Automated unit for dispensing and metering deoxidizers

Abstract

Until now, the deoxidizers added to ladles of molten steel at the Nizhenedneprovsk Pipe Plant have been batched according to volume. As a result, the mass of deoxidizers introduced has varied in relation to the fractional composition of the given material. To improve the quality of the resulting steel and reduce the consumption of deoxidizers, the plant has developed and introduced an automated unit to dispense and m&er deoxidizers. It is located in the furnace bay of the open-hearth shop and is designed to automate batching of the deoxidizers and move them to a transfer bin with two outlets. The bin is mounted on a bogie that moves from the furnace bay to the pouring bay.The unit consists of the following components: --two chutes equipped with vibrating feeders; --a hatching hopper with a door mounted on force-measuring transducers;--a conveyor with a slide gate to distribute deoxidizers to the outlet; --a calibration system with standard weights and mechanisms to retrieve and remove them; --a computerized control system. The door of the batching hopper, the calibration system, and the plate baffle have pneumatic drives. The weight range is 50-999 kg. The main corrected weighing error is 0.5%, while the batching error is 1%.The computerized control system does the following:--calculates the mass of deoxidizers per heat; --automatically batches the specified mass of deoxidizer; --automatically and periodically calibrates the scales; --locally controls the mechanisms provided for adjusting and testing the system; --accumulates data on the amount of deoxidizers used for each heat. The initial data for operation of the system in the automatic regime is entered from the keyboard of a microcomputer installed in the control room. Also in the room are a monitor (which shows the graphic control chart for the system); a signal (simulation) system that indicates the state of the individual mechanisms; instructions on input of the necessary data into the system in the form of responses to requests for information; information on ecluipment malfunctions; messages with instructions on how to obtain information on a given heat during the past year, in the form of a request for the year the heat was made and its number. The following data is input to start the system: shift code, number of heat, grade of steel, mass of heat in tons, designation of heat, code of the deoxidizer in the storage bins, total amounts of deoxidizers removed from the storage bins.After the correctness of the entered data has been confirmed, the system is calibrated using the control weights, and the specified quantity of deoxidizer from the first storage bin is sent by the vibrating feeder into the batching hopper. After the feeder is turned off, the conveyor is turned on and the door of the batching hopper is opened. The deoxidizer is moved by conveyor to the f'trst compartment of the bin on the bogie. The door of the batching hopper is closed, the slide gate is rotated to the second compartment of the transfer bin, and the second portion of deoxidizer...