Method and strand guide device for operating a cooling chamber

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12134126-B2
Application number	US-202318357102-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 22, 2023
Priority date	Jul 27, 2022
Publication date	Nov 5, 2024
Grant date	Nov 5, 2024

Abstract

A strand guide device serves to deflect a freshly cast strand, typically made of metal, into the horizontal. During the deflection, the cast strand passes through a cooling chamber 1 inside the strand guide device 2 , in which it is sprayed with a coolant 33 , with the formation of steam 5 . The steam forms at least a steam-air mixture 5 ′ with sucked-in secondary air, which is sucked out of the cooling chamber by a suction device 20 . In order to reduce the pollutant content of the sucked-in and sucked-off steam-air mixture 5 ′ and its emission into the environment, pollutants, primarily dust, located in the steam-air mixture 5 ′ are depleted by a separator 6, 6′.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for operating a continuous caster ( 100 ), comprising:
deflecting a cast strand ( 13 ) after it exits a mold ( 40 ) of the continuous caster ( 100 ) into a horizontal orientation in a strand guide device ( 10 ) arranged downstream of the mold;
cooling the cast strand ( 13 ) as it passes through a cooling chamber ( 1 ) inside the strand guide device ( 10 ) by spraying a coolant ( 33 ) onto the cast strand ( 13 ) causing steam ( 5 ) to form inside the cooling chamber ( 1 ), wherein the steam ( 5 ) forms, at least together with sucked-in secondary air, a steam-air mixture ( 5 ′) which is at least partially saturated with the coolant ( 33 ); and
extracting the steam-air mixture ( 5 ′) from the cooling chamber ( 1 ) using a suction device ( 20 ) which comprises
a suction fan ( 8 ),
a suction opening ( 3 ) opening into the cooling chamber ( 1 ), and
a suction duct ( 7 ) connecting the suction opening ( 3 ) and the suction fan ( 8 ); and

depleting the steam-air mixture ( 5 ′) by a separator ( 6 ) arranged inside the cooling chamber ( 1 ) in front of the suction opening ( 3 ) of the suction device ( 20 ); and
draining condensed steam-air mixture ( 5 ′) from the separator ( 6 ) into a waste water channel ( 24 ) inside the cooling chamber ( 1 ).

2. The method according to claim 1 ,
wherein depleting the steam-air mixture ( 5 ′) within the separator ( 6 ) takes place by condensation and/or droplet separation in connection with air rectification.

3. The method according to claim 1 ,
wherein depleting the steam-air mixture ( 5 ′) also takes place before, on, or in the suction fan ( 8 ) of the suction device ( 20 ) by attachments and/or built-in components ( 16 ) by which a medium is introduced into the extracted steam-air mixture ( 5 ′).

4. The method according to claim 1 ,
wherein the steam-air mixture ( 5 ′) has a higher relative humidity than air supplied to the cooling chamber.

5. A method for operating a continuous caster ( 100 ), comprising:
deflecting a cast strand ( 13 ) after it exits a mold ( 40 ) of the continuous caster ( 100 ) into a horizontal orientation in a strand guide device ( 10 ) arranged downstream of the mold;
cooling the cast strand ( 13 ) as it passes through a cooling chamber ( 1 ) inside the strand guide device ( 10 ) by spraying a coolant ( 33 ) onto the cast strand ( 13 ) causing steam ( 5 ) to form inside the cooling chamber ( 1 ), wherein the steam ( 5 ) forms, at least together with sucked-in secondary air, a steam-air mixture ( 5 ′) which is at least partially saturated with the coolant ( 33 ); and
extracting the steam-air mixture ( 5 ′) from the cooling chamber ( 1 ) using a suction device ( 20 ) which comprises
a suction fan ( 8 ),
a suction opening ( 3 ) opening into the cooling chamber ( 1 ), and
a suction duct ( 7 ) connecting the suction opening ( 3 ) and the suction fan ( 8 ); and

depleting the steam-air mixture ( 5 ′) by a separator ( 6 ) arranged in the suction duct ( 7 ) of the suction device ( 20 ) and by a further separator ( 6 ′).

6. A method for operating a continuous caster ( 100 ), comprising:
deflecting a cast strand ( 13 ) after it exits a mold ( 40 ) of the continuous caster ( 100 ) into a horizontal orientation in a strand guide device ( 10 ) arranged downstream of the mold;
cooling the cast strand ( 13 ) as it passes through a cooling chamber ( 1 ) inside the strand guide device ( 10 ) by spraying a coolant ( 33 ) onto the cast strand ( 13 ) causing steam ( 5 ) to form inside the cooling chamber ( 1 ), wherein the steam ( 5 ) forms, at least together with sucked-in secondary air, a steam-air mixture ( 5 ′) which is at least partially saturated with the coolant ( 33 ); and
extracting the steam-air mixture ( 5 ′) from the cooling chamber ( 1 ) using a suction device ( 20 ) which comprises
a suction fan ( 8 ),
a suction opening ( 3 ) opening into the cooling chamber ( 1 ), and
a suction duct ( 7 ) connecting the suction opening ( 3 ) and the suction fan ( 8 ); and

depleting the steam-air mixture ( 5 ′) by a separator ( 6 ),
wherein preconditioned steam-air mixture ( 5 ′) after passing the suction fan
to an extent of a first portion is returned to the cooling chamber ( 1 ); and/or
to an extent of a second portion is supplied to a conditioning device (Z) to there be further conditioned.

7. A method for operating a continuous caster ( 100 ), comprising:
deflecting a cast strand ( 13 ) after it exits a mold ( 40 ) of the continuous caster ( 100 ) into a horizontal orientation in a strand guide device ( 10 ) arranged downstream of the mold;
cooling the cast strand ( 13 ) as it passes through a cooling chamber ( 1 ) inside the strand guide device ( 10 ) by spraying a coolant ( 33 ) onto the cast strand ( 13 ) causing steam ( 5 ) to form inside the cooling chamber ( 1 ), wherein the steam ( 5 ) forms, at least together with sucked-in secondary air, a steam-air mixture ( 5 ′) which is at least partially saturated with the coolant ( 33 ); and
extracting the steam-air mixture ( 5 ′) from the cooling chamber ( 1 ) using a suction device ( 20 ) which comprises
a suction fan ( 8 ),
a suction opening ( 3 ) opening into the cooling chamber ( 1 ), and
a suction duct ( 7 ) connecting the suction opening ( 3 ) and the suction fan ( 8 ); and

depleting the steam-air mixture ( 5 ′) by a separator ( 6 ); and
blowing additional air ( 14 ) into the cooling chamber ( 1 ) by a pressure fan ( 4 ), the pressure fan ( 4 ) being installed opposite the suction opening ( 3 ) of the suction device ( 20 ).

8. The method according to claim 7 ,
wherein the additional air is outside air ( 70 ) sucked in from outside a hall ( 200 ), interior air ( 80 ) sucked in from the hall ( 200 ) and/or steam-air mixture ( 5 ′) extracted out of the cooling chamber ( 1 , 1 ′) after it has been preconditioned; and
wherein the additional air ( 14 ) is generated by extracted and preconditioned steam-air mixture ( 5 ′) being conditioned by a conditioning device (Z), and/or by the outside air ( 70 ) or the interior air ( 80 ) being conditioned by an additional conditioning device ( 60 ) before being blown into the cooling chamber ( 1 ), the conditioning comprising at least one of
cooling and/or heating of the additional air ( 14 ),
increasing humidity of the additional air ( 14 ) by partial air recirculation or media injection,
cleaning the additional air ( 14 ); and
depleting pollutants of the additional air ( 14 ) by admixture of adsorbents.

9. The method according to claim 8 ,
wherein the preconditioned steam-air mixture ( 5 ′) is cooled, dehumidified and/or cleaned in the conditioning device (Z).

10. A strand guide device ( 10 ), comprising:
strand guide rollers ( 2 ) for guiding a cast strand ( 13 ) that has been cast by a mold ( 40 ) arranged upstream of the strand guiding device ( 10 );
a cooling device ( 30 ) with a cooling chamber ( 1 ) for cooling the cast strand ( 13 ) as it runs through the cooling chamber ( 1 ) by spraying a coolant ( 33 ) onto the cast strand ( 13 ) thereby forming a steam-air mixture ( 5 ′) within the cooling chamber ( 1 ), wherein the steam-air mixture ( 5 ′) is at least partially saturated with the coolant ( 33 );
a suction device ( 20 ), which includes
a suction fan ( 8 ),
a suction opening ( 3 ) in the cooling chamber ( 1 ), and
a suction duct ( 7 ) connecting the suction opening ( 3 ) to the suction fan ( 8 ), for extracting the steam-air mixture ( 5 ′) from the cooling chamber ( 1 ); and

a separator ( 6 , 6 ′) for depleting pollutants ( 33 ) from the extracted steam-air mixture ( 5 ′),
wherein the separator ( 6 ) is arranged in front of the suction opening ( 3 ) of the suction device (

Assignees

• Sms Group Gmbh

Inventors

• Naujock Andreas
• Eberwein Klaus-Peter
• Fischer Lothar
• Wans Jochen
• Weyer Axel
• Wiegard Ulrich
• Ahrens Judith

Classifications

• B22D11/124 Primary

  for cooling · CPC title

• B22D11/005

  of wire (casting on wire B22D19/14) · CPC title

• B22D11/142

  for curved casting · CPC title

• B22D11/14

  Plants for continuous casting · CPC title

• B22D11/225

  for secondary cooling · CPC title