DEVELOPMENT OF THE TUBE QUENCHING PROTOTYPE UNIT

Abstract

This paper describes the stages of applied research and development leading to a functional prototype of a quenching unit. It became a part of a closed facility of process equipment for thermal treatment by refining and other methods of annealing of seamless steel tubes for the OCTG industry (Oil Country Tubular Goods), power engineering and mechanical engineering in Třinecké Železárny. The development of the prototype has been divided into several stages: mapping of the current state and critical assessment of the technical and technological level of the existing equipment in the Tube Mill, laboratory testing of tube samples cooling, including numerical simulations with the prediction of the initial settings of the process parameters for the recommendation of the technological configuration of the quenching unit prototype and finally a comprehensive technical design of the prototype quenching unit. The design of the prototype technical solution served as the basis for the creation of the detailed engineering documentation with the subsequent construction of the prototype quenching unit. The paper summarizes the procedures and results of individual development stages, including the results of measured temperatures of tubes during actual operation of the prototype and the results of additional numerical simulations of its actual cooling capacity.