Automatic cleaning machine for crucible for titanium and titanium alloy smelting

Abstract

The automatic cleaning machine comprises a supporting frame body of a cylindrical structure, a rotating mechanism capable of ascending and descending at a fixed distance is arranged in the supporting frame body, a brush body making contact with the inner wall face of the crucible is arranged at the bottom end of the rotating mechanism, and the bottom end of the supporting frame body is fixed to the ground; the bottom end of the supporting frame body penetrates into the ground to form a pit for placing the crucible, the ground surface at the top end of the pit is further provided with a movable platform which is used for hanging the crucible and vertically aligns to the brush body after horizontally moving, and at least two crucibles can be hung on the movable platform at the same time. According to the automatic cleaning machine for the crucible, complete automatic cleaning operation on the inner wall of the crucible can be achieved, the problems that at present, manual cleaning cannot be achieved effectively, cleaning is not thorough in high-pressure water washing, and the influence of impurities exists in the subsequent smelting process of other metal is solved, and the cleaning efficiency and completeness of the crucible are improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of metal smelting technology, and in particular to an automatic crucible cleaning machine for smelting titanium and titanium alloys. Background Technology

[0002] Metal smelting is a process in which raw metal materials are heated above their melting point to form a liquid state, and impurities are removed and the composition is adjusted through physical and chemical processes to obtain the target metal or alloy. The smelted ingot can then be further machined into products of the desired shape. Smelting typically includes methods such as pyrometallurgical smelting, vacuum smelting, induction smelting, and electric arc smelting. In the smelting process, solid bulk raw materials need to be melted into a liquid state and then cooled to form a unibody smelting ingot. Therefore, the crucible is a key structural component in the smelting process; it is the smelting device used to transform solid metal into a molten ingot.

[0003] Currently, when enterprises smelt metals, they smelt different types of metals. Therefore, a single crucible is used for smelting different metals. When smelting different metals, residues from the previous smelted metal will adhere to the inner wall of the crucible, causing them to melt into the next metal smelting. These residues will be regarded as impurities in the next metal smelting, affecting the internal structure and properties of the subsequently smelted metal. Therefore, the crucible needs to be cleaned after the smelting of a single metal is completed to prevent residues from melting into the subsequently smelted metal and causing adverse effects.

[0004] Crucibles are typically long cylindrical with a small opening, making it impossible for personnel to enter and thoroughly clean them. Therefore, high-pressure water washing is currently used for crucible cleaning. However, molten metal in a high-temperature molten state adheres strongly to the inner wall of the crucible, and even with high-pressure water washing, some residues may not be completely removed, affecting subsequent metal smelting. Furthermore, the haphazard nature of high-pressure water washing cannot effectively guarantee a complete cleaning of the inner wall of the crucible, resulting in residues remaining. Utility Model Content

[0005] To address the aforementioned problems, this application aims to provide an automatic crucible cleaning machine for titanium and titanium alloy smelting, which can achieve automated and complete crucible cleaning, effectively improving crucible cleaning efficiency.

[0006] To achieve the above objectives, the technical solution adopted in this application is as follows: an automatic crucible cleaning machine for titanium and titanium alloy smelting, comprising a cylindrical support frame, a rotating mechanism capable of fixed-distance lifting and lowering is provided inside the support frame, and a brush body in contact with the inner wall of the crucible is provided at the bottom end of the rotating mechanism. The bottom end of the support frame is fixed to the ground, and a pit for placing crucibles is penetrated into the ground from the bottom end of the support frame. A moving platform is also provided on the ground surface at the top of the pit, which suspends the crucibles and is horizontally moved to be vertically aligned with the brush body. The moving platform can suspend no less than two crucibles at the same time.

[0007] Preferably, the support frame is composed of an upper platform, a lower platform and columns, the rotating mechanism includes a lifting platform, and fixed-distance rollers are provided on the side of the lifting platform that make vertical rolling contact with each of the columns, while a rotating drive shaft is provided downward at the center of the lifting platform, and the brush body is provided at the bottom end of the rotating drive shaft.

[0008] Preferably, the brush body includes support rods extending horizontally outward along the bottom end of the rotary drive shaft with circumferential spacing, and each support rod end is provided with a brush head that presses against the inner wall of the crucible.

[0009] Preferably, the mobile platform has two crucible placement positions spaced apart, and a drive cylinder is provided at a circumferential distance from each crucible placement position. An arc-shaped fixed axis plate is provided at the end of the piston rod of each drive cylinder, which synchronously abuts against the outer circumferential surface of the top of the crucible.

[0010] Preferably, at each of the placement positions, a sphere is embedded along the circumferential spacing to make rolling contact with the crucible.

[0011] The beneficial effects of this application are: the automatic crucible cleaning machine can achieve complete automatic cleaning of the inner wall of the crucible, solving the problems of ineffective manual cleaning and incomplete cleaning by high-pressure water washing, which can affect the subsequent smelting of other metals; at the same time, the cleaning process can be adjusted according to the crucible of different heights, avoiding the waste of brushes running empty and the problem of brushes not being able to return to their original position after extending out of the crucible; furthermore, by adjusting the coaxiality of the crucible, multiple brush heads can make contact with the inner wall of the crucible, thereby avoiding the problem of premature wear of some brush heads due to axial deviation, and improving the efficiency and integrity of crucible cleaning. Attached Figure Description

[0012] Figure 1 This is a structural diagram of the support frame for this application.

[0013] Figure 2 This is an overall structural diagram of the rotating mechanism in this application.

[0014] Figure 3 This is an enlarged view of the brush body structure of this application.

[0015] Figure 4 This is an overall structural diagram of the support frame and rotating mechanism assembly in this application.

[0016] Figure 5 This is a front view structural diagram of the mobile platform of this application.

[0017] Figure 6 This is a top view of the mobile platform structure of this application.

[0018] Figure 7 This is a structural diagram of the automatic crucible cleaning machine of this application.

[0019] Figure 8 This diagram illustrates the operation of the automatic crucible cleaning machine of this application, which cleans a single crucible while simultaneously hoisting another crucible to be cleaned into its placement position.

[0020] Figure 9 This illustration shows the operation of cleaning a single crucible while simultaneously lifting the cleaned crucible from its placement position.

[0021] Figure 10 This application provides a schematic diagram of an arc-shaped fixed-axis plate structure on a mobile platform.

[0022] In the diagram: 9 - crucible; 14 - ladder; 41 - trapezoidal plate. Detailed Implementation

[0023] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the technical solutions of this application, the technical solutions of this application will be further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

[0024] See attached document Figures 1-10 The automatic crucible cleaning machine for titanium and titanium alloy smelting shown includes a cylindrical support frame 1, the specific structure of which is as follows: Figure 1 As shown, the support frame 1 consists of an upper platform 11, a lower platform 12 and a column 13. A ladder 14 is also provided on one side of the support frame 1 to facilitate safe high-altitude operations such as maintenance of its internal components.

[0025] A rotating mechanism capable of fixed-distance lifting and lowering is provided inside the support frame 1, and a brush body 2 that contacts the inner wall of the crucible 9 is provided at the bottom end of the rotating mechanism, specifically as follows: Figure 2As shown, the rotating mechanism includes a lifting platform 5. Fixed-distance rollers 51 are provided on the side of the lifting platform 5, each of the columns 13 making vertical rolling contact with the rollers. A rotating drive shaft 52 (driven by a motor located at the top of the lifting platform 5) is positioned downwards at the center of the lifting platform 5. The brush body 2 is located at the bottom end of the rotating drive shaft 52. Four columns 13 and four fixed-distance rollers 51 are diagonally arranged. The fixed-distance rollers 51 are preferably driven synchronously by a variable frequency motor and a double lead screw, with closed-loop drive achieved through a position encoder. The rolling of the fixed-distance rollers 51 allows the lifting platform 5 to vertically rise and fall on the columns 13 (support frame 1). This allows for precise control of the brush body 2's working height to match the crucible height for different crucible types, avoiding wasted effort when the brush body 2 needs to travel its entire height stroke on the support frame 1 for crucibles shorter than the support frame 1. Therefore, by setting the fixed-distance rollers 51, the lifting height of the brush body 2 can be precisely controlled to match the height of the crucible being cleaned. The fixed-distance roller 51 can preferably be connected to an automatic control system (such as a PLC control module) to achieve rapid switching when cleaning crucibles of different heights.

[0026] By precisely controlling the working height of brush body 2, it is possible to further prevent brush body 2 from extending from the bottom of the lower crucible during its full travel (height of support frame 1). If the vertical accuracy of the crucible has a significant error, the brush body 2 will come into contact with the inner wall of the crucible during cleaning. Consequently, during the upward repositioning process after extending from the bottom of the crucible, the vertical error of the crucible will prevent the brush body 2 from smoothly entering the crucible, causing jamming and potentially bending or breaking of the rotary drive shaft 52. Therefore, by precisely controlling the stroke of brush body 2 to avoid empty travel, the problem of brush body 2 failing to reposition itself is further prevented.

[0027] Because the support frame 1 has a certain height, in order to avoid "encroaching" on the workspace (for example, in a lower factory building, the support frame 1 and the crucible do not share the same height), such as Figure 7-9 As shown, the support frame 1 is fixed to the ground by the lower platform 12. A pit 3 for placing crucibles is formed extending into the ground from the bottom end of the support frame 1. The pit 3 is used to place the crucibles to be cleaned, thus allowing them to be placed in the ground. Figure 8-9 As shown, this can reduce the space occupied by the combined height of the support frame 1 and the crucible.

[0028] Because the support frame 1 has a height-adjustable rotating mechanism inside, it is a closed structure. Therefore, to facilitate placing the crucible at the bottom of the support frame 1 and aligning it vertically with the brush body 2, as shown... Figure 5-9As shown, a movable platform 4 is also installed on the surface at the top of the pit 3, suspending the crucible and moving it horizontally to align it vertically with the brush body 2. Horizontally moving rollers (not shown in the figure, preferably driven by a motor and rack and pinion to achieve fixed-point movement, ensuring the crucible and brush body 2 are vertically aligned) are installed at the corners of the movable platform 4. These rollers are driven by a motor to move the movable platform 4 left and right at the top of the pit 3. To improve cleaning efficiency, such as... Figure 8-9 As shown, the mobile platform 4 can suspend no fewer than two crucibles simultaneously. During the cleaning of a single crucible, another crucible to be cleaned can be placed on the mobile platform 4; after the current crucible is cleaned, the mobile platform 4 moves horizontally, moving the crucible to be cleaned to the bottom of the support frame 1, while the cleaned crucible is transferred to the outside of the support frame 1 and hoisted out, and then placed back into place, thus enabling the cleaning operation to be carried out continuously.

[0029] To achieve a complete cleaning operation of the inner wall of the crucible, such as Figure 3 As shown, the brush body 2 includes support rods 21 extending horizontally outward from the bottom end of the rotary drive shaft 52 at circumferential intervals. Each support rod 21 has a brush head 22 at its end that presses against the inner wall of the crucible. The brush head 22 has a bristle structure, which contacts and presses against the inner wall of the crucible. During the uniform downward movement of the fixed-distance roller 51, the rotation of the rotary drive shaft 52 causes multiple brush heads 22 to rotate and contact the inner wall of the crucible and continue to move downward, thereby removing the residue adhering to the inner wall of the crucible through mechanical force. Simultaneously, during the cleaning process, cleaning fluid can be introduced from the top of the crucible through a pipe (not shown in the figure) to improve the cleanliness of the cleaning. The cleaning fluid flows into the pit and can be recovered through a pump (not shown in the figure).

[0030] For cleaning crucibles with different inner diameters, each brush head 22 is preferably fixed to the support rod 21 by bolts. The support rod 21 has a strip-shaped hole (not shown in the figure along with the bolt). The bolt can move in the strip-shaped hole to adjust the position of the brush head 22 to adapt to the cleaning operation of crucibles with different inner diameters, and to adjust the contact position between the brush head 22 and the inner wall of the crucible after the brush head 22 wears out, so as to ensure the cleaning effect.

[0031] Preferred, such as Figure 6 As shown, the mobile platform 4 has two crucible placement positions 4a spaced apart. During the cleaning of a single crucible, the other crucible placement position 4a can be used to place the crucible to be cleaned or to lift out the crucible after cleaning.

[0032] After the crucible is lowered into crucible placement position 4a, there may be an axial misalignment between the two. This can cause one side of the brush head 22 to make excessive contact with the inner wall of the crucible while the other side does not, affecting the cleaning effect and causing premature wear to the brush head 22 that is in excessive contact. Therefore, to solve this problem, such as Figure 5-6 As shown, a trapezoidal plate 41 (preferably a right-angled trapezoid with its inclined surface located on one side of the crucible placement position 4a) is provided around the crucible placement position 4a. The inclined surface on one side of the trapezoidal plate can contact the flange at the top of the crucible to achieve coaxial guidance when the crucible is placed.

[0033] The trapezoidal plate 41 mentioned above is usually fixed and suitable for coaxial positioning of crucibles of a single size. However, to adapt to the positioning of crucibles of various sizes, preferably, such as Figure 10 As shown, a drive cylinder 6 is circumferentially spaced at each crucible placement position 4a, and an arc-shaped fixed-axis plate 7 is provided at the end of the piston rod of each drive cylinder 6, which synchronously abuts against the outer circumferential surface of the crucible top. When the crucible is hoisted into the crucible placement position 4a, the arc-shaped fixed-axis plate 7 is synchronously driven by multiple drive cylinders 6 to contact the side wall of the flange at the top of the crucible, driving the crucible to be coaxial with the crucible placement position 4a. Thus, after horizontal displacement, it is coaxial with the rotation drive shaft 52, ensuring that multiple brush heads 22 synchronously contact the inner wall of the crucible during the cleaning process, ensuring the cleaning effect and avoiding excessive wear of the brush heads 22.

[0034] During the aforementioned process of coaxial adjustment of the crucible, there is frictional resistance and wear between the crucible and the surface of the moving platform 4. Furthermore, during the driving process via the drive cylinder 6, the crucible may tilt due to frictional resistance. Therefore, to further facilitate the movement of the crucible during coaxial adjustment, such as... Figure 10 As shown, at each of the crucible placement positions 4a, a ball 8 is embedded along the circumferential spacing to make rolling contact with the crucible. During the process of being driven by the drive cylinder 6, the crucible can roll and translate on the ball 8, thereby effectively solving the problem of frictional resistance and wear during coaxial adjustment, and enabling the crucible to quickly complete coaxial adjustment.

[0035] The foregoing has shown and described the basic principles, main features, and advantages of this utility model. Various changes and modifications may be made to this utility model without departing from its spirit and scope of protection, and all such changes and modifications fall within the scope of protection claimed by this utility model.

Claims

1. A crucible automatic cleaning machine for titanium and titanium alloy smelting, characterized by, The support frame (1) includes a cylindrical structure. The support frame (1) is equipped with a rotating mechanism that can lift and lower at a fixed distance. A brush body (2) that contacts the inner wall of the crucible is provided at the bottom end of the rotating mechanism. The bottom end of the support frame (1) is fixed to the ground. A pit (3) for placing the crucible is penetrated into the ground from the bottom end of the support frame (1). A moving platform (4) is also provided on the ground surface at the top of the pit (3) to suspend the crucible and move it horizontally to be vertically aligned with the brush body (2). At least two crucibles can be suspended on the moving platform (4) at the same time.

2. The crucible automatic cleaning machine according to claim 1, characterized in that: The support frame (1) is composed of an upper platform (11), a lower platform (12) and a column (13). The rotating mechanism includes a lifting platform (5). A fixed-distance roller (51) is provided on the side of the lifting platform (5) and makes vertical rolling contact with each column (13). A rotating drive shaft (52) is provided downward at the center of the lifting platform (5). The brush body (2) is located at the bottom end of the rotating drive shaft (52).

3. The crucible automatic cleaning machine according to claim 2, characterized in that: The brush body (2) includes a support rod (21) extending horizontally outward along the bottom end of the rotary drive shaft (52) with a circumferential spacing. Each support rod (21) has a brush head (22) pressed against the inner wall of the crucible at its end.

4. The crucible automatic cleaning machine according to claim 3, characterized in that: The mobile platform (4) is provided with two crucible placement positions (4a) spaced apart, and a drive cylinder (6) is provided at a circumferential distance between each crucible placement position (4a). An arc-shaped fixed axis plate (7) is provided at the end of the piston rod of the drive cylinder (6) and synchronously abuts against the outer circumferential surface of the top of the crucible.

5. The automatic crucible cleaning machine according to claim 4, characterized in that: At each of the crucible placement positions (4a), a sphere (8) is embedded along the circumferential spacing to make rolling contact with the crucible.

Images