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Beta Steel Grants Final Acceptance for Revamped Hot Strip Mill
06/14/2007 - Beta Steel grants final acceptance to Danieli for its revamped hot strip mill. The project included the installation of an automated discharge machine, new crop shear, water-wall strip laminar cooling, new runout table, and a new automatic downcoiler capable of handling 30-ton coils.
Beta Steel granted final acceptance to Danieli for its revamped hot strip mill. The upgrade featured the installation of new equipment including an automated discharge machine, new crop shear, water-wall strip laminar cooling, new runout table, and a new automatic downcoiler that is capable of handling 30-ton coils.
The new discharge machine features a short cycle time that helps to reduce temperature drop and to avoid scratches to slab surfaces, and the new crop shear is capable of cutting transfer bar head and tail for the whole range of steel grades up to API X70, at strip speeds up to 2 meter/second in fully automated sequence.
The mill’s new water-wall strip laminar cooling technology helps to provide excellent strip cooling and control using the sophisticated cooling patterns required for the API grades. The new runout table has hydraulic side guides at the downcoiler area entry side. The new downcoiler’s 30-ton coil capacity compares to a previous capacity for 18-ton coils.
The first phase of the revamp was completed with the installation of a new horizontal-axes coil handling system that includes coil inspection, strapping units, and coil weighing and marking facilities. The new system helps to avoid coil tilting and edge damage, and facilitates the final processing of coils before shipping. Danieli Automation supplied all the electrical equipment for the new facilities, as well as Level 1 and Level 2 automation and process control systems.
The upgraded plant entered into the performance test period following a few weeks of production, which was restarted ten days after completion of construction activities. Several steel grades and strip gauges have now been tested in accordance with the project targets of widening the product mix (up to API X70 grades) while achieving increased productivity and an improved final quality. Beta Steel’s strategic goals for the project were to increase mill productivity, expand the product mix, and to improve product quality, all of which have now been achieved.
Danieli will also supply equipment for the second phase of Beta Steel’s hot strip mill revamp. Equipment to be added in the second phase includes new descaler boxes that will be installed at furnace exit, on board the existing rougher, and in front of the finishing mill, complete with a state-of-the-art descaling system featuring 220-bar operating pressure. Danieli will also supply an automatic quick-type work roll-change system for the existing 5-stand finishing mill. The company says this equipment will be installed in the future, as business conditions permit.
