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Siemens to Modernize ArcelorMittal South Africa Hot Strip Mill
01/08/2008 - The Siemens Division Industry Solutions will equip the cooling section of ArcelorMittal South Africa’s Vanderbijlpark hot strip mill with new process and basic automation that will allow the precise control of phase transitions during strip cooling.
ArcelorMittal South Africa Limited, Vanderbijlpark, has placed an order with the Siemens Division Industry Solutions to equip the cooling section of its hot strip mill with new process and basic automation.
Siemens will supply the process and basic automation for the laminar cooling line in the run-out area of Vanderbijlpark’s 2050-mm hot mill. At the heart of the upgrade is a strip cooling model developed by Siemens that can be used to precisely control phase transitions based on a physical description of the thermodynamic processes during cooling of the hot-rolled strip steel. Temperature curves and phase components along the entire strip will be calculated in real time, with current data transferred to a model-predicative cooling line controller. This will make it possible to monitor the entire strip cooling process over time, as compared to other methods which track only the coiler temperature.
For the rolling mill's entire range of products, the new model will allow the operator to monitor the microstructure changes in phase transitions during the cooling process. This will ensure constant quality for the entire strip, and will also enable the product to reliably attain required metallurgical properties within a set of tight tolerances. The strip cooling model will also enhance the rolling mill’s flexibility, allowing it to produce new and different kinds of steel at any time without making changes to the software or model parameters.
Siemens will install the new automation solution without interrupting operations at the facility. It will be initially run in standby mode in order to test the interfaces and pre-adapt the process models, followed by commissioning with no production stoppages. The systems, components and process models used come from the Siemens’ Siroll HM automation concept for hot rolling mills.
Delivery, installation and commissioning of the new automation system are scheduled for July 2008.
With an annual output of 7.3 million tonnes of crude steel, ArcelorMittal Steel South Africa is the largest steelmaker on the African continent. The Vanderbijlpark facility, which is located near Johannesburg, is one of four production facilities the company operates in South Africa. The Vanderbijlpark facility produces around 3.5 million tonnes of crude steel each year, which are used primarily for making flat steel products.
Metals Technologies (MT), a Business Unit of the Siemens Division Industry Solutions (IS), is one of the world’s leading engineering and plant-building companies for the iron and steel industry as well as for the flat-rolling sector of the aluminum industry and for open-cast mining. MT, which was created from the integration of Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau, Austria, and the electrical engineering product business and automation solutions of Siemens, provides a comprehensive range of supplies and services for all related technological processes and integrated automation solutions for the entire life-cycle of metallurgical plants.
