World Journal of Science and Technology 2012, 2(4):20-23

ISSN: 2231 2587

Available Online: www.worldjournalofscience.com

Proceedings of " A National Conference on Advances in Mechanical Engineering (NCAME-2012)

Held at R.C.Patel Institute of Technology, Shirpur, Dist. Dhule,Maharastra,India.
April 21, 2012

Design of tilting ladle transfer car for steel Industries

Prajakta Bawiskar1, Sachin Kamble1 and Kiran Bhole1
1Datta

Meghe College of Engineering, Airoli, Navi Mumbai, India

Abstract- This paper gives idea about designing of tilting ladle transfer car for steel Industries. Tilting Ladle transfer cars are
used to carry hot metal ladle from the HMDS section (Hot metal dispensing section) to the convertor section. The ladle
carrying the hot metal consists of impurities in the form of slag which is precipitated over the hot metal. This precipitated slag
is removed in tilting operation by slag raking machine. After titling operation the transfer car carries the material to the
convertor section. The paper includes designing of structural and hydraulic circuit for carrying and tilting ladle of ladle transfer
car. The design process involves hand calculation and the prepared design is then presented in the 3D drawings using
modeling software.
Keywords: Tilting ladle, Transfer car, Design steps

INTRODUCTION
Tilting Ladle transfer cars are used to carry hot metal ladles
from the HMDS Plant to the convertor section. The molten metal
consists of slag and impurities which affect the purity of the final
metal. The titling operation of the tilting car is used to tilt the ladle
carrying the hot metal and the slag raking machine removes the slag
from the tilted ladle. This innovative system is used to carry the hot
metal as well as remove the slag over the molten metal.

of tilting ladle transfer car.The operation of the car is in a hot region .

The ladle carrying the molten metal consists of liquid metal which is
at 1350 C. The ladle carrying the liquid metal is lined by a refractory
which protects the ladle metal contact with the molten metal. The
ladle is provided with a trunion on the either side by which the ladle
can be lifted or kept on the car by a lifting tackle . The lifting tackle is
engaged in the main hook of the main hoist of the crane . The crane
required for handling this huge capacity ladle is a four girder 350 T
EOT crane.The ladle is provided with a lip section which has a spout
with lip at 12 degrees. This spout is required for the generation of
smooth pouring of the liquid metal during the pouring in
convertor.Ladle car is to be designed using the safety parameters
and most of the operations are automatic or should have a remote
control to avoid the human intervention in the working of car.
TECHNICAL AND FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION
The tilting car is to be designed for the following technical
specifications. Weight of the molten metal with the ladle and
refractory lining to be carried: 280 Tonnes

Fig1. Proposed tilting ladle car

The figure. 1 shows the pictorial sketch of the proposed idea

*Corresponding Author
Srihari Prasad A
Department of Mechanical Engineering, K.L.University, Vaddeswaram, Guntur,
A.P., 522502., India
Email: srihari.anne@gmail.com

Speed of the car : 0 to 30 m/ min

Tilting angle of the ladle : 0 to 40
Tilting Speed : Three minutes for 40 tilting (forward movement )
Rail for the movement of the car : CR120
Rail Span : 3800 mm
Tilting initiation : By joystick
Distance of the remote control operation : 300 mm
Design standard : IS 807 for structural design.
With these inputs the task is to design a tilting car
The transfer car shall be self-propelled type and shall have
two (2) individual wheel drives The power shall be transmitted from a
squirrel cage motor through a flexible coupling to gear unit. The gear
unit shall be coupled to the driven track wheel and connected with
car frame by a torque arm or should be bolted to the frame. The two

World Journal of Science and Technology 2012, 2(4):20-23

electric motors shall be provided with brakes and shall be easily

detachable from gearbox during maintenance. The hot metal ladle
should be placed by EOT crane whose hook will be given by the
customer. After placement of the ladle the crane hooks should be
released easily without any interference with car frame. There should
be sufficient maintenance. Suitable refractory lining provision to be
made on the platform and sides to prevent damage due to accidental
spillage of metal at pouring and HMD station. The tilting of the ladle
shall be done with the hydraulic system. The hydraulic power pack
shall be operated from locally and from control room. The tilting
cylinders shall be operated with the help of joysticks. The tilting
cylinders mounting arrangement shall be strong enough to handle
the 280 ton ladle. Enough protection for cylinders to be provided and
cylinder seals to withstand the temperature
surrounding the heat
zone. Hydraulic hoses should withstand the temperature in case any
spillage of hot metal around the car. The ladle tilting should operate
between Zero (ladle vertical) to 40 deg only. Two proximity/limit
switches have to be used to sense two positions of ladle. One
proximity switch senses ladle fully tilted position at 40 deg. while the
other senses ladle in vertical position. Suitable provisions to be
made to mount safety switches. When Car is travelling on rail, i.e.
the tilting cylinder should not operate even if joystick operation is
done. Once hydraulic power pack is
started , car should not travel
even if supply to gear motor is given. Hydraulic Cylinder operated by
joystick. Joystick operation energies solenoid of direction control
valve causing cylinder to move. Once ladle has reached 40 deg.
tilted position, proximity switch activates. This signal is used to cut off
solenoid of direction control valve from joystick. Similarly when ladle
has returned back from tilted position, 0 deg. proximity switch at 0
deg. position activates. This signal is also used to cut off joystick
from solenoid of direction control valve. This will not allow
operation of Hydraulic cylinder even if joystick is operated for return
motion of cylinder The protection/heat shields shall be provided for
the car drive units, hydraulic system and cables to prevent damage
due to leakage/spillage of metal from sides of the ladles at pouring
station and slag raking machines. Rest technical specification
and dimensions as per the attached reference tilting transfer car and
hot metal ladle drawings. General Arrangement drawing shall be
submitted for approval with showing the ladle over car, hook
clearance, protection heat shield, drive, hydraulic power pack,
cylinders, make of components, technical specification, etc.,.

21

800 mm.
RPM of wheel = Speed/(3.14*d) =30000/(3.14*807)= 11.83 m/m
Considering the rpm of the wheel we select the drive elements
Gear box and the motor
Motor used in steel plants is a three phase supply. The motor to be
used is a six pole.
Speed of the motor = (120 * f)/P
= 120*50/ 6
= 1000 rpm
Hence the rated rpm = 960 rpm .
Gear box ratio = 960/11.83 = 81.12(82)
Motor KW rating
Power at the wheel
P= 2*pi*N*T/(60*1000)
P =2*3.14*11.83*T/(60*1000)
Torque on the wheel = 170000*(Wheel dia /2) =170000*(403.5)=
68595000kg-mm =685950000N-mm
P =2*3.14*11.83*685950000/60*1000=849.347
For 150% over load = 849.347*1.5=1274.1 KW
Gear box ration =80
Motor KW required = 16 KW
Considering the intermittent loading and the impact factor the motor
KW is 30KW
STRUCTURAL ELEMENT DESIGN.
As the ladle is hot when it carries the hot metal the material
used in the transfer car should be also able to with stand the heat
dissipated without any distortion.
Hence the material which is selected for Construction in IS 2002
which is a material having a very less thermal coefficient of
expansion.

DRIVE ELEMENT DESIGN.

Design of the wheels of the tilting transfer Car.
Speed of the Car 30 m/ min =30000mm/min
Load on the tilting car : 280T (carrying wt)+ 60T self weight= 340 T
Deciding the no of wheels
As the surface of the rail is wavy or has troughs and crests the
design of wheel is to be done by considering pin joints. Hence the
number of wheel for pin joint will be two at every location.
Hence the no. Of wheel = 8 nos.
Load on each wheel = 42.5 Tonnes
Speed = (pi)*d*n=3.14*d*n
As the load is 42.5 tonnes and as per crane design standard and
considering CR120 Rail
Diameter= 1.5 W/ a = (1.5*42500/90)= 708 .33mm.
Considering a further factor of safety the standard wheel selected is

Fig 2.Transfer car in about to tilt position

The loading pattern is considered by taking the beam as a

simply supported beam .
The highest loading will be as shown in Fig.2 The ladle rests
at three points on the tilting frame surface .

Srihari Prasad A et al.,

22

Fig 4. Box Design

Hence each surface has been considerd with a load of 108 Tonnes.
Reaction at the point A + Reaction at the point E =50+108+5= 163T
In a simply supported beam the moments at the supported point are
zero.

MA= -108*500-50*649-5*250+1450RE

RE=61 T
RA=101T
Max bending moment = 108* 500= 54000000 kg-mm
Section modulus is now to be worked out.

The section modulus of the above box section considered

=17326950 mm3
Hence the stresses will be = 54000000/17326950 =3.11 kg/mm2
HYDRAULIC SYSTEM DESIGN
The hydraulic system will be designed as shown in the
Fig. 8. CG design during tilting ,The CG were calculated in each
stage of tilting as in fig. 7. CAD software of Autocad is used. Now the
design will be optimized using the solidworks The design of trolley in
Solid works is as shown in Fig.6

Fig 3. Transfer car in Tilt position.

The section to withstand the heavy bending moment will be a

box which would be developed by using plates and welded
connections.

Fig 5. Section Modulus Of Box.

Fig 7. CG calculation at different angle

. Fig 8. Hydraulic system Design

World Journal of Science and Technology 2012, 2(4):20-23

There are two cylinders which do the tilting operation .These

cylinders work on hydraulic pressure . The following are the
engineering considerations in the design of this cylinders.
Load on the cylinders 320 tonnes
Operating pressure considered is 120 bar
Pressure =Force /Area
Area of cylinder = 320/120
As there are two cylinders
Area= 320*1000/(120*0.01*2)=133333mm2
Diameter of the cylinder = 210 mm
During design we will take higher bore on availability.
Hence the bore diameter is taken as 280 mm
The hydraulic power pack has the following features
Hydraulic oil : VG 68
No of cylinders 2
The tilting operation valve : proportional valve PVG32( directional as
wellas a proportional control valve)
Flow of the pump 63 litre sper minute .
Forward speed = 485 mm/s
Rod end diameter 140 mm .

23

CONCLUSION
The design of the structures their optimisation is done using
hand calculations and Finite element analysis by using softwares like
Solidworks.The drive calculations are done by using the drive
standards and are effective for the VVVF drive also. The hydraulic
design is done using the Rexroth and Sauer danfoss instruction
codes. This is the basis of implementation in steel plant design.
REFERENCES
[1]. Solidworks User manual guide :Dassault Systems
[2]. Hydraulics Design Manual : Gl Rexroth
[3]. Structural design: IS 807
[4]. Transfer Planning of Molten Metals in Steel Works by
Decentralized Agent Junji KIKUCHI , Masami KONISHI and
Jun IMAI.
[5]. Tilt Testing Of two Heavy Vehicles and related performance
issue. By Dr Hans Prem ,Director and Senior Consultant.
[6]. E.J. Reilly and A.C. Nelson.1920.Metal transfer car
PatentAug 3.