Claims:We Claim:

1. A spray head assembly [100] for efficient and precision quenching of samples in a sample quenching testing system comprising:

a spray head assembly [100] including
a mixing chamber [102] for generating quenching media;
a baffle plate [108] over said mixing chamber including through holes [110] for passage of said quenching media therethrough;
a quenching block [114] comprising plurality of spray nozzles [116] operative to distribute the quenching media on sample upon passing through said holes [110] of the baffle plate [108]via a distributing chamber [112];
said baffle plate [108] disposed between the mixing chamber [102] and the distributing chamber [112]
an up and down scalable mounting means [118] for adjustable disposition of said modular spray head assembly [100] with respect to the sample when installed with respect to the testing system.

2. The spray head assembly as claimed in claim 1 comprising:

said mixing chamber [102] providing for mixing the gas and fluid to form mist which acts as a quenching media, the mixing chamber [102] defining an enclosed compartment communicating with the said baffle plate at the top and communicating with a plurality of fluid inlet [104] and a plurality of gas inlets [106]with said baffle plate [108] disposed between the said mixing chamber and the distributing chamber.

3. The spray head assembly as claimed in claim 2 comprising:
said mixing chamber [102] for mixing the gas and fluid to form mist which acts as a quenching media, the mixing chamber [102] having a rectangular compartment with horizontal section longer than vertical section, the mixing chamber communicating with a plurality of fluid inlet [104] and a plurality of gas inlets [106];

said plurality of fluid inlet [104] communicating with the mixing chamber [102], the plurality of fluid inlet [104] distributed around the two front vertical sections of the mixing chamber [102], wherein the direction of the plurality of fluid inlet [104] around the one front vertical section of a mixing chamber [104] and the direction of plurality of fluid inlet [104] around the other back vertical section of a mixing chamber [104]are arranged in staggered pattern;

said plurality of gas inlet [106] communicating with the mixing chamber [102], the plurality of gas inlet [106] distributed around the side vertical section of the mixing chamber [102], wherein the direction of the plurality of gas inlet [106] around the one side vertical section of a mixing chamber [102]and the direction of plurality of gas inlets [106] around the other side vertical section of a mixing chamber [102] are arranged in staggered or continuous pattern;

said baffle plate [108] fixed over the mixing chamber [102], comprising a rectangular plate with plurality of through holes [110] evenly distributed;

said distributing chamber [112] supplying the quenching media to a quenching block [114], the distributing chamber [112] being disposed on the baffle plate [108] such that the baffle plate [108] is disposed between the mixing chamber and the distributing chamber, the distributing chamber [112] is a rectangular compartment;

said quenching block [114] for spraying of the quenching media on the sample, the quenching block [114] disposed over the distributing chamber [112], the quenching block [114] comprising a rectangular block with horizontal section consisting plurality of spray nozzles [116] evenly distributed, wherein the plurality of spray nozzles [116] and the plurality of through holes [110] are arranged in staggered pattern in the transverse direction; and

up and down scalable mounting means [118] comprising a U shaped bracket provided to mount the spray head assembly [100] in the testing system and to adjust the height of the spray head [100] in the testing system, the lower portion [122] of the U shaped bracket provided with fixing mechanism to mount the spray head assembly [100] in the testing system, the two arms of the U shaped bracket are provided with at least a groove [120] provided in each arm in which the mixing chamber [102] is attached and thespray head assembly [100] can slide inside the groove [120].

4. The spray head assembly [100] for quenching a sample in a testing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the quenching block [114] is parallel to the sample.

5. The spray head assembly [100] for quenching a sample in a testing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of through holes [110] are of uniform shape.

6.The spray head assembly [100] for quenching a sample in a testing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of spray nozzles [116] are of uniform shape.

7. The spray head assembly [100] for quenching a sample in a testing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the gas is selected from the group of air, nitrogen, argon, helium or combination thereof.

8. The spray head assembly [100] for quenching a sample in a testing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the fluid is selected from the group of water, oil or combination thereof.

9. The spray head assembly [100] for quenching a sample in a testing system as claimed in anyone of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the plurality of through holes [110] are in the shape of square, rectangular, polygon, circle or other circular shapes.

10.The spray head assembly [100] for quenching a sample in a testing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of spray nozzles [116] provide for generating spray patterns selected from hollow cone, full cone, flat fan, solid stream or combination thereof.

11. The spray head assembly [100] for quenching a sample in a testing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of spray nozzles [116] are straight, convergent, divergent, straight-convergent, straight-divergent, convergent-divergent or combination thereof.

Dated this the 30th day of June, 2020
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 SPRAY HEAD ASSEMBLY FOR SAMPLE QUENCHING IN THERMO-MECHANICAL TESTING SYSTEM.



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 a spray head assembly for sample quenching in thermo-mechanical testing system. More particularly, the present is directed to provide a novel apparatus for quenching (i.e., high speed cooling) of flat sheets/strips samples through pressurized air or mist such that a uniform cooling over desired specimen area is obtained when used in small furnaces and/or simulators used for heat treatment of small samples with adjustable height and multiple quenching media to produce the desired metallurgical structure and properties.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Annealing is a heat treatment process through which the cold rolled steel is subjected to achieve the desired properties. The final mechanical properties of the annealed steel are of great importance to customers. Depending on the usage of the steel, annealing helps to achieve the required forming properties for various products that are manufactured from rolled steel.The simulation of annealing process helps in solving material challenges including characterizing the steel, optimizing production processes, lowering costs and improving product quality.The more widely used equipment for strip annealing simulations is Gleeble system. The Gleeble system is a thermo-mechanical physical simulator manufactured by DSI Inc., USA. It has become one of the important material testing and process simulation device. It can simulate the annealing process of the steel strip in both batch or continuous annealing processes. In strip annealing, controlled heating and cooling cycles are provided on steel strip samples. In order to achieve the purpose of rapid heating of the metal sample, the device adopts direct resistance heating method. The underlying principle is to connect the conductive strip sample to the heating transformer and other components installed in the equipment to form a closed circuit enabling the current to flow through the sample for heating. The simulation sample is subjected to tensile testing for optimization of annealing process parameters and achieving the mechanical properties.

The Gleeble system provides unique methods for physical simulation of strip annealing processes including continuous annealing and traverse flux annealing. A variety of grips and spray heads have been developed to accommodate the different heating and cooling cycles of annealing processes. The spray system and its patterns should be carefully considered while doing the annealing simulation. The standard quenching options for strip annealing simulation use water-mist and spray as part of the cooling media. Recently a new proportionatequench valve control system has been introduced which allows much easier programming of cooling rates using either air or inert gas as the cooling media. It adjusts the cooling gas flow to maintain a linear cooling rate during the annealing simulation. This is a new method for quenching of strip annealing specimens.

In strip annealing, quench system is an indispensable part of the heat treatment setup and is deployed especially for achieving higher cooling rates for dislocation entrapments leading to grain refinement and improved mechanical properties. The quenching system design and practical deployment to achieve rapid and uniform cooling rates is therefore highly important.Spray nozzles are often a critical component in determining the final quality of the product or the efficiency of the process. A nozzle is a device which converts the energy from a fluid into velocity of the spray droplets. Cooling performance of a quenching nozzle strongly depends on its design configuration and operational parameters. A unique design is required for each application due to the large number of system geometries, process conditions, and performance specifications.

Previously, an atomizing quench spray head assembly with control valves was used for strip annealing as illustrated in Figure 1. The atomizing quench head assembly comprises of two quench nozzles, an air manifold, one water inlet, two air inlets anda horizontal spray head mounting bracket. The water and air inlets are connected to the corresponding air and water sources. The strip annealing quench spray head assembly is mounted at the back of the Gleeble chamber such that the quench nozzles point up towards the specimen that is a steel strip.The quench head assembly is mounted with screws in the Gleeble chamber. The strip annealing quench spray head assembly can slide along the length of the Gleeble chamber in the horizontal spray head mounting bracket.

This conventional used spray head is found to be less effective when deployed for rapid cooling of strip samples using highly pressurized jet sprays.The conventional spray headavailable for quenchingislimited to the cooling rate of up to 50 ºC/s for a typical 1 mm thickness sheet, which further reduces to 40 ºC/s or less for thicker sheets. The limitation is mainly due to a lack of dedicated sample cooling without adjustable height, which makes it unable to do focus cooling over the strip sample rather it cools the whole furnace chamber. Another drawback of the conventional spray headis limited number of nozzles. Further, the conventional spray head can only work for quenching with air and water.

In view of the above problems, the need is felt to develop a new quenching system, which can improve the experimental efficiency and precision.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide a spray head assembly for quenching a sample in a testing system for thermo-mechanical or heat-mechanical test device with modular design which can be scaled up or down such that the governing criteria are satisfied as mentioned in relevant description and claims which is capable of providing uniform and rapid cooling on to a flat sheet specimen.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a spray head assembly for quenching a sample in a testing system for heat-mechanical test device which can use multiple quenching media and different inlet pressure ranges for rapid cooling of the sample.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a spray head assembly for quenching a sample in a testing system for heat-mechanical test device which can be mounted on a stand or any other appropriate mechanism so that it can be used in small heat treatment furnaces and heat-mechanical test device and testing systems.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a spray head assembly for quenching a sample in a testing system for heat-mechanical test device whose height can be adjusted with respect to the position of the sample.

Another object of the present invention is directed to provide a spray head assembly for quenching a sample in a testing system for heat-mechanical test device to achieve very high cooling rates such that a uniform cooling area is obtained on the sample when placed parallel to it.

Another object of the present invention is directed to develop a novel spray head assembly for quenching a sample in a testing system for heat-mechanical test device preferably the when used in small furnaces and simulators used or heat treatment of small samples with advantage of adjustable height and multiple quench media usage.

Another object of the present invention is directed to develop a novel spray head assembly for quenching a sample in a testing system for heat-mechanical test device to achieve cooling of >200 ºC/s over the range of thickness of samples.

Another object of the present invention is directed to develop a novel spray head assembly for quenching a sample in a testing system for heat-mechanical test device can be used both for air as well as air and water in conjugation to achieve the quenching effect.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a portable spray head assembly for quenching a sample in a testing system for heat-mechanical test device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The basic aspect of the present invention is directed to a spray head assembly for efficient and precision quenching of samples in a sample quenching testing system comprising:
a spray head assembly including
a mixing chamber for generating quenching media;
a baffle plate over said mixing chamber including through holes for passage of said quenching media therethrough;
a quenching block comprising plurality of spray nozzles operative to distribute the quenching media on sample upon passing through said holes of the baffle plate ;
said baffle plate disposed between the mixing chamberand the distributing chamber;
an up and down scalable mounting means for adjustable disposition of said modular spray head assembly with respect to the sample when installed with respect to the testing system.

A still further aspect of the present invention is directed to said spray head assembly comprising
said mixing chamber providing for mixing the gas and fluid to form mist which acts as a quenching media, the mixing chamber defining an enclosed compartment communicating with the said baffle plate at the top and communicating with a plurality of fluid inlet and a plurality of gas inletswith said baffle plate disposed between the said mixing chamber and the distributing chamber.

A still further aspect of the present invention is directed to said spray head assembly comprising:
said mixing chamber for mixing the gas and fluid to form mist which acts as a quenching media, the mixing chamber having a rectangular compartment with horizontal section longer that vertical section, the mixing chamber communicating with a plurality of fluid inlet and a plurality of gas inlets;

said plurality of fluid inlet communicating with the mixing chamber, the plurality of fluid inlet distributed around the two front vertical sections of the mixing chamber, wherein the direction of the plurality of fluid inlet around the one front vertical section of a mixing chamber and the direction of plurality of fluid inlet around the other back vertical section of a mixing chamberare arranged in staggered pattern;

said plurality of gas inlet communicating with the mixing chamber, the plurality of gas inlet distributed around the side vertical section of the mixing chamber, wherein the direction of the plurality of gas inlet around the one side vertical section of a mixing chamber and the direction of plurality of gas inlets around the other side vertical section of a mixing chamber are arranged in staggered or continuous pattern;

said baffle plate fixed over the mixing chamber, comprising a rectangular plate with plurality of through holes evenly distributed;

said distributing chamber supplying the quenching media to a quenching block, the distributing chamber being disposed on the baffle plate such that the baffle plate is disposed between the mixing chamber and the distributing chamber, the distributing chamber is a rectangular compartment;

said quenching block for spraying of the quenching media on the sample, the quenching blockdisposed over the distributing chamber, the quenching block comprising a rectangular block with horizontal section consisting plurality of spray nozzles evenly distributed, wherein the plurality of spray nozzles and the plurality of through holes are arranged in staggered pattern in the transverse direction; and

up and down scalable mounting means comprising a U shaped bracket provided to mount the spray head assembly in the testing system and to adjust the height of the spray head in the testing system, the lower portionof the U shapedbracket provided with fixing mechanism to mount the spray head assembly in the testing system, the two arms of the U shaped bracket are provided with at least a grooveprovided in each arm in which the mixing chamber is attached and thespray head assembly can slide inside the groove.

Another aspect of the present invention is directed to said spray head assembly for quenching a sample in a testing system, wherein the quenching block is parallel to the sample.

Yet another aspect of the present invention is directed to said spray head assembly for quenching a sample in a testing system, wherein the plurality of through holes are of uniform shape.

A further aspect of the present invention is directed to said spray head assembly for quenching a sample in a testing system, wherein the plurality of spray nozzlesare of uniform shape.
A still further aspect of the present invention is directed to said spray head assembly for quenching a sample in a testing system, wherein the gas is selected from the group of air, nitrogen, argon, helium or combination thereof.

A still further aspect of the present invention is directed to said spray head assembly for quenching a sample in a testing system, wherein the fluid is selected from the group of water, oil or combination thereof.

Another aspect of the present invention is directed to said spray head assembly for quenching a sample in a testing system, wherein the plurality of through holes are in the shape of square, rectangular, polygon, circle or other circular shapes.

Yet another aspect of the present invention is directed to said spray head assembly for quenching a sample in a testing system, wherein the plurality of spray nozzles provide for generating spray patterns selected from hollow cone, full cone, flat fan, solid stream or combination thereof.

A still further aspect of the present invention is directed to said spray head assembly for quenching a sample in a testing system, wherein the plurality of spray nozzlesare straight, convergent, divergent, straight-convergent, straight-divergent, convergent-divergent or combination thereof.

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

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

Embodiments are illustrated by way of example and are not limited in the accompanying figures.

FIG. 1: illustrates an atomizing quench spray head assembly as per the prior art;

FIG. 2: illustrates a spray head assembly for quenching a sample in a testing system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3: illustrates the exploded view of a spray head assembly for quenching a sample in a testing system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4: illustrates the staggered pattern of the plurality of spray nozzles and the plurality of through holes according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5: illustrates a cooling profile of a sample quenched through the atomizing quench spray head assembly as per the prior art;

FIG. 6: illustrates a cooling profile of a sample quenched through spray head assembly wherein the quenching media is air according to present invention

FIG. 7: illustrates a cooling profile of a sample quenched through spray head assembly wherein the quenching media is air and water according to present invention

Skilled artisans appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION WITH REFERENCE TO THE 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 for a spray head assembly 100 for quenching a sample in a testing system such as thermo-mechanical or heat-mechanical test device.

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...a" does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article or composition that comprises the element.

The present invention relates to an improved a spray head assembly 100 for quenching a sample in a testing system to achieve ultra-fast and uniform cooling rates on the samplewith different quenching media at varying pressures and relative concentrations and placed at varying distance from the sample. Hence, a detailed investigation must be carried out before implementation of the optimized design.

FIG. 2 illustrates a spray head assembly 100 for quenching a sample in a testing system. FIG. 3 illustrates the exploded view of a spray head assembly 100 for quenching a sample in a testing system. The spray head assembly 100 for quenching a sample in a testing system comprising a mixing chamber 102, a plurality of gas inlet 104, a plurality of fluid inlet 106, a baffle plate 108, a distributing chamber 112, a quenching block 114 and an up and down scalable mounting means118 comprising a U shaped bracket .

The mixing chamber 102 mixes the gas and fluid to form mist which acts as a quenching media. The mixing chamber 102 is a rectangular compartment with front section longer that side section. The mixing chamber communicates with a plurality of fluid inlets 104 and a plurality of gas inlets 106.

The plurality of fluid inlet 104 communicate with the mixing chamber 102. The plurality of fluid inlet 104 are distributed around the two front vertical sections of the mixing chamber 102, wherein the direction of the plurality of fluid inlet 104 around the one front vertical section of a mixing chamber 104 and the direction of plurality of fluid inlet 104 around the other back vertical section of a mixing chamber 104 are arranged in staggered pattern. The fluid is selected from the group of water, oil or combination thereof.

The plurality of gas inlet 106 communicate with the mixing chamber 102. The plurality of gas inlet 106 are distributed around the two side vertical sections of the mixing chamber 102, wherein the direction of the plurality of gas inlet 106 around the one side vertical section of a mixing chamber 102 and the direction of plurality of gas inlet 106 around the other side vertical section of a mixing chamber 102 are arranged in staggered or continuous pattern. The gas is selected from the group of air, nitrogen, argon, helium or combination thereof.

The disclosed baffle plate 108 is fixed over the mixing chamber 102. The baffle plate 108 is a rectangular plate with plurality of through holes 110 evenly distributed. The plurality of through holes 110 are of uniform shape. The plurality of through holes 110 are in the shape of square, rectangular, polygon, circle or other circular shapes.Different cooling effects can be obtained by combination of shapes.

The distributing chamber 112 supplies the quenching media to a quenching block 114. The distributing chamber 112 is disposed on the baffle plate 108 such that the baffle plate 108 is disposed between the mixing chamber and the distributing chamber. The distributing chamber 112 is a rectangular compartment.

The quenching block 114 sprays the quenching media on the sample. The quenching block 114 disposed over the distributing chamber 112. The quenching block 114 is a rectangular block with horizontal section consisting plurality of spray nozzles 116 evenly distributed, wherein the plurality of spray nozzles 116 and the plurality of through holes 110 are arranged in staggered pattern in the transverse direction.FIG. 4 illustrates the staggered pattern of plurality of spray nozzles 116 and the plurality of through holes 110. The quenching block 114 is provided parallel to the sample. The plurality of spray nozzles 116 are of uniform shape. The plurality of spray nozzles 116 have the spray patterns selected from hollow cone, full cone, flat fan, solid stream or combination thereof. The plurality of spray nozzles 116 are straight, convergent, divergent, straight-convergent, straight-divergent, convergent-divergent or combination thereof. Different cooling effects can be obtained by combination of spray patterns and shapes. The minimum number of spray nozzles 116 must not be less than 4. The numbers of the spray nozzles 116 can be increased depending upon the sample size which must be cooled at a uniform and rapid rate through spray of quenching media.

The up and down scalable mounting means 118 comprising a U shaped bracket is provided to mount the spray head assembly 100 in the testing system and to adjust the height of the spray head 100 in the testing system. The lower portion 122 of the up and down scalable mounting means 118 is provided with fixing mechanism to mount the spray head assembly 100 in the testing system. The two arms of the up and down scalable mounting means 118 are provided with at least a groove 120 provided in each arm in which the mixing chamber 102 is attached and the spray head assembly 100 can slide inside the groove 120.Different cooling effects can be obtained by adjusting the height of the spray head 100 and changing the distance between the sample and the spray head 100. The mixing chamber 102 is attached to the groove 120 by any existing known mechanical arrangement. Here one kind of mechanical arrangement is shown in the FIG. 2 and 3. The mixing chamber 102 has two flanges 126 on each of the vertical section of the mixing chamber 102. The flanges have at least one screw hole 124. The screw hole 124 engages with the groove 120 and is fixed with the help of at least one screw. Depending on the desired height, the screws can be loosened and the spray head 100 can be moved along the groove 120 and the screws are tightened at the desired height.

The invention will now be illustrated by means of the following example. However, the following example is only for explaining the present invention in more detail, but scope of the present invention is not limited to the particular embodiments only.

Example:
Gleeble 3800 strip annealing system was used to compare the cooling profiles of the conventional atomizing spray head assembly with the newly developed spray head assembly 100 of the present invention. The conventional atomizing spray head assembly was installed in the testing chamber. The testing chamber comprises of holder to hold and heat. The sample was 1.6 mm thick strip of plain carbon steel. The sample was annealed at 900ºC for 60 seconds. The sample was quenched with the quenching media of air and water using air at 50 PSI and water at 30 PSI inlet pressure. A cooling rate of 100ºC/s was programmed and additional waiting time was provided with data acquisition enabled to log the maximum cooling rate achievable under both the conditions.The data was logged and plotted in the form of temperature v/s. time plot to derive the cooling rates. The strip annealing simulation quenched by conventional atomizing spray head assembly was capable of achieving cooling rates up to 40ºC/sec as illustrated in FIG. 5.

The conventional atomizing spray head assembly was replaced with thedeveloped spray head assembly 100 of the present invention. Right cylinder shaped nozzles were used with a diameter of 4 mm and height 10 mm each placed at a mutual distance of 10 mm between the central axes and arranged in a raster pattern. Baffle with 5 mm diameter circular openings was used with mutual distance of 10 mm between the centresand arranged in a raster pattern such that the mid points between the circular openings coincide with individual nozzle axesas illustrated in FIG. 4. The minimum distance between the sample and new spray head assembly was kept at 30 mm. The sample was 1.6 mm thick strip of plain carbon steel. The sample was annealed at 900 ºC for 60 seconds. The sample was quenched with the quenching media of air in one experiment and in another experiment the sample was quenched by quenching media containing air and water. A cooling rate of 300ºC/s was programmed and additional waiting time was provided with data acquisition enabled to log the maximum cooling rate achievable under both the conditions. Air was used as gas at a pressure of 50 PSI and water was used as fluid at a pressure of 30 PSI. The data was logged and plotted in the form of temperature v/s time plot to derive the cooling rates.The strip annealing simulation quenched by the spray head assembly 100 of the present invention, wherein the quenching media was air, the cooling rates up to 34ºC/sec were achieved as illustrated in FIG. 6. Likewise, the strip annealing simulation quenched by the spray head assembly 100 of the present invention, wherein the quenching media was air and water, the cooling rates up to more than 250ºC/sec were achieved as illustrated in FIG. 7. Table 1 illustrates the comparison of cooling profiles achieved by the earlier used atomizing spray head assembly and the spray head assembly 100 of the present invention.

Table 1: Comparison between old quench head v/s. new quench head
Max. Achievable Cooling Rate (Compressed Air : 50 PSI, Water : 30 PSI) Conventional atomizing spray head assembly Spray head assembly of the present invention
Air Only Not Applicable 34 ºC/s
Air + Water ~40 ºC/s > 250 ºC/s

Both programmed data and achieved temperature matched in newly developed spray head assembly 100 of the present invention, while there was huge gap in achieved temperature and programmed simulation in the conventional atomizing spray head assembly.

LIST OF ELEMENTS IN SPRAY HEAD ASSEMBLY SYSTEM

100 Spray head assembly
102 Mixing chamber
104 Plurality of fluid inlet
106 Plurality of gas inlet
108 Baffle plate
110 Plurality of through holes in baffle plate
112 Distributing chamber
114 Quenching block
116 Plurality of spray nozzles
118 Up and down scalable mounting means 120 Groove
122 Lower base portion
124 Screw Hole
126 Flanges for fixing Screw