Purpose

Automated system for charge material supply into ferroalloy furnaces of Shop #7 is aimed for efficient operation of furnaces through automatic monitoring, analysis, coordination and adjustment of parameters for batching, transportation and loading of charge materials into furnace hoppers of the Material Handling System of Shop #7 of OAO ChEMW.

Scope of Work and Services

SME Tomsk Electronic Company implemented the following scope of work within this project: 

• Development and agreement of the technical assignment for the system
• Development of PCS design
• Manufacturing and supply of process equipment (continuous batchers) and PCS
• Installation supervision and commissioning

Basic Parameters of Control Cabinet

Components of Batching Line 

Process equipment of Shop #7 is located in two buildings:

• Warehouse for charge materials (storage, treatment and batching department, a part of the conveying system) 
• Main melting building (a part of the conveying system, ferroalloy furnaces)

The following process equipment is controlled and monitored by the automatic control system:

• Storage bins for charge components, including mounted vibrators
• Plate feeders
• Batchers of continuous action
• Flap gates
• Collecting and inclined conveyors
• Distributing reversible conveyors
• Furnace hoppers

Functions

Automated system for charge materials supply into ferroalloy furnace performs the following functions:

• Control of 36 batching subsystems including belt feeders, plate feeders and mounted vibrators as per setup operation mode
• Batching of charge materials components in the proportion setup in the formula meeting all metrological requirements and performing ASAD functions
• Monitoring of batching, handling emergency situations, generating trip off points and emergency alarm
• Registration of the current state of the system, generating and storing operation archives and reports for a shift and day to the server and their transfer to PCS of the shop and printing out
• Diagnostic, setup and metrological procedures aimed to define the state of the system
• Exchange of data through the server of the shop PCS upon SQL requests

Features and Benefits 

Stage by stage replacement of existing equipment and control system for the batching unit with no shutdown of batching and supply of charge materials into furnaces.

The existing conveying system can be equipped with sensor units for belt misalignment, movement, drum fencing, falling in transfer points and location of the automatic discharge device over the furnace hopper in compliance with the modern requirements to the system.

Since the facility is located in several buildings, remote input -output system (RIO) has been used to provide connection between the systems.

The proportion accuracy of the charge materials provided the stable operation of furnaces of Shop #7, thus FR-75 alloy could be produced at the closed furnaces. 

Capacity of these two new batching lines (out of six) turned to be enough to meet the production requirements of the shop.