MOVABLE WALL

Abstract: Movable wall (26) suitable for delimiting, in possible cooperation with fixed masonry walls (11), particular and predetermined zones of an industrial shed (10) inside of which runways (18, 19) for at least one bridge crane (20, 21) are provided, comprising a plurality of panels which are disposed side to side with respect to each other and rigidly interconnected to form a substantially rigid assembly, and at least a carriage (24) connected with said movable wall (26) and which suitable for being translated along runways (22, 23) provided inside of said shed (10).

Description: The present invention relates to a movable wall. More particularly, the present invention relates to a wall formed by a plurality of rigidly interconnected panels which is movable along runways which are generally provided inside of an industrial shed. The present invention may be mainly applied in the field of industrialized building. The interior of an industrial shed is often subdivided, on grounds associated to the different working steps which have to be carried out inside of the shed, or owing to safety grounds, into different portions which are physically separated by masonry walls. In the rather frequent case where runways for one or more bridge cranes serving the different working stations have to be placed close to the roof or to the vault of the shed, said masonry walls must necessarily have a rather limited height, in order to not hinder the passage of the loads which are carried by said bridge cranes. This fact occurs, for instance, in a steel plant in which, owing to safety grounds, the zone or cell inside of which the smelting furnace is placed is normally kept apart from, by way of example, a ladle mantainance zone or a ladle loading zone by means of a relatively low masonry wall, in order to enable the passage of the bridge cranes which carry the ladles. This situations involves a plurality of drawbacks and disadvantages, since the masonry walls are not suitable for attenuating the outcome of gas and dust from the furnace cell and they deaden only in a very limited extent the noise level which is produced by the operation of the smelting furnace, causing very high reverberations inside of the shed and a continuous discomfort and danger for the working personnel. Document DE-A-1,915,473 discloses a movable wall used for dividing into two parts a gymnasium. Said wall may be translated along runways provided close to the roof of the gymnasium by means of suitable carriages, the wall being mounted tiltable about a pivot provided on said carriages. Document FR-A-2,609,494 discloses a door suitable for dividing from each other the upper parts of compartments of a store, in order to avoid air passages between the various compartments. The door comprises a series of flexible panels which can be vertically displaced in a "Venetian blind" fashion. The present invention has the main purpose of obviating to the disadvantages and drawbacks which are typical of the background art, and of providing, therefore, a movable wall which is normally placed between the upper end of a masonry wall and the roof or the vault of the shed, said movable wall being structured in such a way that it cooperates, in a working position, with the fixed masonry wall, thus forming therewith a single, rigid, highly noise-dampening block and which is, at the same time, suitable for being translated in order to enable the passage of bridge cranes during predetermined working phases. This is obtained by a movable wall having the features disclosed in the main claim. The dependent claims outline advantageous forms of embodiment of the invention. The wall according to the invention is formed by a plurality of panels which are placed side by side with respect to each other and which are rigidly interconnected in order to form a substantially rigid wall having a width equal to the width of the masonry wall of the shed zone to be delimited. By way of a non-limiting example, the width of such a wall may typically range between 30 and 40 metres. According to the invention, the whole movable wall is placed on runways and may be translated by means of a carriage; thus, in a first operating step, the movable wall is positioned above the corresponding masonry wall and is rigidly connected to the latter by means of releasable clamping means. In a second operating step, when the passage of a bridge crane is to be enabled, the clamping means are released and the whole wall is displaced along the runways, up to a position in which the bridge crane is free of running along its predetermined path. According to an advantageous form of embodiment of the invention, the panels which constitute the movable wall are filled with a deadening material, which enables to deaden in a substantial way the noise level inside of the shed. According to a further advantageous form of embodiment of the invention, the movable wall may be translated on the same runways which are used for translating the bridge cranes, thus avoiding the provision of further runways which were to be used only for displacing the wall. Other advantages and features of the invention will become apparent from reading the following description, of a form of embodiment of the invention, given as a non-limiting example, with the help of the figures shown in the attached drawings, in which: - figure 1 shows a schematical plan view of a steel plant shed; - figure 2 shows a front view of a movable wall according to the invention; - figure 3 shows a side view of the wall shown in fig. 2. In figure 1, reference sign 10 generally indicates an industrial shed, in this case a shed belonging to a steel plant. Said shed is subdivided, by means of masonry walls 11, 12 (which are provided with suitable doors), into three main zones, of which a first zone 13 constitutes the furnace 14 cell, a second zone 15 is assigned for ladle mantainance and a third zone 16 is used for loading the ladles and for directly transporting the smelted material to roll forming stations 17. Furthermore, the shed 10 (which has a typical length ranging between 200 and 300 metres), is provided with a first pair of runways 18, 19 extending as far as the entire length of the shed 10 itself, on which runways are translatably movable bridge cranes 20, 21 which are suitable, for instance, for displacing the ladles. According to the form of embodiment which is described with reference to figures 1 to 3, the shed 10 is provided with a further pair of runways 22, 23, on which run carriages 24, 25 (see fig. 2) for displacing a movable wall 26, which is in this case suspended on said runways 22, 23. Said movable wall comprises, in the represented case, a plurality of panels which are placed side to side with respect to each other and which are interconnected by means of suitable connecting means, one of which is indicated by reference sign 27 in fig. 2, so as to form a rigid assembly having a width equal to the shed 10 width and which is suitably braced (see fig. 3). The heigth of movable wall 26 extends as far as the roof or the beginning of the vault of shed 10. According to a feature of the invention, the panels which form the movable wall 26 are filled, in their internal part, with a deadening material, in such a way as to deaden the noise which is caused by the operation of the furnace 14. In the case represented in the figures, the base of the movable wall 26 has a shape adapted to the shape of the upper end of the masonry walls 11, 12 which delimit the furnace 14 cell, and is provided with suitable recesses 28 allowing the passage, above said masonry walls 11, 12, but beneath of the base of the movable wall 26, of the runways 18, 19 of the bridge cranes 20, 21. Furthermore, hydraulically operable shafts 29 are placed at regular distances from each other along the base of the wall 26 and are suitable for blocking said movable wall 26 to one of the fixed walls 11, 12 which are provided with suitable seats or abutments 30 receiving said shafts 29. The movable wall 26 is operated as follows. In the case where zone or cell 13 of the furnace 14 should be completely separated from the respective ladle mantainance and loading/unloading zones 15, 16, two movable walls 26 are respectively placed in correspondence with and above the masonry walls 11, 12, and the hydraulically operable shafts 29 are operated by means of a command given by one or more electro-hydraulical control panels. Movable wall 26 and fixed wall 11 constitute in this case a rigid and unmovable assembly. In the case where one or both of the bridge cranes 20, 21 would have to be displaced within the zone 13 of the furnace 14, one or both of the walls 26 are translated, after the shafts 29 having been released from their seats 30, along the runways 22, 23 until they reach, for instance, a position adjacent to the bottom wall 31 of the shed 10, thus allowing the passage of the corresponding bridge cranes 20, 21. According to an alternative form of embodiment, which allows to avoid the provision of specific runways 22, 23 for translating the movable wall 26, the same runways 18, 19 may be used for displacing the movable wall 26, on which are translated the bridge cranes 20, 21. This solution offers a minor flexibility of use in respect of the above described solution, but is more economical. Finally, in order to prevent damages which may occur to the movable walls 26 owing to a faulty use or to a failure of the bridge cranes 21, 21, said walls are provided with buffer devices, for instance with buffer devices of the type described in italian patent application n. 84905/90 in the name of the present applicant.

Claims: Movable wall (26) suitable for delimiting, in cooperation with fixed masonry walls (11), the smelting furnace area from other particular areas of a steel plant inside of an industrial shed (10), runways (18, 19) for at least one bridge crane (20, 21) being provived inside of said shed, said movable wall (26) comprising a plurality of panels which are disposed side to side with respect to each other and at least a carriage (24) connected with said movable wall (26) and which is suitable for being translated along runways (22, 23) provided inside of said shed (10), said movable wall (26) being further provided with remote controlled means (29) for blocking said movable wall against fixed seats (30), characterised in that said plurality of panels are rigidly interconnected to each other to form a substantially rigid assembly, in that said remote controlled means (29) are constituted by hydraulically operable shafts which are placed at regular distances along the base of said movable wall (26), and in that said fixed seats (30) are located on the upper base of said fixed masonry walls (11). Movable wall (26) according to claim 1, characterised in that each of the panels forming said movable wall is filled in its inner part with a deadening material. Movable wall (26) according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterised in that said runways (18, 19) for said at least one bridge crane (22, 23) and said runways (22, 23) for said movable wall (26) coincide.

Inventors: DI FRANCESCANTONIO, DANTE
Applicants: INTERSER GROUP S.R.L.
Application year: 1991
Main classification: E04B2
IPC codes: E04H5, E04B2