Installation for hot dip coating a metal strip comprising an adjustable confinement box

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10752982-B2
Application number	US-201414895985-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 10, 2014
Priority date	Jun 10, 2013
Publication date	Aug 25, 2020
Grant date	Aug 25, 2020

Abstract

An installation for hot dip coating a metal strip is provided. The installation includes a device for moving the metal strip along a path, a pot for containing a melt bath and a wiping system including at least two nozzles placed on either side of the path downstream the pot. The wiping system has a box with a lower confinement part confining an atmosphere around the metal strip upstream of said nozzles and an upper confinement part confining the atmosphere around the metal strip downstream of the nozzles, first moving means for vertically moving the lower confinement part with respect to the pot and second moving means for vertically moving the upper confinement part with respect to both the pot and the lower confinement part. The nozzles are vertically movable relative to the pot.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An installation for hot dip coating a metal strip comprising:
a conveyor moving a metal strip along a path;
a pot for containing a melt bath; and
a wiping system comprising:
at least two nozzles placed on either side of the path downstream of the pot, each nozzle having at least one gas outlet, the nozzles being vertically movable relative to the pot;
a box with a lower confinement part for confining an atmosphere around the metal strip upstream of the nozzles and an upper confinement part for confining the atmosphere around the metal strip downstream of the nozzles;
wherein the lower confinement part is movable in a vertical direction with respect to the pot;
the upper confinement part is movable in a vertical direction with respect to both the pot and the lower confinement part; wherein
the upper confinement part comprises two upper plates, one on either side of the path;
the lower confinement part comprises two lower plates, one on either side of the path;
the upper plates extend parallel to the vertical direction;
the upper plates and the lower plates are movable relative to each other;
each of the upper plates being arranged to telescope above a corresponding one of the lower plates.

2. The installation according to claim 1 , wherein the upper confinement part is connected with the nozzles so that a vertical movement of the nozzles relative to the pot results in a vertical movement of the upper confinement part of the same amplitude relative to the pot and to the lower confinement part.

3. The installation according to claim 2 , wherein the lower confinement part is vertically movable between a bottom position and a top position, the lower confinement part being partly immersed in the melt bath in the bottom position.

4. The installation according to claim 1 , wherein the two lower plates bear on the pot.

5. The installation according to claim 4 , wherein the box comprises jacks connecting the pot to the lower plates.

6. The installation according to claim 4 , wherein each of the two upper plates is slidable along the vertical direction relative to corresponding lower plates located on a same side of the path.

7. The installation according to claim 6 , wherein the box further comprises guiding rails located between facing sides of corresponding lower and upper plates for guiding the movement of the upper plates relative to the lower plates along the vertical direction.

8. The installation according to claim 6 , wherein the two upper plates associated with corresponding lower plates located on a same side of the path of the metal strip form a longitudinal wall of the box, and the box further comprises lateral walls extending between the longitudinal walls for closing the box laterally.

9. The installation according to claim 8 , wherein each lateral wall comprises an upper lateral plate connecting the upper plates with each other, a lower lateral plate connecting the lower plates with each other and a V-shaped connection part, extending between the upper lateral plate and the lower lateral plate, and wherein the angle of the V varies depending on the relative movements of the upper and the lower plates.

10. The installation according to claim 9 , wherein the box further comprises longitudinal shutters, each longitudinal shutter extending in a plane substantially parallel to the longitudinal walls of the box across a lateral end of a corresponding one of the V-shaped connection parts so as to close the lateral end.

11. The installation according to claim 1 , wherein the wiping system has at least one auxiliary pipe for injecting an inerting gas inside the box downstream of the nozzles.

12. The installation according to claim 1 , wherein the wiping system has at least one auxiliary pipe for injecting an inerting gas inside the box upstream of the nozzles.

13. The installation according to claim 1 , wherein the upper confinement part is topped by closing caps extending towards the path and delimiting a slit for passage of the metal strip.

14. The installation according to claim 13 , wherein the nozzles delimit between them a gap intended for the passage of the metal strip, and jets of gas are prevented from meeting each other in the gap.

15. The installation according to claim 1 , wherein the melt bath comprises Zn or Zn based alloy.

16. The installation according to claim 15 , wherein the melt bath comprises Al or Mg.

17. The installation according to claim 1 , wherein the upper confinement part is slidable along the vertical direction relative to the lower confinement part.

18. An installation for hot dip coating a metal strip comprising:
a conveyor moving a metal strip along a path;
a pot for containing a melt bath; and
a wiping system comprising:
at least two nozzles placed on either side of the path downstream of the pot, each nozzle having at least one gas outlet, the nozzles being vertically movable relative to the pot;
a box with a lower confinement part for confining an atmosphere around the metal strip upstream of the nozzles and an upper confinement part for confining the atmosphere around the metal strip downstream of the nozzles;

wherein the lower confinement part is movable in a vertical direction with respect to the pot;
the lower confinement part further comprises inner plates;
the upper confinement part is movable in a vertical direction with respect to both the pot and the lower confinement part;
the upper confinement part further comprises outer plates;
the outer plates at least partially delimit an outer contour of the box and are movable relative to the pot and the lower confinement part; and
each of the outer plates being arranged to telescope above a corresponding one of the inner plates.

19. The installation of claim 18 , wherein the outer plates are movable such that a movement of the upper confinement part relative to the pot and to the lower confinement part comprises a movement of the outer plates relative to the pot and to the lower confinement part.

20. The installation according to claim 18 , wherein the outer plates extend parallel to the vertical direction.

21. The installation of claim 18 , wherein the outer plates are substantially parallel to one another.

Assignees

• Arcelormittal

Inventors

• Schwander Peter
• Wendt Axel
• Steffen Andreas
• St Raymond Hubert
• Monnoyer Maxime
• Benoit Julien
• Mataigne Jean Michel
• Durighello Paul

Classifications

• C23C2/20

  Strips; Plates · CPC title

• C23C2/18 Primary

  Removing excess of molten coatings from elongated material · CPC title

• C23C2/12

  Aluminium or alloys based thereon · CPC title

• C23C2/06 Primary

  Zinc or cadmium or alloys based thereon · CPC title

• C23C2/00342

  Moving elements, e.g. pumps or mixers · CPC title