Automation In Steel Ladle Management at JSW Steel Ltd, Vijayanagar Works

Presented By : J H Mazumder
Dy General Manager
Steel Melting Shop -2
 Sketch of Casting & Ladle Prep Bay Available Facilities

LPR - 1D24 – 20 units Switch STU I/O Crane Transfer car

• 4 180T converters
Symeo hardware S STU Camera Kiosk

Testing bed Tilting stand

• 4 Ladle Heating
Con4 Con3 Con2 Con1
Furnace

D S S
D • 2 RH units
Ladle Preparation Bay
Wall

•1 Billet Caster( 8 strand)

Wall
ST
S ST
U S
U
E E
ST
U
S
RH-2 LHF-4 LHF-3 ST
U
S
LHF-2 LHF-1 RH-1 ST
U
S • 4 Slab Casters
RH-2
Casting Bay • 3 casting cranes
S

F S S F

ccp9 ccp8 ccp7 ccp6 ccp5 • 2 LP bay cranes

• Testing beds & Tilting

Length of Bay =312 m
stands

2
 High idle time between caster and converter tap indicates non-optimal ladle use; Lack of
visibility of idle time at specific points (caster  converter) masks the root cause

LHF

Casters
Converter

Total idle time (caster  converter): 112 min

✗
Slag dump
LP Bay
??

✗ Higher preparation
time; no
✗ Delay in slag dumping 
bottom jamming 
accountability higher preparation time

Root cause for poor ladle management leading to high idle time and ladle unavailability is
owing to lack of visibility on the movement of steel ladles in the shop floor
 Ladle unavailability coupled with non-optimal ladles in circulation cause
substantial loss in SMS-2

Effect Reason

Lower than achievable Corrosive steel (and slag) sitting in the

1 refractory life converter erode refractory heavily
Steel ladle
unavailability at
converter leads to... Higher residence time in the converter
2 High reblows post blowing  temp loss  reblows

Ladle unavailability: (~40-50% delays

3 Lower productivity happening because of advance heat
 not addressable)

High ladle in circulation  higher idle time

1 Higher arcing time in LHF  lower ladle temperature  higher
Non-optimal # of
arcing time in LHF (5 – 10 kwh/ton)
steel ladles in the
shop lead to...
2 High ladle refractory cost
 Objective of the Project

Providing Visibility of Ladle in Circulation & Maintenance to Shift I/C

Providing a set of choice matrix for better decision making

 Thermal modeling for better Superheat control

 Monitoring & control Of LP bay maintenance activities

 Generation of reports for MIS

 Real-time Ladle Tracking & scheduling will enable
Lower Idle-Time & Lower Advance heats
Real-time steel ladle tracking & scheduling...

Real time tracking and scheduling of ladles to:

 Send automatic job request to the crane operator
 Predict/measure ladle condition
 Determine exact contact-time of ladles which is used to evaluate the state of refractory
Lining & consumable parts.
 Obtain accurate time of Ladle arrival, departure & accurate transit time against Standard
Practice. Hence decrease ladle circulation time & plan for crane logistic.
 Management of ladle preparation jobs and important parts  automated decision on ladle
preparation required and appropriate testing stand/tilting stand/LP Bay the ladle needs to
go.
 Dynamic decisions/prompts to increase/decrease the # of ladles based on the idle time of
ladles
 Configuration diagram - Ladle Tracking System(Crane)
Crane cabin PC Crane cabin PC
Crane cabin PC

Radar based Radar based

positioning Radar based
positioning positioning

8 port switch 8 port switch

Encoder W Encoder W 8 port switch
Encoder W
S S
S
Weighing
system Weighing Weighing
Display
Display Display system
meters system
meters meters
Wifi Modem
Wifi Modem Wifi Modem
EF Bay

LP Bay Crane cabin PC Crane cabin PC

Radar based Radar based

positioning
positioning

Encoder) W
8 port switch Encoder W 8 port switch
S S

Weighing
Weighing
Display system Display system
meters meters

Wifi Modem
Wifi Modem
Configuration diagram - Ladle Tracking System(Control Room)

Client PC
Wifi Modem
Load Display meter

Plant network Firewall

HTS network
8 port managed switch HTS *
LTS Server

Ladle Ladle Ladle Ladle

Transfer Transfer Transfer Transfer
LP Bay Car1 Car2 Car3 Car14
Kiosk Camera Camera Camera Camera
 Expected Benefits from the Project

 Increase in Productivity

Efficient utilization of crane

Improvement in Ladle life

Reduced arcing time

 Improvement in quality

 Better accountability of cast steel & return steel

Reduced operating cost