Improved view of steel process
27 Mar 2007
Improved visibility of the iron-making process and greater flexibility in the way steel is produced are the key benefits of a new control system for the Queen Victoria blast furnace at Corus Scunthorpe Steel works.
The ABB System 800xA includes two Advant controllers, six operator consoles and two parallel information reporting workstations. 2,500 I/Os are handled by S800 modules, together with a link to the earlier S100 units.
As a vital part of the contract, ABB is also supplying hopper load cells and seven Millmate MC400W weigher panels for use in the stock house and for control in furnace burdening. Batching is controlled by 99 independent formulations, each consisting of up to seven separate materials in a batch.
Installation architecture was jointly designed by ABB and Corus, with ABB providing a core team of engineers who had worked on other Scunthorpe blast furnaces over the previous 25 years. Once the design had been finalised, ABB built the system at its facility in St Neots, where Corus spent eight weeks testing the control suite with bespoke simulation software.
According to Corus control engineer Spencer Pullin, "The ability to test at the ABB factory was very useful. Commissioning would have been more critical if it had all been done on site. This way we eliminated any risk of lost production and ensured a very quick ramp up time."
Following testing, the completed system was taken to site and set up in a separate training area to familiarise operators with the new interface, which was kept very similar to that of the previous ABB control system. All data from the controller is made readily available to management staff.
Reports are archived within the system and can be recalled by an operator at any time. Importantly, and to satisfy current legislation, real time events and alarms are displayed locally for the operator and engineer
An interesting features of the Corus project was the installation of a permanent landline to enable engineers at St Neots to interrogate the system remotely and monitor the performance of the systems during the early phases of the furnace fill and after the lighting of the blast furnace. US space agency NASA will benefit from Scottish firm DEM Solutions' technology for modelling of bulk solid systems. The discrete element modelling (DEM) technology will be used in applications such as designing equipment to operate in lunar or Martian environments and modelling the degradation of insulation material on the space shuttle.
Edinburgh-based DEM Solutions' EDEM software will be applied by Jenike & Johanson and Clarkson University on a new NASA contract to develop modelling approaches to bulk granular material. The research team will develop methodologies to calibrate the software with physical tests and extend the range of problems that can be effectively analysed with DEM.
"Space exploration is heavily dependent upon granular materials, not only because we use bulk solids extensively in the technology to enable spaceflight, but because many of the places where we go in space are literally covered with bulk solids in the form of soil and dust," explained Philip Metzger, a physicist at NASA's John F Kennedy Space Center. "Advancing our ability to predict their behaviour is of paramount importance to the economics and success of the space program."
Last August DEM Solutions was awarded a NASA contract to develop an electrostatic charged particle simulation tool.
Engineers at a theme park in Florida have discovered that the chain driving their largest white knuckle ride shows virtually no signs of wear after five years' operation. The drive chain, which was manufactured by international engineering group Renold, was recently inspected at the request of the park's maintenance team as a double-check of its own results. According to the company, the inspection showed that the initial findings were correct: there was virtually no wear to any of the chain's components.
The ABB System 800xA includes two Advant controllers, six operator consoles and two parallel information reporting workstations. 2,500 I/Os are handled by S800 modules, together with a link to the earlier S100 units.
As a vital part of the contract, ABB is also supplying hopper load cells and seven Millmate MC400W weigher panels for use in the stock house and for control in furnace burdening. Batching is controlled by 99 independent formulations, each consisting of up to seven separate materials in a batch.
Installation architecture was jointly designed by ABB and Corus, with ABB providing a core team of engineers who had worked on other Scunthorpe blast furnaces over the previous 25 years. Once the design had been finalised, ABB built the system at its facility in St Neots, where Corus spent eight weeks testing the control suite with bespoke simulation software.
According to Corus control engineer Spencer Pullin, "The ability to test at the ABB factory was very useful. Commissioning would have been more critical if it had all been done on site. This way we eliminated any risk of lost production and ensured a very quick ramp up time."
Following testing, the completed system was taken to site and set up in a separate training area to familiarise operators with the new interface, which was kept very similar to that of the previous ABB control system. All data from the controller is made readily available to management staff.
Reports are archived within the system and can be recalled by an operator at any time. Importantly, and to satisfy current legislation, real time events and alarms are displayed locally for the operator and engineer
An interesting features of the Corus project was the installation of a permanent landline to enable engineers at St Neots to interrogate the system remotely and monitor the performance of the systems during the early phases of the furnace fill and after the lighting of the blast furnace. US space agency NASA will benefit from Scottish firm DEM Solutions' technology for modelling of bulk solid systems. The discrete element modelling (DEM) technology will be used in applications such as designing equipment to operate in lunar or Martian environments and modelling the degradation of insulation material on the space shuttle.
Edinburgh-based DEM Solutions' EDEM software will be applied by Jenike & Johanson and Clarkson University on a new NASA contract to develop modelling approaches to bulk granular material. The research team will develop methodologies to calibrate the software with physical tests and extend the range of problems that can be effectively analysed with DEM.
"Space exploration is heavily dependent upon granular materials, not only because we use bulk solids extensively in the technology to enable spaceflight, but because many of the places where we go in space are literally covered with bulk solids in the form of soil and dust," explained Philip Metzger, a physicist at NASA's John F Kennedy Space Center. "Advancing our ability to predict their behaviour is of paramount importance to the economics and success of the space program."
Last August DEM Solutions was awarded a NASA contract to develop an electrostatic charged particle simulation tool.
Engineers at a theme park in Florida have discovered that the chain driving their largest white knuckle ride shows virtually no signs of wear after five years' operation. The drive chain, which was manufactured by international engineering group Renold, was recently inspected at the request of the park's maintenance team as a double-check of its own results. According to the company, the inspection showed that the initial findings were correct: there was virtually no wear to any of the chain's components.
