APPARATUS FOR COOLING LONG PRODUCTS AND METHOD OF COOLING A LONG PRODUCT USING THE SAME

Abstract

An apparatus (100) for cooling long products is provided, the apparatus (100) having a coolant supply line (42) for supplying a coolant and a plurality of cooling devices (70), each connected to the coolant supply line (42) via an individually adjustable control valve (90), whose coolant delivery depends is each case on a degree of opening of the respective control valve (90), so that distribution of the coolant delivery along the travel direction can be flexibly adjusted by individually setting the degrees of opening of the control valves (90).

Claims

1. Apparatus for cooling long products along a travel direction, the apparatus comprising a coolant supply line for supplying a coolant, and a plurality of cooling devices, each connected to the coolant supply line via an individually adjustable control valve, the coolant delivery of which depends in each case on a degree of opening of the respective control valve, so that distribution of the coolant delivery along the travel direction can be flexibly adjusted by individually setting the degrees of opening of the control valves.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the degree of opening of at least one control valve, and preferably a plurality of control valves, particularly preferably all control valves, is continuously adjustable.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the coolant supplied from the coolant supply line (42) is entirely delivered by the cooling devices (70).

4. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the coolant supply line comprises a shut-off valve to open or shut off to coolant the coolant supply line to the cooling devices.

5. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus further comprises a measuring device for measuring a pressure of the coolant in the coolant supply line and/or a measuring device for measuring a pressure of the coolant between one of the control valves and the respective cooling device and/or a measuring device for measuring a temperature of one of the long products in the apparatus.

6. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of cooling devices are disposed one after the other in the travel direction in order to each cool an area of the long product along the travel direction.

7. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus further comprises a measuring device for determining a position of a long product in the apparatus.

8. A method for cooling along product using an apparatus according to claim 1, comprising the following steps: specifying a temperature of a long product at a position along the travel direction; measuring a temperature of the long product at a position along the travel direction; and setting a coolant delivery of a cooling device based on a comparison between the specified temperature and the measured temperature, in order to set a cooling state in an area of the long product.

9. Method according to claim 8, wherein adjusting the coolant delivery involves adjusting a degree of opening of one or more of the control valves.

10. Method according to claim 8, wherein the coolant delivery is adjusted using a characteristic curve of the control valve.

11. Method according to claim 8, wherein the coolant delivery is adjusted using a pressure measured in the coolant supply line and/or a pressure measured between one of the control valves and the cooling device controlled thereby.

12. Method according to claim 8, wherein the coolant delivery is adjusted using a temperature of the long product before the cooling device and/or a temperature of the long product after the cooling device.

13. Method according to claim 8, wherein the coolant delivery is adjusted in real time.

14. Method according to claim 8, wherein the coolant delivery is adjusted by a control device, in particular by an electronic control device.

15. Method according to claim 8, wherein the coolant delivery is adjusted using a certain position of the long product along the travel direction.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

[0059] FIG. 1 is a schematic circuit diagram of a cooling apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

WAYS TO CARRY OUT THE INVENTION

[0060] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a circuit diagram of a cooling apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0061] An apparatus 100 for cooling long products according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises a plurality of cooling devices 70. The cooling devices can, for example, be disposed one after the other along a travel direction of a long product passing through the apparatus. However, the invention is not limited to such a configuration. For example, the cooling devices 70 can also be disposed on several independent processing lines in order to cool different long products.

[0062] In the apparatus 100 for cooling long products shown in FIG. 1, a travel direction for long products is defined by the apparatus 100. The apparatus has a coolant supply line 42 for supplying a coolant and a plurality of cooling devices 70 each connected to the coolant line 42 via an individually adjustable control valve 90, the coolant delivery rate of each of which depends on a degree of opening of the respective control valve 90, so that the coolant rate can be flexibly distributed along the travel direction by adjusting the degrees of opening of the control valves 90.

[0063] The cooling devices 70 are each connected to a coolant line 42 via a control valve 90. Each control valve 90 is configured to continuously control, within its control range, a coolant rate delivered from the coolant line 42 to the cooling device 70.

[0064] In the embodiment shown, three cooling devices 70 are disposed one after the other in a travel direction. However, the invention is not limited to this: firstly, the number of cooling devices 70 can be varied. For example, embodiments with seven cooling devices 70 have proven successful. Secondly, not all of the cooling devices 70 supplied by one coolant supply line 42 need to be disposed on the same processing line; rather, it is also possible for a coolant supply line 42 to supply coolant to a plurality of processing lines by disposing the cooling devices 70 on a plurality of different processing lines for long products, in which case the coolant supplied by the coolant supply line 42 to the different processing lines is distributed by adjusting the degree of opening of the control valves 90.

[0065] The coolant supply to the coolant supply line 42 can be allowed and prevented by a shut-off valve 102. The shut-off valve 102 may, for example, be a ball valve or other valve that either allows or prevents a volume flow of the coolant.

[0066] The pressure of the coolant in the coolant supply line 42 can be measured by a pressure measuring device 104.

[0067] A pressure measuring device 106 can measure a respective pressure of the coolant after each control valve 90. In this context, “after” each control valve 90 means a position lying downstream of the control valve 90 in the flow direction of the coolant. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, this position is between a control valve 90 and the respective cooling device 70. At the same time, however, other configurations of the arrangement of the pressure measuring device 106 are also possible; for example, the pressure measuring device 106 can be disposed within the cooling device 70.

[0068] Each pressure measuring device 106 can thus measure a pressure of the coolant to be delivered by the cooling device 70 towards the long product. The pressure measuring device 104 can measure a pressure prevailing in the coolant supply line 42, i.e. before each control valve 90. By calculating the difference between the pressure measured by the pressure measuring device 104 and the pressure measured by one of the pressure measuring devices 106, it is possible to determine a decrease in pressure across a respective control valve 90. The pressure measured by the pressure measuring device 106 correlates with a coolant rate delivered by the cooling device 70, so that this can be determined from the pressure difference.

[0069] By individually adjusting the degree of opening of each individual control valve 90, a distribution or the coolant rate to the individual cooling devices 70 can thus be set for a given coolant rate through the coolant supply line 42. As a result, a long product passing through the apparatus 100 along the travel direction can be cooled in different areas of the apparatus 100 at different coolant rates. For example, the long product may be weakly cooled in a first cooling device 70 in the travel direction by a low rate of coolant delivered by said first cooling device 70 and then more strongly cooled in a subsequent cooling device 70 in the travel direction by a higher rate of coolant delivered by said cooling device 70. Since the long product moves along the travel direction, the cooling rates can be adjusted over time through local fine adjustment of the coolant rates in the apparatus 100 in relation to the long product passing through. While such an adjustment can also be estimated in principle on the basis of operating parameters, it is preferable to provide a device for measuring or determining the position of the long product passing through the apparatus in order to thereby determine the position of the long product, whereby the temperature change in the long product over time can be more finely adjusted.

[0070] The specific setting of the temperature change over time depends on the requirements placed on the end product.

LIST OF REFERENCES

[0071] 42 Coolant supply line [0072] 70 Cooling device [0073] 90 Control valve [0074] 100 Apparatus [0075] 102 Shut-off valve [0076] 104 Pressure measuring device [0077] 106 Pressure measuring device