Patents Assigned to Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau GmbH
  • Patent number: 7328737
    Abstract: A process for the continuous production of a thin steel strip, in which a steel melt from a melt reservoir is introduced onto one or more, in particular two, cooled shaping wall surfaces which move synchronously with a casting strip, in particular rotate in the form of casting rolls and at least partially solidifies at the shaping wall surface to form the casting strip. The steel melt, in terms of the crucial alloying constituents, contains less than 1% by weight of Ni and less than 1% by weight of Cr and less than 0.8% by weight, in particular less than 0.4% by weight, of C and at least 0.55% by weight of Mn. In the process, recesses are arranged on the shaping wall surface in a random pattern, distributed uniformly over the shaping wall surface, and the roll separating force (RSF) at the shaping wall surface is set to a value of between 5 and 150 N/mm, in particular between 5 and 100 N/mm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2008
    Assignee: Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau GmbH & Co.
    Inventor: Gerald Hohenbichler
  • Patent number: 7325586
    Abstract: An internally cooled strand-guiding roll for a continuous casting installation, having a central rotatable shaft and at least one roll shell supported fixed against rotation on the shaft. To make the strand-guiding roll better able to withstand the mechanical and thermal stresses, to ensure that it is suitable for large strand widths and to enable maintenance work to be carried out, the roll shell has coolant passages passing through it, and the coolant passages are arranged in the roll shell at a constant distance from the cylindrical roll shell outer surface of the roll shell and preferably at the area between the shaft and the roll shell. It is preferable for at least one water guide ring to be arranged between the roll shell and the central shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2008
    Assignee: Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau GmbH & Co.
    Inventors: Günther Deibl, Josef Guttenbrunner, Josef Lanschuetzer, Johann Poeppl, Guoxin Shan, Heinrich Thoene, Franz Wimmer
  • Patent number: 7316146
    Abstract: In the case of a rolling stand for producing rolled strip, which is provided with rolls which are axially displaceable with respect to one another, have a curved contour running over the entire effective barrel length and complement one another exclusively in a specific relative axial position of the rolls in the unloaded state, it is intended for the thickness profile of the roll gap over the active roll barrel length to be varied by axial displacement of the rolls provided with a roll barrel contour in relation to one another in such a way that a strip that is planar and free from undulations is obtained. This takes place by the profile of the barrel contour of the rolls of a pair of rolls being formed by a trigonometric function and the roll gap contour also being formed by a trigonometric function in dependence on the profile of the barrel contour and the position of the rolls within the axial displacement region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2002
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2008
    Assignee: Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau GmbH & Co.
    Inventors: Alois Seilinger, Andeas Mayrhofer, Alexander Kainz
  • Patent number: 7281567
    Abstract: A casting roll for the continuous casting of thin metal strips, in particular steel strips in a double-roll or roll-in installation. The roll comprises a roll core with an external casing and an annular roll jacket with an internal casing. The jacket surrounds the core and is being shrunk onto the latter. To prevent migratory motion of the roll jacket in relation to the roll core, the surface of at least one of the opposing casings that form a shrinkage connection has protuberances and indentations, which are oriented at least partially in the direction of the casting roll axis and extend radially for at least 2 ?m.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2007
    Assignee: Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau, GmbH & Co.
    Inventors: Gerald Hohenbichler, Gerald Eckerstorfer, Thomas Reiter, Jean-Michel Damasse
  • Patent number: 7258157
    Abstract: The invention relates to a side wall (1) of a plant for the continuous casting of metal strip (5) between two counter-rotating rolls (2, 2?) having horizontal axes and being internally cooled, the surfaces of which define a casting space confined laterally by two side walls (1) made of refractory, of the type comprising: a support plate (6) on the front face of which a recess (7) is made; an insert (9) made of hard material placed around the periphery of the recess (7); a lining (11) that fills the remainder of the recess (7); characterized in that the front face (12), turned towards the casting space, of the said lining (11) is set back by a maximum distance (d) from the front face (13) of the insert (9) over at least part of its length.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2007
    Assignees: Unisor, Thyssenkrupp Nirosta GmbH, Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau GmbH & Co.
    Inventors: Jean-Michel Damasse, Pietro Tolve, Romeo Capotosti, Philippe Guillo
  • Patent number: 7225997
    Abstract: A nozzle distributor base for distributing a gas which is laden with fine solids particles, preferably for use in a fluidized-bed unit, in particular for the reduction of metal oxide-containing solids particles. At least one movable cleaning device on the distributor base reduces the formation of deposits on the distributor base or the nozzles thereof or at least partially removes deposits which have already formed. Elements in the distributor base, like chains, ropes or movable rods, clean the distributor base by direct mechanical striking action on the distributor base and/or the nozzles of the nozzle distributor base. A method for reducing the formation of deposits and/or for at least partially removing deposits on a distributor base uses the striking action.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2003
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2007
    Assignees: Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau GmbH & Co., Pohang Iron & Steel Co., Ltd., Research Institute of Industrial Science & Technology, Incorporated Foundation
    Inventor: Franz Hauzenberger
  • Patent number: 7207507
    Abstract: The invention relates to a process for the granulation of sludge- and optionally dust-form material, in which the material to be granulated is mixed with hydratable or hydraulically settable solids and water, which solids react exothermically with water and act as binder in the mixture, where the solids are allowed to hydrate or set fully or partly, and where the mixture containing the fully or partly hydrated or set solids is shaped into granules, where the solids and, if desired, dust-form materials to be granulated are wetted or moistened with water, and subsequently and/or at essentially the same time the solids are mixed with the material to be granulated. The invention also relates to an apparatus for carrying out the process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2007
    Assignee: Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau GmbH & Co.
    Inventors: Christoph Aichinger, Alfred Aigner, Guenter Schrey, Stefan Zettl
  • Patent number: 7185835
    Abstract: The invention relates to a process for the granulation of sludge- and/or dust-form material, in which the material to be granulated is mixed with hydratable or hydraulically settable solids and water, which solids react exothermically with water and act as binder in the mixture, where the solids are allowed to hydrate or set fully or partly, and where the mixture containing the fully or partly hydrated or set solids is shaped into granules, where the solids and, if desired, dust-form materials to be granulated are wetted or moistened with water, and subsequently and/or at essentially the same time the solids are mixed with the material to be granulated. The invention also relates to an apparatus for carrying out the process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2007
    Assignee: Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau GmbH & Co.
    Inventors: Christoph Aichinger, Alfred Aigner, Guenter Schrey, Stefan Zettl
  • Patent number: 7172640
    Abstract: In a method and a device for melting down metal-containing material, preferably fine-particulate metal-containing material, such as sponge iron, in a metallurgical melting furnace (1), wherein, in an interior space (11) of the melting furnace (1), a metal melt (5) and a slag layer (6) floating on top of the metal melt (5) are maintained, the metal-containing material is added by means of a supply means dipping into the slag layer (6) and energy is added in the form of electric arcs (14), the metal-containing material is charged directly into the central region (Z) of the melting furnace (1) by means of at least one charging tube (8) exclusively serving for conveying material via the charging tube outlet (9) of the same, the electric arcs (14) are directed obliquely towards the metal melt (5) against the central region (Z) of the melting furnace (1) and the metal-containing material is melted in the slag layer (6) and a mixed process slag-metal melt is maintained in the region of the charging tube outlet (9).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2007
    Assignee: Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau GmbH
    Inventors: Harald Berger, Peter Mittag, Bernhard Aigner
  • Patent number: 7156153
    Abstract: To start up a casting operation in a two-roll casting device without the use of a start-up strand, the method comprises setting an operating casting thickness and rotating the casting rolls at a casting-roll circumferential velocity which corresponds to a starting casting velocity, which is lower than a steady-state operating casting velocity, feeding metal melt into a melt space formed by the rotating casting rolls and the side plates to form a cast metal strip with a substantially constant, predetermined cross-sectional format while at the same time increasing the casting velocity to a strip-forming casting velocity, then increasing the casting velocity to a strip-separating casting velocity, which is significantly higher than a casting velocity which is sufficient for the prevailing full solidification conditions, and separating off the metal strip which has been cast thus far, setting a steady-state operating casting velocity, diverting the subsequent cast metal strip to a strip-conveying device and comme
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2003
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2007
    Assignee: Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau GmbH & Co.
    Inventors: Gerald Hohenbichler, Gerald Eckerstorfer
  • Patent number: 7156150
    Abstract: A two-roll casting installation with two casting rolls which rotate in opposite directions about horizontal axes and forming a casting gap for forming and discharging a thin cast metal strip. A sealed housing which has a base and surrounds a conveying path for the metal strip which leaves the casting gap and which strip is from a vertical casting direction into an approximately horizontal conveying direction. Diverter devices divert the metal strip within the housing. A displaceable scrap collection container removes scrap and scale produced from the two-roll casting installation. To minimize the penetration of external air into the housing, the base of the housing, at least in a subregion, forms a collection trough for the scrap, which is part of an emptying device, and a displaceable scrap collection container is arranged in a receiving position below the emptying device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2004
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2007
    Assignee: Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau GmbH & Co.
    Inventors: Michael Zahedi, Thomas Stepanek, Gerald Hohenbichler, Franz Plöckinger, Karl Klima
  • Patent number: 7156152
    Abstract: A process for the continuous production of a thin steel strip, in which a steel melt from a melt reservoir is introduced onto one or more, in particular two, cooled shaping wall surfaces which move synchronously with a casting strip, in particular rotate in the form of casting rolls and at least partially solidifies at the shaping wall surface to form the casting strip. The steel melt, in terms of the crucial alloying constituents, contains less than 1% by weight of Ni and less than 1% by weight of Cr and less than 0.8% by weight, in particular less than 0.4% by weight, of C and at least 0.55% by weight of Mn. In the process, recesses are arranged on the shaping wall surface in a random pattern, distributed uniformly over the shaping wall surface, and the roll separating force (RSF) at the shaping wall surface is set to a value of between 5 and 150 N/mm, in particular between 5 and 100 N/mm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2005
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2007
    Assignee: Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau GmbH & Co.
    Inventor: Gerald Hohenbichler
  • Patent number: 7144447
    Abstract: A process and apparatus for reducing material in particle form in a fluidization zone and at elevated temperature, in particular for reducing fine ore, the particle material being held in the fluidization zone by a treatment gas which flows upward from below. Material in fine particle form is discharged from the fluidization zone with the treatment gas and is separated out of the treatment gas in a deposition zone. In the deposition zone, the stream of treatment gas and discharged material in fine particle form are fed into a separating device which removes the fine particle material from the treatment gas, the treatment gas is extracted from the separating device as off-gas, and the separated fine particle material is removed from the separating device. Coarse-grained material is then introduced into the deposition zone. This reduces the levels of caking and deposits of the fine particle material. A device for carrying out the process includes elements defining the zones.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2002
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2006
    Assignee: Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau GmbH & Co.
    Inventors: Michael Nagl, Johannes Schenk, Albert Zschetzsche
  • Patent number: 7108048
    Abstract: To achieve the highest possible separation rate for foreign particles in a tundish combined, at the same time, with a minimized level of inclusions, the refractory-lined interior space of the tundish, as a function of an operating bath level (h), satisfies the condition that a dimensionless ratio (?) of the refractory-lined surface area (Aref) to the filling volume (V) which is delimited by this refractory-lined surface area and the bath-level-dependent exposed surface area (ATop) and results from the relationship ? = A ref ( V ) 2 3 be between 3.83 and 4.39.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2006
    Assignee: Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau GmbH & Co.
    Inventors: Markus Brummayer, Gerald Eckerstorfer, Gerald Hohenbichler, Karl Moerwald
  • Patent number: 7066238
    Abstract: A process and apparatus for producing a metal strip using a two-roller casting device formed by two oppositely rotating casting rollers with parallel casting-roller axes and two side plates which bear against end sides of the casting rollers. The metal melt is conveyed out of the casting gap formed by the casting rollers as an at least partially solidified metal strip. To improve the sealing of the melt pool at the start of casting and in the event of parasitic solidifications passing through the casing gap, the side plates during a first time interval are moved onto the end sides of the casting rollers in a first direction of movement parallel to the casting-roller axes, and the side plates during a second time interval, are moved onto a portion of the lateral surfaces of the casting rollers in a second direction of movement parallel to the casting direction in the casting gap.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2003
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2006
    Assignee: Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau GmbH & Co.
    Inventors: Gerald Hohenbichler, Gerald Eckerstorfer, Armin Schertler
  • Patent number: 7059818
    Abstract: The invention relates to an apparatus and a process for distributing a lumpy bulk material, in particular iron ore which has been at least partially prereduced, onto an extensive surface, in particular onto a fixed bed, this surface extending within a reactor or vessel used in physical or chemical process technology, in particular in a reactor used in a metallurgical plant to produce pig iron or primary steel products, and the lumpy bulk material being charged via at least one charging apparatus, which has at least two, in particular rotationally symmetrical, chutes, which are preferably arranged at the same distance from the vertical longitudinal axis of the reactor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2001
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2006
    Assignee: Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau GmbH & Co.
    Inventors: Leopold Werner Kepplinger, Johann Wurm, Franz Berner
  • Patent number: 7048032
    Abstract: A device for casting a molten metal comprising casting rolls and a housing arranged downstream from the rolls for the cast strip. The aim of the invention is to be able to replace the casting rolls with minimum mounting, and to simultaneously reduce the thermal load of the casting rolls and the adjacent units. A casting roll screen which forms a displaceable structural unit with a frame used to support the casting rolls.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2006
    Assignees: Voest Alpine Industrieanlagenbau GmbH & Co., Thyssenkrupp Nirosta GmbH
    Inventors: Gerald Hohenbichler, Michael Zahedi, Karl Klima, Thomas Stepanek, Guido Stebner, Wilhelm Mankau, Werner Schümers
  • Patent number: 7044193
    Abstract: In a method for the continuous casting of a thin metal strip according to the two-roll method, metal melt is cast into a casting gap formed by two casting rolls of the thickness of the metal strip to be cast, under formation of a melting bath. In order to form a particular texture within the cast metal strip and/or to influence the geometry of the metal strip, continuous casting is carried out by an on-line calculation based upon an arithmetic model describing the formation of the particular texture of the metal and/or the formation of the geometry of the metal strip, wherein variables of the continuous casting method affecting the formation of the texture and/or the geometry are adjusted in an on-line dynamic fashion, i.e. while casting takes place.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2006
    Assignee: Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau GmbH & Co.
    Inventors: Kurt Etzelsdorfer, Gerald Hohenbichler, Christian Chimani, Gerhard F Hubmer, Dietmar Auzinger
  • Patent number: 7022166
    Abstract: The invention relates to an electrostatic dust separator for horizontal gas throughflow, with a housing which is substantially rotationally symmetrical in relation to a central housing axis, with a tubular inlet port flaring in a single conical section up to 80 to 95% of the housing diameter, the remaining widening of 5 to 20% of the housing diameter taking the form of a step which is configured substantially perpendicularly and radially symmetrically in relation to the housing axis, with at least two perforated gas-distributing plates arranged in the conical section and substantially perpendicularly in relation to the housing axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2006
    Assignee: Voest - Alpine Industrieanlagenbau GmbH & Co.
    Inventor: Philipp Gittler
  • Patent number: RE39536
    Abstract: In a method for the production of liquid metal, in particular liquid pig iron (9) or liquid steel pre-products, from metal carriers, in particular partially reduced or reduced sponge iron (3), in a melter gasifier (1) in which with supply of a carbon-containing material at least partially formed of fine coal (16) and coal dust (13) and with supply of oxygen or oxygen-containing gas the metal carriers are melted in a bed (4) of the carbon-containing material at the simultaneous formation of a reducing gas, optionally upon previous final reduction, fine coal (16) and coal dust (13) which are being charged, are mixed with bitumen (20) in the hot state, after undergoing a drying operation, and subsequently are cold-briquetted, and the briquettes (25) thus formed are charged to the melter gasifier (1) in the cold state and in the melter gasifier (1) are subjected to shock-heating.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2007
    Assignee: Deutsche Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau GmbH
    Inventors: Günter Schrey, Parviz Zahedi