An automated system development to control the device for supplying slag-forming mixture into mould of CCM

The mechanism of feeding slag-forming mixture (SFM) with a pneumatic drive has a number of disadvantages associated, in particular, with the uneven supply of the mixture into mould. To eliminate the drawbacks, mixture feeding device with an electric drive was designed to eliminate them. In order to ensure control of the SFM feeding process, an automated system has been developed that provides real-time information on the technological process of feeding the mixture into the mould of continuous casting machine, including speed of rotation of screw drive motors and movement of carriage, the level of the mixture in the bunkers and its consumption, temperature of the metal and slag. A software and hardware complex (SCADA-system) has been developed, which makes it possible to analyze the components of the mixture in the “online” mode and take into account the effect of changes in the supply of each of them on its composition. The dependence of the mixture consumption rate on the casting rate has been established, which can be displayed on the screen in the current mode. Application of the SCADA-system made it possible to control the developed SFM feeder both in manual and automatic modes. It was shown that the implementation of the developed automated SFM feeding device in the steelmaking production of Ural Steel, JSC will secure decreasing the SFM consumption by 2.8% and decreasing downtime by 5% due to increasing efficiency of fault detection with a total implementation cost of 200 thous. rubles.