1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a rail-mounted transport device for ultra-heavy loads, in particular for changing steel mill converters, using a vehicle which accepts the load independently and is guided by rails on the way to the delivery station, the transport direction of which rails is altered at a turning station, in particular by 90xc2x0.
2. Description of the Related Art
A transport car is known, from DE-AS 24 04 868, to which U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,453 corresponds, on which an elongated essentially cylindrical vessel is supported and in which drives arranged laterally on the vessel, together with the gripping means provided on the vessel shell, form a structural unit which remains in one piece when the vessel is raised from the bogies.
The axis of rotation of this vessel, which is designed as a raw iron mixer, is parallel to the main axis of the transport car.
At the xe2x80x9c21st Century Steel Industry of Russia and CISxe2x80x9d conference from June 6 to June 10, 1994 in Moscow, a converter change system was presented. From this, a converter change vehicle (essentially Example 2.3 and FIG. 13) is known in which the converter is deposited on a plate rotatably supported in the bogie. Below this plate, piston/cylinder units are provided which are extended at a predetermined vehicle distance and provide the possibility of rotating the bogie in its direction and of depositing the wheels on the desired rail track after the rotation.
The disadvantage of this converter change vehicle is not only the relatively complicated design and maintenance-intensive live ring but also the total installation height of the vehicle.
The invention therefore has the object of creating, with simple design means, a transport device for ultra-heavy loads, in particular for a steel mill converter, which device demands as small as possible a clear height along its transport path.
The invention achieves this objective by means of the method claim 1 and the appliance claim 3. The other claims form advantageous developments of the invention.
According to the invention, the load is lowered as deeply as possible into the vehicle frame after it has been accepted by the rail-mounted transport device. Because of the given design features of the shops, turning points are necessary between the acceptance station and the delivery station. According to the invention, the load is kept at an almost identical level at these turning points and the force is transferred from transport wheels, which correspond to the straight rail tracks, to turning wheels which correspond to a rail with a circular path. At this turning station, the whole transport device is turned and, after reaching the new direction of travel, is deposited onto the transport wheels again on the rail track.
The crossing points of the rails are then designed in such a way that the acceptance of the force changes from the wheel running surface and the rail running surface to the wheel flanges and the rail foot.
Because the load is lowered as deeply as possible into the vehicle frame of the transport device, it is possible to pass under obstacles such as crane track carriers or platforms, the greatest dimension arising from the addition of the vessel height to the necessary clearance dimension between converter bottom and foundry floor.
In advantageous designs, two wheels are combined in each case to form a wheel unit, which wheels are then arranged on links. An adjustment device for setting the necessary height relative to the bogie is arranged at a respective end of each link. Force compensation elements, essentially springs, are arranged between the adjusting elements and the links for the uniform distribution of the force.
In an advantageous configuration of the transport wheels relative to the vehicle frame, spindles are provided at the ends of the links inclined toward one another, which spindles are connected to the vehicle frame by means of a rocker.
For the exact acceptance of the high forces here present and for exact centering, the rail support surface of the rail track with the circular path is inclined, in one configuration, in proportion to the radius toward the center of the circle.
In order to avoid interruptions in the force acceptance, the rail foot and the rail contact surface are configured at the crossing points in such a way that parts of the rails are configured as falling wedges and as rising wedges at the corresponding positions of the rail foot.
Due to the constant acceptance of the force, it is possible to keep the load, essentially a steel mill converter in the present case, continuously in the same horizontal position and therefore at the deepest point in a steel mill shop. In this way, costly design complications, in particular with respect to the crane track heights and/or the rail position, are avoided.