AU651694B2 - Technological line for production of metal strip and a transporting device therefor - Google Patents

Description

OPI DATE 17/11/92 A0OJP DATE APL.ID 17916/92 ~l.1li 1111111 PCT NUMBER P T R 00075 1111 l 111111111111111111111111111 PCTRA 147 16 N (51) MemxyiiapoAHax IcaaccH4)Hca1AHn (11) Hoaep memA)Yliapo0AEoH ny6jinncatxu: WO 92/18270 H3o6peTeHHH F:Al (43) )A8Ta memiyHapoAiiof C21C 1/06, B21B 1/26, 1/46 ny6Rmunu: 29 ORTH6pa 1992 (29.10.92) (21) Homep Mem yuaPOAuoiu 3aanIC: PCT/RU92/00075 [TVERSKOI, Jury Alexandrovich, Magnitogorsk HIOCSIKHH AH~pefi Ppiropbeau'l [RU/RU]; (22) )IaTa meacyu8PApo~u no~aqin: MarmrroropciK 455038, yji. 3anewlraHa, A. 18, XB. 53 14 anpeim 1992 (14.04.92) (RU) [POSYAKrN, Andrei Grigorievich, Magnito- AIaaime o ilpuoplTeTe: gorsk PAJAIOKEBH'q JleoHHA BJaaAHm~jpoBuH 4938308/27 17 aripeiul 1991 (17.04.91) SU [RU/RU]; MocKsa 117420, yjs. Hono'iepeMyMKHHcxaa, (71) 3ansuTeJ[H (aPi 6cex y~a3auniX zocyiiapcme, mpaxte A. 60/1, ICB. 39 (RU) [RADJUKEVICH, Leonid Viadi- US): MArHHToPoPCKHH! METAJIJIYPr'H

T

-IC- mirovich, Moscow BAIIIHJIOB reHHagiif Hii- RHfI KOMBHHAT 1HMEHH B.H.JIEH1{HA (MMK) tcoaaewIM [RU/RU]; EicaTepmi6ypr 620000, yni. Kpac- [RU/RU]; MarHUroropcH 455002, 'Iea6HHcxaa o6ni., mLIX rapmHai, A. 1, KB. 10 (RU) [BASHILOV, Genna- 93 (RU) [MAGNITOGORSKY METALLURGICHE- dy Nikolaevich, Ekaterinburg CEHHT4IEB SKY KOMBINAT IMENI V.I.LENINA (MMK), Mag- reHHaAHAi CepreeBHtl [RU/RU]; MarHHToropcK nitogorsk MAPHHTorOPCKHHf rocYAAP- 455028, yn. Ha6epeMHafl, A. 16, r.B. 144 (RU) [SENI- CTBEHHbIfI HHCTHTYT HO HPOEKTI4POBA- CHEV, Gennady Sergeevich, Magnitogorsk HHIO METAJIJIYPrHqECKH4X 3ABOAIOB BEHIIEP BJxaA11miip BacHAibeBH4 [RU/RU]; MarHH- HH4ToroPCKHf1 PHHPOME3,) [RU/RU]; MaI'HH- Toropcx 455012, yjz. MeHjAeeaa, A. 17/1, rB. 32 'roropcKc 455028, lqem6Hicxau o6az., up, JIema, A. 68 (RU) [BENDER, Vladimir Vasilievich, Magnitogorsk (RU) [MAGNITOGORSKY GORUDARSTVENNY PYCAKOB Biia~ui4Hp H~aB3IoB94 [RU/RU]; INSTITUT PO PROEKTIROVANIJU METALLUR- Marmrroropcic 455018, yAi. JIeH11Hrpa~cca, g. 2, KB.

GICHESKIKH ZAVODOV (.MAGNITOGORSKY 80 (RU) [RUSAKOV, Vladimir Paviovich, Magnito- GIPROMEZ-), Magnitogorsk gorsk CAPhltIEB Ba.jieii'ni 4D6AoPonwi [RU/ RU]; MarmropcK 455028, yjx. Parapmia, A. 14, KCB.

(71) 3aIBUTeJJU (naabfCO &Wu POMA3AH Esremmu 52 (RU) [SARYCHEV, Valentin Fedorovich, Magni- SItonJieRHa (HacnieAma POMA3AHA Hualla Xa- togorsk KOJIECHIEHKO Bop11c nHweneepH1To1oDH'la (ymepmero)) [RU/RU]; MarmfforopcK BffI [RU/RU]; ,TienponeTposcx 320106, rip. 1'epoeB, A.

455000, yi. ropbxoro, A. 24, KCB. 27 (RU) [ROMAZAN, 40, 309 (RU) [KOLESNICHENKO, Boris Pante- Evgenia Yakovlevna (heiress of ROMAZAN, Ivan ]eevich, Dnepropetrovsk Kharitonovich (deceased)), Magnitogorsk TO- KAPEBA AniexcaHnpa Cepa~bndoulla (Hacineliffla (72) Haio6peTaTeami POMA3AH HBaH XapHTOHOBH'4 TOKAPEBA l0ppue Aneceerni~a (ymepumero)) (RU/ (ymepmaa, JROMAZAN, Ivan Kharitonovich (de- RU]; Marinroropcic 455060, ya. Kyfl6hnueaa, A. 28, ceased)]. TORAPEB I0pHii AjiexceeBH4 (ymepmifi) KB. 38 (RU) [TOKAREVA, Alexandra Serafimovna [TOKAREV, Jury Alexeevich (deceased)].

(heiress of TOKAREV, Jury Alexandrovich (deceased)), Magnitogorsk (81) Yicaaauubme r0Cy~apCTBa: AT (eBponeicxHA~ naTeHT), (72) H3o6peTarejiu; ii AU, BE (eBponeficxii IIBTeHT), BR, CA, CH (eBpo- Hao6peraTeasu 3aflBHTenuH (MOAbMo aiui US): CTA- fleiccufi nai'eHT, DE (enponeficKldi naTekrr), DK (eB- PHICOB AHaTOJ1Hi Hammi [RU/RU); MarHHToropecK poneicxu InaTeHT), ES (esponeicxuii liaTeliT), FR 455018, yji. KBaJIHHHa, A. 3/2, KCB. 13 (RU) [STA- (enponeficmdli naTelrr), GB (einponeficKttfi naTeHT), GR RIKOV, Anatoly Mlich, Magnitogorsk JIHT- (euponeflcKuft na'reHT'), IT (espoueicif flaTeHT), JP, BAK AiiexcaH~p Muxaijhorni1 [RU/RU]; MarHHro- KR, LU (esponeficii niaTeHT), MC (esponeficif ropcK 455018, yji. JRemtirpa~cKaa, .5/,K.3(R)aTea'19, NL (esponeficKui IlaTeilT), SE (euponeikt i [LITVAK, Alexandr Mikhailovich, Magnitogorsk flaTeirT), US.

TBEPCKOfH IOpuHi AjietccaHAPoau' [RU/RU]; Ony6AuixosaHa MarmrroropcK 455028, rip. JReHma, A. 58/1, ms. 4 (RU) C om-temnom o mewoCynapoanuom noucKe.

(54) Title: TECHNOLOGICAL LINE FOR PRODUCTION OF METAL STRIP AND) A TRANSPORTING DEVICE

THEREFOR

(54) Haaaanue nao6peTeHHR: TEXHOJIOrH'qECKASI JIHHH5I rIPOH3BOAgCTBA METAjIjIHtIECKof HoJIocbI H TPAHCHIOPTHPYIOMgE YCTPOHRCTBO K HEfi (57) Abstract A technological line for production of metal strip comprises blast furnace, steel-smelting and ro]]ing plants interconnected by means of transporting units, semiproduct processing plants and plants for preparation of semniproducts for further processing. The pla~nt for processing the blast furnace semiproduct consists of a ladle intended for pouring the pig iron into a converter and provided with a means for desulphurization of the pig iron. The discharging roller conveyer comprises two branches 8) one of which consists of a charging roller conveyor of heating furnaces and the other consists of a preplant roller conveyor of a hot rolling mill (12) and is provided with a continuous preheating furnace A device (14) for unreeling the coils of a pickling plant 1,17) is located in the stockage area (13) of the hot-rolled coils, and the pickling plant (17) is located coaxially to a cold rolling mill The transporting unit is mounted above the technological line and consists of a loop-type accumulator (16) mounted on a carriage (15) capable of interacting with a ground trestle (19).

(57) Pe4ep8T Tex~oiormecxa, ISHI O3BXICTBa ,ieTazurqlecito2 iiojio- Cu1, B=D-Jnogasni arj~eraTH IAomeH~ro, 0TajieL7IaBIIJIlIioI'o -z iPo- IKaTHOoc nelpeziia, CB.13aHHbie h,,itgy 00002' TpaHClOpTlpYIllLIDul YCTpoiiroT~cAX m, arperaTaml4 Ho riepepaboTice iiporfAieKYTOflfIUX IlpO- ETiYRTOB X4 arperaTu HO HoI~roToBKe flpome.fYTO-H= HDOIAYI{T0B XC 110cjieAy~oler~y iieipeily.

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TpaHCHopTz~pyno1gee YCTPUACTBO YCTaHoBIeHO Bh'fle TexHOJICrITqecIxo~k niumiui x Bun1QImHHo B Bzige neT.,IeBoro HaKoIMTeJim /16/, paw3MenjeHHorO Ha Texexe Y0TaHOBJIeHHOfl C B03MOMiHOCTLIO B3aiuMc,,eCTB4H C HanOJLHOR OCTaiago~k /19/.

UCICJIIOIHTEJIbHO JAJIfl IJEJIEF H'OPMAljHH Koxibi, Hcnoibiayemue( ,unH iduatweitm cipaii-qJeHoD PCT Ha THTyJaiHux icTax 6pomiop, 3 xcoTopmx nry6mmoinc mew.AHapui~Hue 3aaaxii a coomre'rc'rani c PCT.

AT ABCi'PHR ES llcnakui MG MaAaracicap AU Ancipamwi El IumIRAHA ML Maim BB Bap6aioc FR Opaima MN Moi~niia BE Bezhrl GA ra6oH MR MaupIwaim BF Bypiuuia t aco GB Beuo6pHrammi MW MaJ~aBu BC Bwwapma ON PNHmea NL HHAepmJumw flJ BeHHH OR Ppewui NO Hoperun BR Bpaaumum HU Betirpwi PL flonhma CA KaHia~a IT HTamm RO PyiuuHa CF L4eHTPaMHoa)pHFcaiHCja. IE HpnaHIuwn RU Poocma 'eepazWn Pecity6nmca JP finoinu SD CyJ~aI CG Koitro KP Kopeficraa HapoADo-Aeuo- SE Uluwia CH UheizapkmaaTf~ca rcym SN Ceaera CI KOrr A'HBYaP KR Kopeficrcu Pecinyfimca SU CoaeicimHi Cowx CM IFauepyH LI JIurelunrriui TD 'IaA CS lqeocao~aKHR LK MlPH Jlamca TO Tomi DE Irepumi LU Jlinccem6ypr US Coeninieiwe MITaTA DK Aamia MC Moai Amepam a -o i~ 1 4 I PRODUCTION LINE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF METAL STRIPS AND TRANSPORTING MEANS THEREFOR Background of the Invention The present invention relates to metallurgy, more particularly the manufacture of cold rolled and hoz rolled strips and sheets.

It is commonly known that over 80% of cold rolled and hot rolled strips and sheets are produced at plants with a complete metallurgical cycle comprising a blast furnace, and steel smelting and rolling operations. The metallurgical cycle also provides for processing of the required intermediate products and realizing transportation, production and power needs.

Known in the art is a rolling mill for the production of hot rolled steel strips (German Patent Application 03525457, 1987) in which the starting material is produced by continuous casting, and tied in with continuous casting equipment, for further compensatory heating, are heating furnaces, after which follows a continuous multi-stage roll finishing line.

Moreover, use is made of the retained heat of billets in an arrangement wherein a number of heat maintaining furnaces are directly tied in with the output of a hot rolling mill and a continuous steel casting installation.

2 Also known is a rolling mill for the rolling of billets obtained by continuous casting (German Patent Application 03310867, 1984) in which for purposes of utilizing the heat of cast billets, between a rough rolling line and a continuous billet casting machine there is located a regenerative furnace of the type used for both hot and cold rolling, the hot billets being fed by individual transporting means directly to the furnace, and the cold billets upon pre-cooling to a cooler.

Further known is equipment for casting and rolling steel strips (Japanese Patent Publication 64- 66057, 1989) in which for purposes of preserving the heat used in casting, a strip is rolled so as to be placed in heat insulated chambers wherein they are transported over rails to the roll container of a strip mill, in which case, too, the output of the hot rolling mill is directly tied in with that of the continuous steel casting installation.

Also known is a production line for producin- Smetal strips comprising, arranged in a downstream production process sequence, the metallurgical units of a blast furnace, steel smelting and rolling process stages interconnected by transporting means, units for *o 25 processing intermediate products and units for preparing the intermediate products for the subsequent process stage. In this connection the steel smelting iI process stage unit comprises a converter and a continuous billet casting machine with a roll table S. 30 bogie for receiving and transferring the billets, a delivery table, heating furnaces and a heataccumulator, while the rolling process stage unit comprises a hot rolling mill with a device for rolling a strip, a section for storing hot rolled strip rolls, a hot rolled strip transporting device, a pickling unit with a device for unreeling the coils, and a cold Sf^S ~rolling mill. All of the units of metallurgical and .V '4 0I 3 rolling process stages require their own sections for preparing, storing and transporting the intermediate products (the collection of scientific works "Sovershenstvovanie proektorovaniya obshdhezavodskogo khozyastva prepdpriyatii chernoi metallurgii", 1987, GIPROMEZ, /Moscow/, p.62/).

In the present production line, provision must be made for clearly defined zones for main and auxiliary production lines for cooling or heating and for preparing the intermediate products (slabs, hot rolled rolls), and also for special transporting means (railway, truck), or conveyor transfers for the intermediate products from one complex process stage to another.

The major defects of such a production line are great power consumption, capital and operation expenses as well as large floor space. BesideE, considerable expense is incurred in maintenance and repair of transport facilities and in taking care of personnel.

20 The great number of auxiliary and power rooms makes it impossible to block them.

io° It is an object of the present invention to overcome or ameliorate at least some of the disadvantages of the prior art.

According to the invention, there is provided a production line for manufacturing a metal strip, comprising arranged in a downstream sequence: units of blast furnace, steel smelting and rolling process stages interconnected with transporting units for reprocessing intermediate products, and units for preparing the intermediate products for a next process stage, wherein the unit of the steel smelting process stage comprises a converter, a continuous casting billet machine with a roll table bogie for receiving and transferring the billets, a delivery table and heating furnaces with a heat-accumulator, il 4 wherein the unit of the rolling process stage comprises a hot rolling mill with a device for rolling the strips, a section for storing the hot rolled strip rolls, a hot rolled strip transporting means, a pickling unit with a device for unrolling the rolls and a cold rolling mill, characterized in that the unit for reprocessing the intermediate product of the blast furnace process stage is provided by a ladle for pouring pig iron into the converter with means for desulfurizing the pig iron; the delivery table has a pair of runs, one of which is a fitting roll table for heating furnaces capable of transferring a billet in a perpendicular direction into the heat-accumulator, while the other is a pre-mill roll table for hot rolling and is provided with a holding conveyor furnace; the unrolling device of the pickling unit is situated on the hot rolled strip roll storing :section, and the pickling unit is substantially coaxial with the cold rolling mill.

Also, the length of the holding conveyor furnace measures up to that of the cast billets of a poured to melt, and the heating furnace which is first downstream in the path of the cast billets is spaced 15 L to 20 L from the roll table bogie, wherein L is the measured length of the cast biller.

The transporting means as described below is disposed above the production line proper and is made as a loop accumulator disposed on a bogie for cooperation with a floor trestle.

In the production line for the manufacture of a flat metal strip in accordance with the invention, all process stages are interconnected by units for the transfer, reprocessing and preparation of intermediate products, the latter two units of said intermediate product of each and every following process stage being substantially transporting units for the transfer of the product of the previous process stage to ensure a flexible process flow scheme enabling one to conduct a continuous manufacturing process with a complete preliminary preparation of pig iron for feeding to a converter during the transportation of the latter, transferring the cast billets from a continuous billet casting machine for hot rolling over two parallel runs, one of which is a fitting roll table of the heating furnaces for the transfer of a billet in a perpendicular direction into a heat-accumulator or to a storage facility for unloading products in case of an insufficiently high rate of rolling or in case of noncoordination of the rate of production of cast billets from the continuous casting machine with the rate of rolling, and the other run is a pre-mill roll table of a hot rolling mill and provided with a conveyor heatmaintaining furnace having a length equalling the total length of cast billets of the poured melt for equalizing the temperature of the metal and directly transferring the billet (bypassing the heating furnaces) to the hot rolling mill at a low rate of rolling.

.An apparatus for unrolling the rolls of a pickling unit is situated in the section of hot rolled Sstrip storage. The transporting means is substantially a loop accumulator disposed on a bogie for cooperation with a floor trestle, which permits unrolling the hot l rolled rolls in said section, further transferring a 30 billet to a cold rolling mill in the form of a continuous ribbon by passing it through continuous pickling units to assure the production flexibility and continuity of the sequence of operations and to reduce costs of transporting the billet between both cold and hot rolling mills, and also to lower power consumption.

The above-identified advantages and also 7 s\

LL.

i -6aspects of the present invention will be understandable on consideration of a detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, as hereinbelow given, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a production line for manufacturing a metal strip, overall view; Fig. 2 is a section of a production line for transferring a cast billet from a continuous steel pouring installation to the heating stage of a hot rolling mill; Fig. 3 is a section of a production line for transferring a strip from a hot rolled strip roll storing section of a hot rolling mill to the pickling baths of a continuous pickling installation of a cold rolling mill.

The attached drawings are schematic and serve to illustrate the present invention with no intent to show the size of the elements of the production line.

In accordance with Figs. 1 to 3, the ,production line for manufacturing a metal strip I comprises arranged in production sequence, section 1 of a production line blast furnace process stage, blast furnace process stage intermediate product processing o* unit in the form of a ladle 2 for pouring pig iron into I0 a converter 4 and provided with a means for desulfurizing pig iron 3, converter 4, billet continuous casting machine 5 with a roll table bogie 6 for receiving and transferring the billets, delivery I table with two runs 7, 8, the former run 7 being a fitting roll table of heating furnaces 9 for transferring a billet in a perpendicular direction to a heat-accumulator 11 and the latter run 8 being a premill roll table of a hot rolling mill 12 and provided with a furnace 10 for maintaining heat about conveyor 8; hot rolled strip roll storing section 13 with a 7 device 14 placed thereon for unrolling rolls; bogies with a loop accumulator 16, continuous pickling unit 17 and cold rolling mill 18, floor trestle 19.

The production line is operated as follows: Liquid pig iron from a section 1 of a blast furrace process stage is transported at roughly equal time intervals along rails in a ladle 2.for pouring into a converter 4. During this transportation the pig iron is completely refined as to sulphur content for a steel smelting process stage by using desulfurization means 3 with which the ladle 2 is provided. The pig iron is poured into the converter 4 directly from ths ladle 2. A steel melt from the converter 4 is delivered to a continuous billet casting machine where a billet is cast in the form of a continuously elongated ingot, which is cut into billets of a measured length by a flame cutting machine incorporated into said continuous casting machine 5. Measured cast billets are received and transferred by a roll table bogie 6 along two parallel runs 7, 8 of the delivery table.

When there is a high speed of rolling, a thick cast billet from the roll table bogie 6 is first fed to the run 7 of the delivery table and then to a 0" 25 heating furnace 9 to be processed in a hot rolling 4 f mill 12.

'«The first heating furnace 9 (Fig. 2) in the direction of movement of the cast billets is spaced to 20 L from the roll table bogie 6 wherein L is a S 30 measured length of the cast billet, which distance is selected so as to achieve a minimal temperature loss by the cast billets when the cast billet is directly transported over the run 7 of the delivery table to heating furnaces 9 and to provide the possibility of positioning on this section of the conveyor maintaining furnace 10 the other run 8 of the delivery table of the ,H continuous billet casting machine. In the event of "JT O direct rolling and the necessity of accumulating the hot cast billets or unloading the billets to hold them aside, the billets from the run 7 of the delivery table of heating furnaces 9 are fed to a heat-accumulator 11, the volume of which ensures the Dperation of the hot rolling mill 12 for 8 10 hours.

When there is a low speed of rolling, the whole measured cast billet from the roll table bogie 6 is fed to furnace 10 situated on run 8 of the delivery table of the continuous billet casting machine and further to the hot rolling mill 12 by using conventional means. In this connection the length of said furnace 10 corresponds to the total length of cast billets of the melt poured.

Thus there is assured a constant charge of cast billets into the heating furnaces 9 of.the hot rolling mill 12 with a high rate of rolling, preservation of the heat of the billet in the event of production or other delays in the continuous process by placing the h-)t cast billet in the heat-accumulator 11 while there is also a possibility of unloading an excess of the measured cast billets to move them aside when the capacity of the continuous casting machine exceeds that of the hot rolling mill 12.

25 The section (Fig. 3) of a production line for .4 transferring a strip from the strip hot rolled roll storage section of the hot rolling mill to the pickling baths of the continuous pickling unit of the cold f rolling mill comprises a hot section having at the outlet a device for rolling the hot rolled strip, a roll storing section and a cold section. The facilities of said sections are serviced by travelling cranes 20 delivering hot rolled strip rolls 21 onto a conveyor 22 of the production line. The line includes as pickling preparation equipment: a manipulator 23 for setting the rolls 21 into a position with their axes of symmetry horizontal, an unrolling device 14 9 with a strip end bender 24, a scale breaker traction rollers 26, a straightening machine 27 for flattening the curvature of the strip, shearing means 28, 29 for cutting the front and rear ends of the strip, respectively, a welding machine 30 for welding the ends of said strip into an "endless" strip, a flash trimmer 31 for use after the welding of the strips, traction rollers 32, guide rollers 33 transferring the strip to a.passageway where is mounted a transporting device between the hot and cold rolling mills in the form of an overhead loop accumulator 16, strips with stationary rollers 34 and rollers on the bogie 15', the latter being mounted for movement along the passageway i over the rails with the aid of a drive cable drum For the transfer of a free branch of the strip from an upper stationary roller, provision is made of sets of guide rollers 36 and a guide roller 37 for cai ling a strip branch to descend to a tensioning device 38 positioned upstream of a pickling unit 17, facilities 20 for washing and drying the strip and also the shears o and reelers (not shown) where the strip is was-.ed and *dried and again separated into strips by the shears with a seam cut, which strips are rolled on the reelers.

25 Upon rolling a hot rolled strip 21 and ,8o cooling, the rolls are placed by a travelling crane onto a feeder 22 of the production line, whereupon the roll 21 is tilted by the manipulator 23 into a horizontal position and transferred onto the unrolling means 14.

On the unrolling means 14, from the roll 21 the end of the strip is transferred, by using the bender 24, to the roller scale breaker 25, wherefrom the strip is positioned in the traction rollers 26 which feed it to the straightening machine 27 and then for trimming the front ends with shears 28, 29.

Upon straightening, the front end of the i 8, 1 0 SHELSTON WATERS CLARENCE STREET, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA first roll 21 is passed straight through the welding machine 30 and flash trimmer 31 and then positioned in the traction rollers 32 which feed the strip over a lower guide roller 33 at a 900 upward direction. The upper roller 33 directs the strip to the stationary rollers 34 of the loop accumulator 16. In a charging operation, the bogie 15 occupies the extreme left-hand position when its rollers define a direct guide with the stationary rollers 34, in a cantilever fashion, along which the strip is raised up, thus charging the loop accumulator 16. Thereafter the free end of the strip is folded on the upper stationary roller 34 through the angle of 900 to be directed horizontally and charged alternately with the continuous feed of the strip to the sets of guide rollers 36 and, upon leaving the latter, the strip is released downwardly to the tensioning device 38, with the aid of the guide roller t' 37. The strip end is placed into said device 38 and the strip is fed to a first pickling bath of the pickling unit 17, then a second one and further on until the charging operation is completed, including tj"" !facilities for washing and drying the strip to the separating shears and the cutting-out of the seams and °reelers.

25 The bogie 15 is then connected with the aid I 44 of a drive cable drum 35 of strip accumulation, said bogie starting by moving to the left over the floor trestle 19 to grip the strip by cantilevered rollers, form loops and to accumulate a strip stock in the loop accumulator 16. Modern heavyweight rolls 21 (masz up to 45 t) have a strip length of from 800m to several km and, therefore, it is generally sufficient to use a strip of one roll to charge the pickling unit 17.

Upon completion of this operation, pickling is carried out at rated speeds. Upon finishing the unrolling of the roll 21 on the unreeling means 14, the rough rear end of the strip passes the scale breaker

I.-

Vr-C 11 traction rollers 26 and the straightening machine 27 to be cut off by the shears. The cut length is removed and the end of the strip is passed to the welding machine 30 to be stopped in a position for welding. At the same time, following the end of the first strip 21, on the second unrolling means 14 is bent aside the front end of a new roll 21, which is positioned in the scale breaker 25 and the traction rollers 26 and the straightening machine 27 and then fed to the shears 28 for cutting the rough portion of said front end. The cut piece is taken away and the front end of the new roll 21 is Lrought up against the rear end of the previous roll 21 in the butt weld machine 30 and clamped to fin-ly weld the ends to produce the "endless" strip. The welding process takes from 50 to 60 sec. During welding operations, a continuous pickling process is maintained due to a loop reserve (up to 800m) in the loop accumulator 16 whose bogie 15 travels to the left towards the stationary rollers 34 and releases the strip by reducing the reserve.

On finishing the welding process, the strip is fed into the flash trimmer 31 where the weld flash is removed, the seam is trimmed off, and the ribbon is ou 25 fed at a speed above the operating speed of pickling so as to fill the loop accumulator 16 anew and provide a I: reserve quantity of the strip 21 by the end of unrolling the new roll 21 to assure the welding of the next two strips when the above-described process is repeated once again.

The overhead loop accumulator 16 is arranged together with other machines one after another. The operations when the scale falls off the surface of the strip, inclusive of scale breaking, are performed on a hot section where the presence of dust scale has no substantial effect on the quality of target products.

Owing to vibrations and bends of the strip, dust scale

O

L 12may appear where the loop accumulator 16 is located, but this can be easily dealt with by a suitable ventilating system and therefore the dust content is sharply reduced on the cold section and the process of its rapid accumulation is precluded as is one of "dragging asunder".

When there is a low rate of rolling, a measured cast billet is subjected to direct rolling by.

feeding it through the conveyor-maintaininc, furnace In combining the accumulating and conveying functions in the loop accumulator there is no need of rolls in the interdepartmental conveyor since the function of such rolls is now performed by the loop accumulator with the conveying of the strip as well as in the section for storing the rolls of the cold section whose function is performed by the roll storing section of the hot section (one section instead of two).

The flexible production line flow scheme enables one to lower the power consumption of metallurgical production by utilizing the heat of billets under various conditions of a sequence of 4, operations, to remove from the complex facilities for conveying and storing the hot rolled rolls for cold rolling and to enhance the density of utilization of 25 production areas.

The claimed invention can most advantageously be used in designing and building metallurgical plants manufacturing metal strips, sheets and rolls as well as in the reconstruction of operating production lines.

T' k- C a l

Claims (5)

1. 2. A production line according to claim 1, characte- rized in that the heating furnace for th sd conveyd run o the conveyor has a length along the path of said conveyor which is at least the total length duced from a poured melt. characte-
2. 3. A production line according to claim 1, characte- rized in that there i a first heating furnace positioned rloned n tha t run of the delivery table and spaced from the roll table bogie a minimum distance to heat cut bil lets so as to prevent more than a permissible temperature loss by the cast billets as they are moved to the rolling mill. claim 3, characte-
3. 4. A production line according to claim 3, characte- rized in that there is a plurality of heating furnaces including the first heating surface spaced along the first run of the conveyor table prio to the rolling millcharae- rized in that there are following further units in sequen- rized in that there are t ce downstream of the hot rolling mill: means for rolling the hot strip metal produced by the hot rolling mill, r h a section for storing the thus rolled hot strip me- talhot rolled strip metal transport means, hot rolleds rip me hot roled metal sr 25 a pickling unit for receiving hot rolled metal strip a cold rolling mill axially aligned with the pick- ling unit.cold rolling mill
4. 6. A production line according to claim 5, characte 30 rized in that the hot rolled strip transport means is mo- rized in that thee and comprises a p ac- unted above the production line and comprises a loop ac- cumulator mounted on a bogie, said bogie being mounted on a floor trestle. 0* o o 9 o Q 000 I 0 t o 00 a o 000 O1SY 004 o 0 0 00* 00 000 0 t 01' a ts S 1 *^ii 6V i I WHOM
5. 7. A production line substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. DATED this 30th day of May 1994 MAGNITOGORSKY METALLURGICHESKY KOMBINAT IMENI V.I. LENINA (MMK) and 4AGNITOGORSKY GOSUDARSTVENNY INSTITUT PO PROEKTIROVANIJU METALLtJRGICHESKIKH ZAVODOV (MAGNITOGORSKY GIPROMEZ) Attorney: PETER HEAT-COTE Fellow Institute of Patent Attorneys of Australia of SHELSTON WATERS 4!j- 07 with a device tor u= rolling mill. All of the units of metallurgical and i-3 T 0i 16 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A production line for metal strip production, comprising a blast furnace, steel smelting and rolling process stages interconnected by transport means, and intermediate product reprocessing units. The blast furnace process stage intermediate product processing unit is a ladle for pouring pig iron into a converter with a pig iron desulfurization means A delivery table has substantially two runs the former being a fitting roll table of heating furnaces and the latter a pre-mill hot rolling mill roll table equipped with a conveyor maintaining furnace A roll unrolling device (14) of a pickling unit (17) is disposed on a section (13) for storing the hot rolled strip rolls with the pickling unit substantially axially aligned with a cold rolling mill. The transport means is installed above the production line and is substantially a loop accumulator (16) provided on a bogie (15) mounted for cooperation with a floor trestle (19) Ul,