Monitoring method for a continuous casting mould including building up a database

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10052684-B2
Application number	US-201314651752-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 29, 2013
Priority date	Dec 21, 2012
Publication date	Aug 21, 2018
Grant date	Aug 21, 2018

Abstract

A monitoring device (6) records variables that are characteristic of operating parameters of a continuous casting mold (1) for casting a metal strand (2). The monitoring device (6) records at least some of the characteristic variables by independently performing measurements during the casting of the metal strand (2). The monitoring device (6) forms groups (G1, G2) of operating parameters and independently tests whether the operating parameters of the respective group (G1, G2) satisfy a respective predetermined stability criterion. The monitoring device (6) accepts the operating parameters into a database (12). The monitoring device (6) determines those data records (11) contained in the database (12) that coincide in their input variables with the basic operating parameters and determines admissible operating parameter ranges for supplementary operating parameters. The monitoring device (6) independently tests whether the supplementary operating parameters lie within the admissible operating parameter ranges.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of monitoring for a continuous casting mold for casting a metal strand using monitoring equipment which performs the steps of:
detecting quantities;
automatically detecting metrologically at least some of the quantities during the casting of the metal strand;
determining and temporarily storing operating parameters of the continuous casting mold by reference to the quantities detected;
forming groups of operating parameters from the operating parameters, wherein each group of operating parameters in the groups of operating parameters includes at least one basic operating parameter and at least one respective supplementary operating parameter;
automatically copying the operating parameters of each group of operating parameters into a database as a data record if the operating parameters of the group that are to be copied into the database are within a predetermined range over a relevant evaluation time period;
assigning each of the at least one basic operating parameters of the groups of operating parameters as an input quantity, and a respective one of the at least one supplementary operating parameters of the groups of operating parameters as an output quantity for each of the at least one basic operating parameters;
selecting at least one temporarily stored basic operating parameter;
determining the data records held in the database with the input quantities that match the at least one selected temporarily stored basic operating parameter, and using the determined data records, determining permissible operating parameter ranges for the at least one supplementary operating parameters of the groups of operating parameters; and
issuing to an operator of the continuous casting mold a warning message, and/or outputting a note as to which of the at least one supplementary operating parameters of the groups of operating parameters lies outside its respective permissible operating parameter range, and how the supplementary operating parameter that is outside its respective permissible operating parameter range can be brought back into its respective permissible operating parameter range, and/or immediately executing a corrective intervention by means of which a basic operating parameter of the continuous casting mold is altered, or communicating an applicable report to a control device for the continuous casting mold if the at least one supplementary operating parameters of the groups of operating parameters lie outside their permissible ranges.

2. The method of monitoring as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
cooling the continuous casting mold by a volume flow of a liquid coolant into and out of the mold, wherein when the coolant enters the continuous casting mold, the liquid coolant has an entry temperature and on emerging from the continuous casting mold has an exit temperature;
metrologically detecting during the casting of the metal strand the quantities which include the volume flow, the entry temperature and the exit temperature; and also detecting
the operating parameters including a heat flow determined from the volume flow, the entry temperature and the exit temperature.

3. The method of monitoring as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the continuous casting mold has a plurality of sidewalls, and the method further comprises:
detecting the volume flow, the entry temperature and the exit temperature separately for each of the sidewalls; and
determining the heat flow separately for each of the sidewalls.

4. The method of monitoring as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the at least one supplementary parameter in one of the groups of operating parameters is the heat flow and each operating parameter relevant for the heat flow is the at least one basic operating parameter, the operating parameters relevant to the heat flow being the volume flow, the entry temperature, and the exit temperature.

5. The method of monitoring as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
vibrating the continuous casting mold during the casting of the strand by a vibration mechanism with a vibration frequency a vibration amplitude,
metrologically detecting during the casting of the metal strand the quantities which include the vibration frequency, the vibration amplitude and the displacement forces required to vibrate the continuous casting mold; and
determining the operating parameters including a friction parameter from the vibration frequency, the vibration amplitude and the displacement forces for friction arising between the metal strand and the continuous casting mold.

6. The method of monitoring as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the at least one supplementary operating parameter of one of the groups of operating parameters is the friction, and each operating parameter relevant to the friction is the at least one basic operating parameter, the operating parameters relevant to the friction being the vibration frequency, the vibration amplitude, and the displacement forces for friction arising between the metal strand and the continuous casting mold.

7. The method of monitoring as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least one basic operating parameter is one of a material of the metal strand, a format of the metal strand, a casting powder used in the casting of the metal strand, a casting speed, and a level of the surface of the cast material.

8. The method of monitoring as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
the monitoring equipment performing the further steps of:
accepting, through a data input, time sequences of quantities in addition to the detected quantities;
forming reference groups of operating parameters by reference to the accepted quantities, the operating parameters in each reference group including at least one reference basic operating parameter and at least one reference supplementary operating parameter;
copying into the database, as reference data records, operating parameters of reference groups that are within a predefined range over a relevant evaluation time period; and
assigning to each data record a respective basic operating parameter from a respective reference group, as an input quantity, and a respective supplementary operating parameter from a respective reference group as an output quantity.

9. The method of monitoring as claimed in claim 8 , further comprising:
the monitoring equipment suppressing the copying of the data records into the database if an operator of the continuous casting mold issues a blocking command to it, or removes data records which have already been copied into the database from the database again if the operator issues a negative assessment of the data record.

10. The method of monitoring as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
determining the permissible operating parameter ranges for the at least one supplementary operating parameters of the groups of operating parameters if and only if a number of data records in the database with assigned input quantities exceed a predefined value.

11. The method of monitoring as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the automatically copying is performed cyclically at regular time intervals, the time intervals being shorter than the evaluation time period.

12. A computer program which incorporates machine code, and which is directly executed by monitoring equipment used for a continuous casting mold and the execution of the program by the monitoring equipment has the effect that the monitoring equipment carries out a monitoring method with all the steps of a monitoring method as claimed in claim 1 .

Assignees

• Primetals Technologies Austria GmbH

Inventors

• Lang Oliver
• Ortner Christian
• Schuster Martin

Classifications

• B22D11/165

  for the supply of casting powder · CPC title

• B22D11/122

  using magnetic fields · CPC title

• B22D11/114

  by using agitating or vibrating means (B22D11/117 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B22D11/166

  for mould oscillation · CPC title

• B22D11/16 Primary

  Controlling or regulating processes or operations · CPC title