WIRE-HANDLING ARRANGEMENT PROVIDED WITH REDUNDANCY CONVEYOR LINES

Abstract

 A wire-handling arrangement (2) for receiving a series of preformed loops (4) of wire and for accumulating said loops of wire in order to form a coil of wire, comprising an essentially horizontal conveyor arrangement (6) configured to convey a rolled wire arranged in the form of overlapping loops from a wire providing member (8) to at least two coil-forming chambers (10) provided in the wire-handling arrangement.
The conveyor arrangement (6) comprises a first conveyor line (12), a second conveyor line (14), a third conveyor line (16), and a switching conveyor member (18), wherein said first conveyor line (12) is arranged upstream said switching conveyor member (18) and said second (14) and third (16) conveyor lines are arranged downstream said switching conveyor line (18). Each of said second conveyor line (14) and third conveyor line (16) is provided with a coil-forming chamber (10) which is arranged downstream. The wire-handling arrangement (2) further comprises a control unit (20) configured to control said switching conveyor member (18) to be in a first position connecting the first conveyor line (12) to the second conveyor line (14), and in a second position connecting the first conveyor line (12) to the third conveyor line (16), thereby enabling said loops of wire (4) to be conveyed to the second conveyor line (14) or to the third conveyor line (16), respectively. The control unit (20) is configured to control said switching conveyor member (18) to be in a third position, and wherein in said third position the switching conveyor member (18) is connected to an upwardly open discard chamber (22) to convey loops of wire (4) to the discard chamber (22).

Description

Technical field and background

[0001] The present invention relates to a wire-handling arrangement according to the preamble of claim 1 for receiving a series of preformed loops of wire and for accumulating said loops of wire in order to form a coil of wire.

[0002] In this description and the subsequent claims, the term "wire" encompasses metallic wires of thinner type as well as metallic wire rods.

[0003] Metallic wire produced in a rolling mill is normally accumulated in coils of essentially cylindrical configuration in a wire-handling arrangement, whereupon the coils can be compacted and bound in order to facilitate subsequent storing and transportation of the coils. It is a common practice to deliver the rolled wire to the wire-handling arrangement with the rolled wire arranged in the form of overlapping loops laying on an essentially horizontal conveyor, wherein the loops of wire at the end of the conveyor are allowed to fall vertically downwards from the conveyor into an upwardly open coil-forming chamber, herein also denoted coil collection station, provided in the wire-handling arrangement.

[0004] The diameter of the wire is normally in the range of 5.5 mm - 26 mm. The width of the conveyor is typically 1500 mm, and the loops of wire has a typical diameter of approximately 1000 mm.

[0005] The wire is rolled, based on a continuous casting process or by heating and rolling prepared billets. A billet is a prepared section of metal that can be reheated and rolled into e.g. a wire. To achieve continuous wire rolling based on prepared billets, individual billets are welded together before they are rolled. During rolling the wire is fed forward in its longitudinal direction at speeds up to 150 m/s through a series of rollers to a ring forming device, herein also denoted a laying head, with the shape of a drum. The wire may have a temperature of 1000 degrees or more as it exits the laying head. The laying head forms and lays the wire in partially overlapping rings on a transport path embodied by means a conveyor arrangement, which forms a cooling section, on which the wire rings are fed forward in the direction of a coil collecting station where the wire is collected into a coil. The conveyor cooling section controls the cooling rate in order to achieve the desired metallurgical properties of the wire by using different conveyor speeds, hoods and fans.

[0006] The horizontal conveyor arrangement between the laying head and the collection station is provided with transport elements, e.g. in the form of driven rollers or driven endless chains on which the wire rings rest and are fed. The transport elements are conventionally driven by one or many driving members. The velocity of the rings of wire moved by the conveyor arrangement is normally in the range of 0,1-1 m/s.

[0007] Conventionally, during continuous rolling, the wire is cut either before the inlet to the laying head or in the coil collection station.

[0008] When cutting takes place before the inlet to the laying head, the resulting front and back end of the coil receives different metallurgical properties than rest of the wire, which means that they have to be discarded. This disposal is currently done by manual end trimming in a trimming station after the coil collecting station, which e.g. requires two people per work shift and which is therefore expensive. In addition, the end trimming is a tiring job in harsh conditions (high heat due to hot wire means that protective clothing must be used and in addition use of heavy hydraulic scissors which entails heavy lifting and non-ergonomic working conditions).

[0009] When cutting takes place in the coil collection station itself the wire is cut below a cone in the wire-handling chamber. The coil can be cut by stretching the upper and lower part of the coil in different directions to enable separation of a single ring lap and then move one or several scissors horizontally into the coil. However, the amount of force and travel needed to effectively separate a single ring lap varies largely depending on the dimension, temperature, and metallurgical properties of the wire and so it is difficult to find all suitable parameters. The coil can also be cut by forcing several cutting discs horizontally into the coil from different directions, cutting the wire in one or several places depending on the separation and distribution of the wires. This gives no control over where the cut takes place and also entails the possible formation of smaller pieces of wire that risk getting stuck in the pallet conveyor system, causing production stops.

[0010] GB-1160488 relates to improvements in coiling apparatus for double-refined steel. Figure 3 of GB-1160488 discloses a transport path for feeding wire loops where the wire loops from an initial belt can be switched on to one of two alternative subsequent belt parts for further feeding to a wire collecting shaft.

[0011] In the entire procedure of feeding a wire to the wire providing device that positions the rolled wire on the conveyor arrangement to convey the rolled wire to the open coil-forming chamber, there might sometimes occur various disturbances that e.g. require that part of the loops of wire need to be discarded, or otherwise handled. In order to handle those disturbances, redundant conveyor lines have been suggested. The object of the present invention is to achieve an improved wire-handling arrangement provided with redundant conveyor lines.

Summary

[0012] The above-mentioned object is achieved by the present invention according to the independent claim.

[0013] Preferred embodiments are set forth in the dependent claims.

[0014] According to an aspect of the present invention, a wire-handling arrangement (2) is provided for receiving a series of preformed loops (4) of rolled wire and for accumulating said loops of wire in order to form a coil of wire. The wire-handling arrangement comprises an essentially horizontal conveyor arrangement (6) comprising conveyors configured to convey a rolled wire arranged in the form of overlapping loops from a wire providing member (8) to at least two coil-forming chambers (10) provided in the wire-handling arrangement. The conveyor arrangement (6) comprises a first conveyor line (12), a second conveyor line (14), a third conveyor line (16), and a switching conveyor member (18), wherein said first conveyor line (12) is arranged upstream said switching conveyor member (18) and said second (14) and third (16) conveyor lines are arranged downstream said switching conveyor member (18). Each of said second conveyor line (14) and third conveyor line (16) is provided with a coil-forming chamber (10) which is arranged downstream. The wire-handling arrangement (2) further comprises a control unit (20) configured to control said switching conveyor member (18) to be in a first position connecting the first conveyor line (12) to the second conveyor line (14), and in a second position connecting the first conveyor line (12) to the third conveyor line (16), thereby enabling said loops of wire (4) to be conveyed to the second conveyor line (14) or to the third conveyor line (16), respectively.

[0015] The control unit (20) is further configured to control said switching conveyor member (18) to be in a third position, and wherein in said third position the switching conveyor member (18) is connected to an upwardly open discard chamber (22) to convey loops of wire (4) to the discard chamber (22).

[0016] The wire-handling arrangement according to the present invention provides a versatile redundancy function capable of handle various situations that might occur. It provides a way to discard loops of wire on the first conveyor line before switching over to the second or third conveyor line. Thereby may also be created a gap between the loops of wire that run down in the discard chamber and the "new" loops of wire.

[0017] According to one embodiment, the wire-handling arrangement 2 comprises at least one wire cutting device 24 configured to cut the rolled wire. The control unit 20 is then configured to control the position of the switching conveyor member 18 in dependence of a cutting procedure performed by at least one wire cutting device 24.

[0018] Preferably, the wire cutting device is arranged close to the discard chamber. This is advantageous if an emergency cut of the wire is required.

[0019] The wire cutting device 24 may then be arranged on said switching conveyor member 18, at an upper part of said discard chamber 22, and/or at each of the second and third conveyor lines 14, 16 close to said discard chamber 22.

Brief description of the drawings

[0020] 

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the wire-handling arrangement according to the present invention.

Figures 2-5 are schematic views from above of the conveyor arrangement according to different embodiments of the present invention and illustrating various states of the procedure of conveying loops of wire from a wire providing member to coil-forming chambers.

Detailed description

[0021] The wire-handling arrangement will now be described in detail with references to the appended figures. Throughout the figures the same, or similar, items have the same reference signs. Moreover, the items and the figures are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention.

[0022] With reference to figure 1, a wire-handling arrangement 2 is provided for receiving a series of preformed loops 4 of wire and for accumulating the loops of wire in order to form an upright coil of wire. The wire-handling arrangement 2 comprises an essentially horizontal conveyor arrangement 6 configured to convey a rolled wire arranged in the form of overlapping loops from a wire providing member 8, also denoted laying head, to at least two upwardly open coil-forming chambers 10, also denoted collecting stations, provided in the wire-handling arrangement.

[0023] The conveyor arrangement 6 comprises a first conveyor line 12, a second conveyor line 14, a third conveyor line 16, and a switching conveyor member 18.

[0024] Each of the first conveyor line 12, the second conveyor line 14, and the third conveyor line 16 may comprise one, two, three, four, or several conveyor parts. One example is illustrated in figure 1, where the first conveyor line comprises one conveyor part, whereas the second conveyor line comprises four conveyor parts.

[0025] The first conveyor line 12 is arranged upstream the switching conveyor member 18 and the second 14 and third 16 conveyor lines are arranged downstream the switching conveyor member 18. Upstream and downstream are defined in relation to the flow direction of the loops of wire, which is from the left to the right in figure 1, and also in figures 2-5.

[0026] Each of the second conveyor line 14 and the third conveyor line 16 is provided with at least one coil-forming chamber 10, which is arranged downstream to collect the wire coils.

[0027] The wire-handling arrangement 2 further comprises a control unit 20 configured to control the switching conveyor member 18 to be in a first position connecting the first conveyor line 12 to the second conveyor line 14, and in a second position connecting the first conveyor line 12 to the third conveyor line 16, thereby enabling said loops of wire 4 to be conveyed to the second conveyor line 14 or to the third conveyor line 16, respectively.

[0028] The control unit 20 is further configured to control the switching conveyor member 18 to be in a third position. In the third position, the switching conveyor member 18 is connected to an upwardly open discard chamber 22 in order to convey loops of wire 4 to the discard chamber 22.

[0029] The switching conveyor member 18 is thus movable, e.g. about a vertical axle, to the different positions, and is then provided with bearing means to allow easy movement. Various driving members are provided to achieve the movement, e.g. electrically or hydraulically operated driving members, controlled by the control unit.

[0030] The discard chamber 22 has a shape adapted to the front end of the switching conveyor member that enables safe receipt of the loops of wire. It has also a volume capable of receiving a large amount of discarded loops of wire.

[0031] The control unit comprises the necessary processing, communication and storing capability to submit control signals configured to control the operation of the wire-handling arrangement. In particular, the control unit is configured to control the position of the switching conveyor member 18, but preferably also to control various driving members to provide driving movements to the conveyors of the conveyor arrangement, e.g. to control the velocities of the conveyors.

[0032] According to one embodiment, the wire-handling arrangement 2 comprises at least one wire cutting device 24 configured to cut the rolled wire. See the enlarged part of figure 1. The control unit 20 is configured to control the position of the switching conveyor member 18 in dependence of a cutting procedure performed by the at least one wire cutting device 24.

[0033] According to another embodiment, the control unit 20 is configured to control the switching conveyor member 18 to move to any of said first, second, or third positions, a predetermined time period after said wire cutting device 24 has cut the rolled wire. The predetermined time period may be related to the velocity of the first conveyor line. As an example, if the wire cutting device is provided in the wire providing member 8, the predetermined time period may be several minutes.

[0034] In one embodiment, at least one wire cutting device 24 is arranged in the wire providing member 8 upstream the first conveyor line 12. This is illustrated in figures 2-5.

[0035] In figures 2-5 are also schematically shown various conventional items of the wire providing member 8, e.g. a wire rolling member, and also a scrap collection container to receive cut off wire parts.

[0036] According to still another embodiment, at least one wire cutting device 24 is arranged on the switching conveyor member 18.

[0037] The cutting device 24 may also be arranged at an upper part of the discard chamber 22, which is schematically shown in figures 2-5, and also in figure 1.

[0038] In a further embodiment, the wire cutting device 24 is arranged at each of the second and third conveyor lines 14, 16 close to the discard chamber 22.

[0039] The wire cutting device 24 comprises cutting edges structured to move against the wire from opposite sides during a cutting procedure.

[0040] According to a further embodiment, the control unit 20 is configured to receive an indication signal 26 indicating a potential problem of any of the at least two coil-forming chambers 10, the conveyor arrangement 6, and the wire providing member 8. The indication signal may be manually generated by an operator. As an alternative, sensor members may be provided, e.g. in the coil-forming chambers, configured to sense various parameters related to the operation and generate the indication signal if any of the sensed parameters indicate that the operation deviates from the normal.

[0041] The control unit 20 is then configured to generate a switching signal 28 to the switching conveyor member 18 in dependence of the indication signal 26 to switch position of the switching conveyor member 18 according to a switching procedure. Various switching procedures exist. A switching procedure may comprise steps to set the switching conveyor member in the third position during a predetermined time period in order to discard a particular length of loops of wire, and then set the switching conveyor member in the second position.

[0042] Figures 2-5 are schematic views from above of the conveyor arrangement according to different embodiments of the present invention and illustrating various states of the procedure of conveying loops of wire from a wire providing member 8 to coil-forming chambers 10.

[0043] In figure 2, the switching conveyor member 18 is in the second position thereby conveying loops of wire to the third conveyor line 16.

[0044] In figure 3, the switching conveyor member 18 is in the third position thereby conveying loops of wire to the discard chamber 22.

[0045] In figure 4, the switching conveyor member 18 is in the first position thereby conveying loops of wire to the second conveyor line 14.

[0046] Manual or automatic emergency wire cutting is possible. In that case, the wire cutting device is provided in relation to the downstream end of the switching conveyor member, e.g. close to the discard chamber.

[0047] In figure 5, the switching conveyor member 18 is in the third position thereby conveying loops of wire to the discard chamber 22. In the illustrated situation, an emergency cut of the wire has been performed. The wire cutting device (e.g. a saw blade, cutting edges, or similar) is provided such that it enables to lead down the cut front end in the discard chamber 22. Alternatively, it may be possible to force the wire into the discard chamber (possibly manually) while the wire fed into the discard chamber is still connected to the wire already collected in any of the coil-forming chambers 10.

[0048] One exemplary procedure will now be described.

[0049] A wire cutting device arranged in the wire providing member 8 as illustrated in figures 2-5, may be applied to create an interruption in the wire feeding to the conveyor arrangement without having to stop the wire rolling. From the rolling line, wire is fed continuously towards the laying head. When problems occur in one of the coil-forming chambers 10, or in any of the conveyor lines, the wire cutting device 24 of the wire providing member 8 is activated so that the wire does not reach the laying head and the subsequent conveyor. The wire which is then downstream of the wire cut at the moment when the wire is cut, is then conveyed down into the discard chamber 22, i.e. the switching conveyor member 18 is set in the third position, which is illustrated in figure 3. When the rear end of this wire portion ends up in the discard chamber the switching conveyor member 18 is switched to e.g. the second position conveying the loops of wire to the second conveyor line 14 so that the front end of the subsequent loops of wire leads to it, and further to the coil-forming chamber 10. See figure 4.

[0050] The present invention is not limited to the above-described preferred embodiments. Various alternatives, modifications and equivalents may be used. Therefore, the above embodiments should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention, which is defined by the appending claims.

Claims

1. A wire-handling arrangement (2) for receiving a series of preformed loops (4) of rolled wire and for accumulating said loops of wire in order to form a coil of wire, comprising an essentially horizontal conveyor arrangement (6) comprising conveyors configured to convey a rolled wire arranged in the form of overlapping loops from a wire providing member (8) to at least two coil-forming chambers (10) provided in the wire-handling arrangement,

the conveyor arrangement (6) comprises a first conveyor line (12), a second conveyor line (14), a third conveyor line (16), and a switching conveyor member (18), wherein said first conveyor line (12) is arranged upstream said switching conveyor member (18) and said second (14) and third (16) conveyor lines are arranged downstream said switching conveyor member (18), and that each of said second conveyor line (14) and third conveyor line (16) is provided with a coil-forming chamber (10) which is arranged downstream,

characterized in that the wire-handling arrangement (2) further comprises a control unit (20) configured to control said switching conveyor member (18) to be in a first position connecting the first conveyor line (12) to the second conveyor line (14), and in a second position connecting the first conveyor line (12) to the third conveyor line (16), thereby enabling said loops of wire (4) to be conveyed to the second conveyor line (14) or to the third conveyor line (16), respectively,

and that said control unit (20) is configured to control said switching conveyor member (18) to be in a third position, and wherein in said third position the switching conveyor member (18) is connected to an upwardly open discard chamber (22) to convey loops of wire (4) to the discard chamber (22).

2. The wire-handling arrangement (2) according to claim 1, comprising at least one wire cutting device (24) configured to cut the rolled wire, and wherein said control unit (20) is configured to control the position of the switching conveyor member (18) in dependence of a cutting procedure performed by said at least one wire cutting device (24).

3. The wire-handling arrangement (2) according to claim 2, wherein said control unit (20) is configured to control said switching conveyor member (18) to move to any of said first, second, or third positions, a predetermined time period after said wire cutting device (24) has cut the rolled wire.

4. The wire-handling arrangement (2) according to claim 2 or 3, wherein said at least one wire cutting device (24) is arranged in said wire providing member (8) upstream said first conveyor line (12).

5. The wire-handling arrangement (2) according to any of claims 2-4, wherein said at least one wire cutting device (24) is arranged on said switching conveyor member (18).

6. The wire-handling arrangement (2) according to any of claims 2-5, wherein said at least one wire cutting device (24) is/are arranged at an upper part of said discard chamber (22).

7. The wire-handling arrangement (2) according to any of claims 2-6, wherein said wire cutting device (24) is arranged at each of said second and third conveyor lines (14, 16) close to said discard chamber (22).

8. The wire-handling arrangement (2) according to any of claims 2-7, wherein said at least one wire cutting device (24) comprises cutting edges structured to move against the wire from opposite sides during a cutting procedure.

9. The wire-handling arrangement (2) according to any of claims 1-8, wherein said control unit (20) is configured to receive an indication signal (26) indicating a potential problem of any of said at least two coil-forming chambers (10), said conveyor arrangement (6), and said wire providing member (8), and wherein said control unit (20) is configured to generate a switching signal (28) to said switching conveyor member (18) in dependence of said indication signal (26) to switch position of said switching conveyor member (18) according to a switching procedure.

Drawing