling plate (15) as claimed in any claim hereinbefore, in which the switch means (12) have two positions (12B-12A) respectively corresponding to one (16) and the other (17) of the two channels (16-17) and are located upstream from the two channels (16-17). 8 - Two-channel device (10) to brake a rolled product (20) being fed to a cooling plate (15) as claimed in any claim hereinbefore, in which the first channel (16) has an enlarged portion (114). 9 - Two-channel device (10) to brake a rolled product (20) being fed to a cooling plate (15) as claimed in Claims 1 and 8, in which the enlarged portion (114) is located in an intermediate position lying advantageously towards the beginning of the channel (16). 10 - Two-channel device (10) to brake a rolled product (20) being fed to a cooling plate (15) as claimed in any claim hereinbefore, which comprises at its end a roller conveyor (36) to brake and discharge (37) faulty portions of rolled product (20). 11 - Two-channel device (10) to brake a rolled product (20) being fed to a cooling plate (15) as claimed in Claims 1 and 10, in which the roller conveyor (36) performing braking and discharge (37) has at least one part of its bottom (136) able to move so as to brake lengths of rolled product (20).

Inventors: POLONI, ALFREDO
Applicants: DANIELI & C. OFFICINE MECCANICHE S.P.A.
Application year: 1985
Main classification: B21B43
IPC codes: B21B43