MAY 2022 | PROJECT OF THE MONTH
TOO HOT TO HANDLE
Morgan Automation partners with Siemens to install its motion control and material handling product and software suites for three cranes transferring hot coils at a US Steel Mill
M
organ Automation has partnered with Big River Steel, a US steel mill in Arkansas to devise and
implement a fully-automated, non- manned series of three cranes, creating a new approach to coil handling for its rolled-to-order production strategy. The cranes work with two coil transfer cars accepting hot coils off the walking beam from the hot mill and Morgan turned to Siemens, for its drive, plc, safety I/O, power quality meters, PCs, wireless hardware plus communication software and its TIA Portal for commissioning and monitoring on the project. “The excellent reliability and
performance of the Siemens solution on this project was invaluable in helping us achieve complete operational efficiency and zero downtime during the first six months of operation,” said
Mark Sharamitaro, president, Morgan Automation. “When the system is in operation, every movement is carefully orchestrated, and every sensor is continuously monitored and logged with its time stamp. This real-time data collection and evaluation allows the team at Big River Steel to continually identify and improve operational performance.” The greenfield project involved the handling of approximately 1,000 coils or 30,000 tons of steel a day at the mill. A typical coil in this yard is
approximately 83” OD x 82” W and weighs 28 tons on average. As the mill operates on a “made to order” mindset, there is a dual challenge of handling hot coils from the mill and organizing their staging for shipment by truck, rail or barge, with an additional quadrant on the ground for coils heading via the coil transfer cars provided by Morgan to the
Pickling Line Tandem Cold Mill (PLTCM) on the premises. In the proposed and enclosed coil
yard, the walking beam would deliver the coils from the hot mill, then the crane grab would secure the individual coil and place it in the coil transfer car or on a saddle in the appropriate quadrant on the floor. During low production times, the system would defrag the coil assortment into the proper positions to conserve storage space with full tracking in real time. Each crane has a thermal imaging
camera for temp sensing plus a patent- pending laser positioning system. Data tracking is displayed in the mill control room with real time KPI calculations. The goals for this new Autonomous
Coil Yard (ACY) included the indoor facility to reduce rust and corrosion, improved coil handling to meet shipping
Q The control cabinet houses drives and other hardware to run the crane system. R A PLC unit controls the drives to position the crane for handling of each coil from the mill.
10 | May 2022 |
www.hoistmagazine.com
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