Patent ID: 7854883

Claim:
A system for cooling a hot steel rail to a fine perlitic or ferritic or perlitic/ferritic structure, the system comprising: a plurality of separate cooling modules with independently adjustable cooling parameters and intermediate zones between the cooling modules, the cooling modules together forming a cooling stretch, the rail passing downstream through the modules of the cooling stretch and the intermediate zones therebetween so that the surface of the rail is cooled in each of the modules and the rail is subjected to destressing or stress relief in the intermediate zones between the modules; sensors in each of the intermediate zones for detecting the actual surface temperature of the rail in the respective zones; control means connected to the modules and to the sensors for varying the cooling parameters of the cooling modules by pressure control and/or temperature control of a fluid cooling medium in dependence on the detected temperatures in the respective upstream zones to ensure a defined temperature in the rail that lies above a critical temperature at which bainitic structure components are formed; and means for preheating the cooling medium before impingement upon the rail surfaces such that an undershoot of the Leidenfrost temperature does not occur or occurs later than with nonpreheated cooling medium.