Work Roll Gripping Tool for Mark-Free Rolling Mill Changes
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing robotic systems for changing working rolls in 20-roll rolling mills fail to safely extract or insert rolls without risking contact with the metal strip or intermediate cylinders, particularly in split housing configurations where the stand opening is wider than in one-piece stands, leading to potential marking and operational hazards.
Innovation Solution
A method and gripping tool with a support shaft and movable fingers that center and grip working rolls using cavities on the roll flanks, allowing for extraction or insertion without direct contact with the cylindrical surface, utilizing a robotic system to manage the tool's movement and positioning within the rolling mill stand.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a robotic system is used to extract or insert working rolls, then operator safety is improved and manual handling risks are reduced, but the risk of contact between the roll and intermediate cylinders increases, potentially causing marking or damage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a specialized gripping tool as an intermediary device between the robotic system and the working roll. This tool features fingers that engage with the roll flanks through centering cavities, allowing the robotic system to manipulate the roll without direct contact between the robot and the roll surface, thereby eliminating the risk of marking while maintaining operator safety
Solution Approach 2:
The gripping tool is segmented into multiple fingers that can independently engage with different parts of the working roll (specifically the flanks through centering cavities). This segmentation allows precise control over the gripping action, enabling safe extraction and insertion while avoiding contact with critical surfaces
2Ease of operation
If the stand opening is increased in split housing configurations, then accessibility for roll changing is improved, but the risk of contact between the working roll and metal strip or intermediate cylinders increases
Solution Approach 1:
The gripping tool serves as an intermediary that enables safe manipulation of the working roll through the enlarged stand opening. The fingers engage with the roll flanks at safe distances from the metal strip and intermediate cylinders, allowing the robotic system to perform roll changing operations in the wider configuration without creating new contact risks
3Object-affected harmful factors
If a gripping tool with fingers engaging centering cavities is used, then direct contact with the cylindrical surface is avoided, reducing marking risk, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The gripping tool with fingers designed to engage centering cavities acts as a specialized intermediary device. While it does increase device complexity compared to simple robotic grippers, this complexity is justified by the elimination of marking risks and the enablement of safe automated roll changing in 20-roll mills with enlarged stand openings
Data Source
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AI summary
This disclosure relates to a gripping tool (8) comprising a support shaft (80), and a first finger (81) and a second finger (82), fixed to the support shaft (80), movable relative to each other from a first position of spacing (P1) between the first finger (81) and the second finger (82), greater than the length between the distance between a first flank (121) and a second flank (122) of a work cylinder (12), and up to a second position (P2) for which the first finger (81) and the second finger (82) are brought closer together until they penetrate respectively a first centering cavity of the first flank (121) and a second centering cavity of the second flank (122) to ensure gripping of the work cylinder (12).