Stationary Strand Guide Roller Cooling
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing strand guide rollers in continuous casting machines are prone to failure due to complex cooling systems that require sensitive rotary feedthroughs, limiting their robustness and reliability, especially when casting sensitive steel grades.
Innovation Solution
A peripherally cooled strand guide roller design featuring a torsionally rigid stationary axis connected to both bearing blocks, with a water-guiding jacket that conducts cooling water from one bearing block to the other, ensuring even temperature distribution and cooling of both bearings and the roller shell, thereby eliminating the need for sensitive rotary feedthroughs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a traditional cooling system with rotary feedthroughs is used, then cooling can be provided to the bearings and roller shell, but the system becomes complex and sensitive, limiting robustness and reliability
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the sensitive rotary feedthrough from the cooling system. Instead of routing cooling medium through the rotating roller via a rotary feedthrough, the system introduces cooling medium into the stationary bearing block, where it cools the bearing and then flows through the roller shell in a stationary cooling chamber, eliminating the need for any rotating seals or feedthroughs.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces a stationary cooling chamber as an intermediary between the cooling medium source and the roller shell. This cooling chamber receives cooling medium from the bearing block and uses it to cool the roller shell from the inside, acting as a mediator that enables cooling without requiring direct penetration through the rotating roller.
2Reliability
If cooling medium is introduced via rotary feedthrough, then bearings can be cooled, but the system becomes prone to failure under rough conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The invention segments the cooling function into two separate stationary zones: the bearing block cooling zone and the roller shell cooling zone. The cooling medium flows sequentially through both zones in a stationary path, eliminating the need for any rotating components that would be vulnerable to rough conditions in continuous casting operations.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of cooling the roller shell from the outside through the bearing, the invention inverts the approach by introducing cooling medium into the bearing block first, allowing it to cool the bearing, then continue into the roller shell's internal cooling chamber. This reverse routing eliminates exposure to rough conditions at critical sealing points.
3Reliability
If a simple cooling path is used, then robustness improves, but uniform temperature distribution across the roller shell becomes difficult to achieve
Solution Approach 1:
The invention adds a radial dimension to the cooling medium flow path within the roller shell. The cooling chamber is designed with radial cooling channels that distribute cooling medium from the axial inlet (from the bearing block) in the radial direction across the entire roller shell circumference, achieving uniform temperature distribution through three-dimensional flow path design.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design enhances the robustness and reliability of the strand guide roller, allowing for extended operational time even under rough conditions and enabling the casting of sensitive steel grades into long products by maintaining consistent contact with the cast strand and achieving uniform surface temperature distribution.
Implementation Method 1
the cooling medium cools the two bearing blocks, and the cooling medium cools the bearings and the cylindrical roller shell of the roller on the way between the two bearing blocks
Implementation Method 2
a water-guiding jacket, the water-guiding jacket conducting cooling water from a left-hand cavity between the axle and the water-guiding jacket in the area of the left-hand bearing into a longitudinal space between the water-guiding jacket and the roller jacket
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3
Figure 4
AI summary
The invention relates to a strand guide roller (30) for guiding a steel strand in a strand casting machine and to a method for cooling the strand guide roller (30) using a coolant. The aim of the invention is to provide a particularly robust cooled strand guide roller (30). This is achieved by a strand guide roller (30) having - a left (10a) and a right bearing block (10b); - a stationary axle (11), said stationary axle (11) being connected to the left (10a) and to the right bearing block (10b) in a torsionally rigid manner; - a cylindrical roller casing (12) and a left (13a) and a right bearing (13b), said roller casing (12) being supported by the left and right bearing (13a, 13b) in a rotatable manner relative to the stationary axle (11); and - a water conducting casing (1), wherein the water conducting casing (1) can conduct cooling water from a left cavity (14a) between the axle (11) and the water conducting casing (1) in the region of the left bearing (13a) into a longitudinal space (16) between the water conducting casing (1) and the roller casing (12), along the longitudinal space (16) in an axial (x) and a tangential direction (t), and from the longitudinal space (16) into a right cavity (14b) between the water conducting casing (1) and the axle (11) in the region of the right bearing (13b).