PRELIMINARY COOLING OF CONTINUOUS CASTING MACHINE

• US 3,596,702 A
• Filed: 03/13/1969
• Issued: 08/03/1971
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/1969
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: George C. Ward, George E. Lenaeus
• Original Assignee: George C. Ward, George E. Lenaeus
• Inventors: Ward, George C., Lenaeus, George E.
• Application Number:
  US04/806,915
• Time in Patent Office: 873 Days
• US Class Current: 164/482
• CPC Class Codes: B22D 11/068 for cooling the cast product during its passage through the mould surfaces cooling open-ended moulds B22D11/04; secondary cooling B22D11/124

Abstract

Cooling a continuous casting machine during the preliminary stages of casting molten metal, in which coolant is sprayed at a relatively low velocity onto the external surfaces of the flexible band and casting wheel which form the mold into which the molten metal is poured. The coolant is applied at the relatively low velocity prior to and during the initial pouring of the molten metal, and when the operator of the casting machine has established a proper constant level of molten metal in the mold and the hazard of splashing and explosion of the molten metal has been reduced, the coolant is applied at increased velocities and volumes and the rate of casting the molten metal is increased.

Claims

1. In a process for continuously casting metal where metal in a molten state is poured from a pouring spout into a semicircular mold formed by a peripheral groove of a rotatable mold ring and a continuous flexible band, the improvement therein comprising first applying a coolant at a relatively low volume only to the outer surface of the band and the inner surface of the mold ring at the pouring spout and through a downwardly directed arc of the mold from the pouring spout as the mold temperature increases due to the transfer of heat from the molten metal during the initial stages of casting to prevent the mold cavity from being wet at the introduction of molten metal into the cavity, and subsequently increasing the volume of flow of the coolant to the same surface of the band and the mold ring and applying additional volumes of the coolant to the other portions of the external surface of the mold ring and band as the mold temperature increases after the initial stages of casting.

2. The invention of claim 1 wherein the step of first applying a coolant at a relatively low volume to portions of the external surfaces of the mold includes applying the coolant to the portions of the external surfaces of the mold prior to any increase in mold temperature and continuing the low volume application of coolant during the initial stages of casting.

3. The invention of claim 1 wherein the step of first applying coolant comprises applying coolant through a nip nozzle adjacent the flexible band at the position where the flexible band first contacts the casting wheel and applying coolant to the flexible band as it passes through the first portion of its arc of movement with the casting wheel.

4. The invention of claim 1 wherein the step of applying additional volumes of the coolant comprises applying the coolant to the side surfaces of the casting wheel.