Claims:We Claim:

1. A method for on-line inspection of wheel (102) condition of a pallet car (100) of a sinter machine and for facilitating any post inspection required prompt corrective action including replacement, each said pallet car (100) comprising a pallet car body supported for its required orbital motion on rails through roller sets with each said roller sets comprising a wheel (102) supported on a running rail (106) and its corresponding pressure roller (110) wherein
said on-line inspection of wheel (102) condition of a pallet car (100) of sinter machine is carried out without halting the whole sinter machine comprising:
creating a recess (104) in the running rails (106) supporting wheels of a pallet car by cutting a part of said running rail;
placing a hydraulic jack (108) adjacent to said recess (106) and raising and locking the same such that when a wheel (102) of the pallet car advances and reaches the said recessed part (104) in the running rails (106), the corresponding pressure roller (110) connected to said wheel passes over the raised and locked hydraulic jack (108) whereby the wheel floats up in air for required inspection by freely moving the wheel manually without halting the whole sinter machine.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 comprising the step of post inspection of a wheel (102) if required carrying out required prompt corrective action including replacement of a damaged wheel comprising:
after identifying the damaged wheel (102) upon said manual inspection when floating up in air at the said recess (104) in the running rail (106) with the said pressure roller (110) of the damaged wheel continuing to rest above the hydraulic jack (108), putting the said pallet car (100) on halt in standby mode;

removing the damaged wheel (102) from the pallet car (100) and inserting a new wheel in its place involving said recess in the rail;
after said replacement of damaged wheel (102) with the new wheel unlocking and lowering the hydraulic jack (108) to put back the pallet car with new wheel for its desired motion on rails.

3.The method as claimed in anyone of claims 1 or 2 wherein said hydraulic jack (108) is positioned parallel to said cut recess (104) in the running rail (106).

4. The method as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 3 wherein said cutting of the recess (104) in the running rails (106) is carried out at any desired position in the running rail.

5.The method as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 4 wherein said time for putting the pallet car (100) on halt and replacement of a damaged wheel (102) is attended in minimum 14 minutes.

6. A system for carrying out the method for on-line inspection of wheel (102) condition of a pallet car (100) of a sinter machine and for facilitating any post inspection required prompt corrective action including replacement, each said pallet car (100) as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 5 comprising:
a cutter means for required cutting of the recess in the rail;
a hydraulic jack for cooperative disposition and operation in relation to said rail recess;
said hydraulic jack having (a) means for its raising and locking at desired height to allow the corresponding pressure roller (110) of the wheel to be inspected /replaced pass over the raised and locked hydraulic jack (108) to make the wheel float up in air for required inspection by freely moving the wheel manually without halting the whole sinter machine and also
enable removing the damaged wheel (102) from the pallet car (100) if and when required and inserting a new wheel in its place involving said recess in the rail; and (b) means for unlocking and lowering to put back the pallet car with new wheel for its desired motion on rails post inspection or replacement of wheel ; and
switching means to put the pellet car operation in standby mode during any required damaged wheel replacement.

Dated this the 29th day of May, 2021
Anjan Sen
Of Anjan Sen & Associates
(Applicant’s Agent)
IN/PA-199
, Description:FORM 2
THE PATENT ACT 1970
(39 OF 1970)
&
The Patent Rules, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See Section 10 and Rule 13)

1 TITLE OF THE INVENTION :
A METHOD TO IDENTIFY DAMAGED WHEEL OF SINTER PALLET CAR ONLINE AND REPLACEMENT OF THE SAME.


2 APPLICANT (S)

Name : JSW STEEL LIMITED.

Nationality : An Indian Company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956.

Address : JSW CENTRE,
BANDRA KURLA COMPLEX,
BANDRA(EAST),
MUMBAI-400051,
MAHARASHTRA,INDIA.



3 PREAMBLE TO THE DESCRIPTION

COMPLETE

The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of sinter making involving pallet cars and more specifically to a method of online inspection of wheel condition for identifying and replacement of the damaged wheel of a pallet car of sinter machine.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the steel industry, sintering has an important function as the upstream process of steel making. The pallet cars are one of the important components of a sinter machine. Pallet cars are docked successively and form an endless chain, also referred to as traveling grate. In the sintering process, the pallet cars docked successively moves in an orbital motion on the running rails. Sinters are made by igniting the surface of the raw material which is fed into the pallet car. After surface ignition on the pallet cars, the air is induced through the ignited layer and the process continues in the vertical direction of the raw material bed. Under the effect of air exhauster, cold wind is sucked in the raw material. This helps in burning the raw material from the surface in the pallet car. Then the raw material on the pallet car progressively burns to the bottom from the top for thorough combustion of the raw material. The raw material after the thermal treatment is discharged at the tipping station.

FIG. A shows perspective view of a conventional pallet car. The pallet comprises body 1, grate bar 2, sidewall 3 and four roller set 4. Each roller set 4 comprises a wheel 5 and a pressure roller 6. The grate bar 2 is welded on the body 1. The body is in the shape of a rectangle. The grate bar 2 carries the raw material for sintering and allows air to flow through the pallet car. The sidewall 3 holds the raw material for sintering on the pallet car. The roller set 4 is symmetrically arranged on both sides of body 1 such that each corner of the body is provided with the roller set 4. The roller set 4 supports the pallet cars and is configured to be guided in the running rails 7. The wheels 5 are configured to be guided in the running rails 7. The wheels 5 and pressure rollers 6 are equipped with anti-friction bearings. The pressure rollers 6 are adjacent to the wheels 5. The pressure rollers 6 bearings have to support the heavy loads carried by the pallet cars. The pressure rollers 6 are generally robustly built and designed to withstand significant mechanical stresses.

As the sintering is an important process, the steady operation of pallet cars is required for optimum production of sinter. The pallet car is one part of the sintering machine that frequently troubles the operation of the sintering machine. The pallet car is exposed to extreme conditions and material wear from thermal and mechanical stress high temperature, high moisture, corrosive atmosphere and heavy dust. The thermal treatment during the sintering easily subjects the pallet cars to severe and constant thermal stresses and causes the parts of the pallet car to be out of shape. The phenomenon such as quickening of wearing and tearing occurs. Particularly the wheel, because of the hot environment, the lubricating oil of the wheel easily dries and becomes hard, and then it is not in place to cause bearing to lubricate, and finally causes wheel lock-up. This disturbs the normal movement of the pallet car wheel, which resulted in the sticking of the pallet car wheel. Further, the wheel also locks-up during in the sprocket on curved running rail. Frequent sticking of the pallet car wheel is the major reason behind this non-availability of sinter machine. This also leads to disturbance in sinter making process due to frequent stops and starts in the sinter machine along with the fluctuation in sinter machine speed. Consequently, wheels of pallet cars must be exchanged/checked after a certain period of use. For this reason, usually, the whole pallet is to be removed and wheels have to be replaced. The replacing of wheels consumes a longer time. In the sinter plant, production is significantly reduced due to the non-availability of pallet cars. Further, in every shutdown time, it is difficult to identify all defective wheels of the pallet cars.

There are various methods in literature to identify the defective wheel. For example, Korean Patent KR102181734 discloses a sintered bogie wheel diagnostic device. Similarly, Chinese Patent CN202433209U discloses also a detection device of a sintering pallet in the raw material sintering. Both the patents, only disclose the identification device or method to detect damaged wheel. Both the patents fail to disclose a method to change the damaged wheel after the identification of the defective wheel.

In order to minimize the disruption of the sintering machine operations due to pallet car wheel failure, some method should be developed which will enable to check wheel conditions quickly without shutting down the sinter machine and facilitate change of damaged wheel by shutting the sinter machine for a very short duration of time.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

The main object of the present invention is to provide a method for online inspection to identify the defective wheel of the pallet car in running condition of the sinter machine and to take corrective action at an earlier stage to avoid any breakdown in the sinter machine without shutting down the sinter machine.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method to change the damaged wheel of the pallet car of the sinter machine.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a pallet car wheel changing arrangement by shutting down the sinter machine for a short duration of time.

It is another object of the present invention is to provide pallet car wheels that are running can be continuously changed in case of any defects.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a simpler, more reliable, safer and less expensive method for exchanging the pallet car wheels while the sinter machine is running.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The basic aspect of the present invention is directed to a method for on-line inspection of wheel condition of a pallet car of a sinter machine and for facilitating any post inspection required prompt corrective action including replacement , each said pallet car comprising a pallet car body supported for its required orbital motion on rails through roller sets with each said roller sets comprising a wheel supported on a running rail and its corresponding pressure roller wherein
said on-line inspection of wheel condition of a pallet car of sinter machine is carried out without halting the whole sinter machine comprising:
creating a recess in the running rails supporting wheels of a pallet car by cutting a part of said running rail;
placing a hydraulic jack adjacent to said recess and raising and locking the same such that when a wheel of the pallet car advances and reaches the said recessed part in the running rails, the corresponding pressure roller connected to said wheel passes over the raised and locked hydraulic jack whereby the wheel floats up in air for required inspection by freely moving the wheel manually without halting the whole sinter machine.

A further aspect of the present invention is directed to said method comprising the step of post inspection of a wheel if required carrying out required prompt corrective action including replacement of a damaged wheel comprising:
after identifying the damaged wheel upon said manual inspection when floating up in air at the said recess in the running rail with the said pressure roller of the damaged wheel continuing to rest above the hydraulic jack, putting the said pallet car on halt in standby mode;

removing the damaged wheel from the pallet car and inserting a new wheel in its place involving said recess in the rail;
after said replacement of damaged wheel with the new wheel unlocking and lowering the the hydraulic jack to put back the pallet car with new wheel for its desired motion on rails.

Another aspect of the present invention is directed to said method wherein said hydraulic jack is positioned parallel to said cut recess in the running rail.

Yet another aspect of the present invention is directed to said method wherein said cutting of the recess in the running rails is carried out at a predetermined position.

A still further aspect of the present invention is directed to said method wherein said time for putting the pallet car on halt and replacement of a damaged wheel is attended in minimum 14 minutes.

A still further aspect of the present invention is directed to a system for carrying out the method for on-line inspection of wheel (102) condition of a pallet car (100) of a sinter machine and for facilitating any post inspection required prompt corrective action including replacement, each said pallet car (100) as described above comprising:
a cutter means for required cutting of the recess in the rail;
a hydraulic jack for cooperative disposition and operation in relation to said rail recess;
said hydraulic jack having (a) means for its raising and locking at desired height to allow the corresponding pressure roller (110) of the wheel to be inspected /replaced pass over the raised and locked hydraulic jack (108) to make the wheel float up in air for required inspection by freely moving the wheel manually without halting the whole sinter machine and also
enable removing the damaged wheel (102) from the pallet car (100) if and when required and inserting a new wheel in its place involving said recess in the rail; and (b) means for unlocking and lowering to put back the pallet car with new wheel for its desired motion on rails post inspection or replacement of wheel ; and
switching means to put the pellet car operation in standby mode during any required damaged wheel replacement.

The above and other objects and advantages of the present invention are described hereunder in greater detail with reference to the following accompanying non-limiting illustrative drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

FIG. A illustrates a pallet car of the sinter machine as per the prior art;

FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of a pallet car showing a method to identify and replace the damaged wheel of the pallet car;

FIG. 2 illustrates a perspective view of a pallet car showing a method to identify the damaged wheel of the pallet car;

FIG. 3 illustrates a side view of a pallet car showing a method to identify the damaged wheel of the pallet car;

FIG. 4 illustrates a perspective view of a pallet car showing a method to replace the damaged wheel of the pallet car;

FIG. 5 illustrates a side view of a pallet car showing a method to replace the damaged wheel of the pallet car;

Skilled artisans appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION WITH REFERENCE TO ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

The accompanying figure together with the detailed description below forms part of the specification and serves to further illustrate various embodiments and to explain various principles and advantages all in accordance with the present invention.

The present invention is now discussed in more detail referring to the drawings that accompany the present application. In the accompanying drawings, like and/or corresponding elements are referred to by like reference numbers.

Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or the like parts.

Before describing in detail embodiments that are in accordance with the invention, it should be observed that the embodiments reside primarily to a method to change the damaged wheel of the pallet car of sinter machine. This method of the present invention will check the condition of pallet car wheel online in the running condition of the sinter machine.

A method to identify damaged wheel of pallet car of sinter machine without halting whole sinter machine comprising the following steps. Firstly, a recess is created at a predetermined position by cutting a part of the running rails 106 as shown in FIG. 1. Secondly, a hydraulic jack 108 is arranged parallel to the recess 104 created in the running rails 106 as shown in FIG. 1. Thirdly, the hydraulic jack 108 is lifted and locked as shown in FIG. 1. Fourthly, the wheel 102 of the pallet car advances and reaches the recessed part 104 as shown in FIG. 2 and 3. Fifthly, the pressure roller 110 of the wheel 102 passes above the hydraulic jack 108 as shown in FIG. 2 and 3. Sixthly, the wheel 102 floats up in the air and can be checked for damage by moving the wheel 102 manually as shown in FIG. 2 and 3. In the manual checking of the wheel 102 the freedom of movement of the wheel 102 is checked. Lastly, the hydraulic jack 108 is unlocked and lowered. Hence the damaged wheel 102 identification is accomplished.

A method to replace the damaged wheel of the pallet car of the sinter machine by reducing the halt time of sinter machine comprising the following steps. Firstly, a recess is created at a predetermined position by cutting a part of the running rails 106 as shown in FIG. 1. Secondly, a hydraulic jack 108 is arranged parallel to the recess 104 created in the running rails 106 as shown in FIG. 1. Thirdly, the hydraulic jack 108 is lifted and locked as shown in FIG. 1. Fourthly, the damaged wheel 102 of the pallet car advances and reaches the recessed part 104 and the pallet car 100 is put on standby as shown in FIG. 4 and 5. Fifthly, the pressure roller 110 of the damaged wheel 102 rests above the hydraulic jack 108 as shown in FIG. 4 and 5. Sixthly, the damaged wheel 102 floats up in the air and can be freely removed as shown in FIG. 4 and 5. Seventhly, the damaged wheel 102 is removed from the pallet car 100 and a new wheel is inserted as shown in FIG. 4 and 5. Eighthly, the new wheel engages in the recess 104. Lastly, the hydraulic jack 108 is unlocked and lowered, whereby the damaged wheel 102 replacement is accomplished.

In this way, all the pallet car wheels can be checked online in order to prevent break down and unavailability of the sinter machine. After completion of all- pallet car wheel inspection, we can fix the recess 104 in the running rail.

The removal of running rail in the running condition of the sinter machine and makes the pallet car wheel in free load via support rail with the help of hydraulic jack platform and provide flexibility to operator to check/perform pallet car wheel inspection online.

In every shutdown in sinter plant due to wheel ply (roller bearing failure) the sinter machine parameters, production figures and sinter properties gets deteriorated due to long stoppage of the sinter machine and it takes more time to stabilize the whole sintering process.

With the help of this invention, we can identify the defective wheel in running condition without any stoppage of the sinter machine and improved the parameters which were deteriorated earlier due to stoppage of the sinter machine.

Application

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, a similar method of changing the damaged wheel of the pallet car as disclosed in the present invention may be implemented in an exemplary system where cars are docked successively and forms and endless chain and move on running rails. Similar pallet cars are used in pelletizing machine. Pelletizing is a method of agglomeration, or particle size enlargement, in which material fines are processed into pellets or granules. Pelletizing is used throughout a multitude of industries to process thousands of materials from difficult to handle powders and fines, into easy to handle pellets. Pelletizing a material can offer a number of benefits. Because of this, it has become a popular method of improving product performance, easing handling challenges, and even targeting desired product characteristics. Pallet cars are used in iron ore pelletizing machine.

In this document, relational terms such as first and second, top and bottom, and the like may be used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. The terms “comprises”; “comprising”; or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or composition that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article or composition. An element proceeded by “comprises” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article, or composition that comprises the element.

In the present specification, when a part “includes” a certain component, it means that the component may further include other components, not to exclude other components, unless specifically stated otherwise.

Although not defined differently, all terms including technical terms and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as those generally understood by those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains. Commonly used dictionary-defined terms are additionally interpreted as having meanings consistent with related technical documents and currently disclosed content and are not interpreted as ideal or very formal meanings unless
defined.
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail so that those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains can easily practice. However, the present invention can be implemented in many different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein.

The advantages and features of the present invention and methods for achieving them will be clarified with reference to the embodiments described below in detail together with the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below but may be implemented in various different forms, and only the embodiments allow the disclosure of the present invention to be complete, and are conventional in the art to which the present invention pertains. It is provided to fully inform the knowledgeable person of the scope of the invention, and the invention is only defined by the scope of the claims. The same reference numerals refer to the same components throughout the specification.

Thus, in some embodiments, well-known techniques are not specifically described to avoid obscuring the present invention. Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used in the present specification may be used as meanings commonly understood by those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains.

Example
Example 1
Earlier, the damaged wheel of the pallet car was replaced by conventional method. In the conventional method, the whole sinter plant was shut down for identifying and replacement of the damaged wheel of the pallet car.

A comparison of various parameters was made to evaluate the advantage of the present invention when compared with the conventional method as shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Comparison of various parameters of sinter machine (Sinter Plant # 3)
Parameters Unit of measurement
Present Invention
Conventional
Loss in production Tons 120 1120
Time to put the pallet car on halt min 10 100
Replacement time of wheel min 4 15
Total time min 14 115

From the above table, the advantages of the new method implemented to replace the damaged wheel as per the present invention are clear.

In the method for replacing the damaged wheel as per the present invention, the time taken to replace the wheel is 14 minutes. The time taken to replace the damaged wheel in the conventional method is 115 minutes.