9th ECCC European Continuous Casting Conference – ECCC 2017

Summary (200 to 300 words) should be concise and contain all sufficient information for a fair assessment: An essential part in the continuous casting process is the mould oscillation, crucial for flawless mould lubrication and final surface quality. Oscillation parameters, such as stroke and frequency need to be adapted to the casting speed, steel grades, casting modes etc. The first oscillation movements were made by a simple eccentric shaft driven by an electro motor which allows the online adjustment of the frequency during casting at constant stroke. Therefore, hydraulic cylinders have been used in order to adjust the oscillation parameters frequency, stroke and oscillation shape during operation. On the other hand hydraulic drives are more costly by nature due to the whole hydraulic installation and maintenance needed. This is one of several reasons why the electrical eccentric drives are still used. The new drive concept CONDRIVE (patent pending) developed by SMS Concast AG combines the simple design of the fully electrical eccentric oscillation with the flexibility of a hydraulic cylinder. The stroke is generated by an eccentric shaft but instead of 360° rotation it only partially rotates. The position of the eccentric is accurately driven and controlled by the combination of a servo drive and a torque motor. The sinusoidal oscillation at the mould with a stroke s is generated by a part-turn movement of ±α. The stroke and/or frequency can be adjusted independently by the software at any time during casting by changing the angle ±α and/or the rotating speed. This feature allows to creating a flexible oscillation drive, reducing capital as well as operational expenses. Furthermore, the new drive can easily be installed in revamps of existing eccentric shaft oscillations. All this makes the CONDRIVE system a potential game changer for the mould oscillation equipment.