Product category:
Plantwide control
News Release from: ABB Automation Tech (Instrumentation + Automation) | Subject: ABB 800xA control system
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 14 February 2007
Control system improves visibility of
furnace
A new ABB control system for the Queen Victoria blast furnace at Corus Scunthorpe Steel works is providing the company with improved visibility of the iron making process.
A new ABB control system for the Queen Victoria blast furnace at Corus Scunthorpe Steel works is providing the company with improved visibility of the iron making process and greater flexibility in the way steel is produced The new ABB 800xA for Queen Victoria includes two Advant controllers, six operator consoles and two parallel information reporting workstations
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 17 Jul 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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ABB provided a core team of experienced engineers who had worked on other Scunthorpe blast furnaces over the previous 25 years.
This continuity of dialogue helped to fast track the design and development phases and keeps the commissioning and startup time down to a minimum.
This ensured a quick ramp up to full production at the right quality.
Once the design had been finalised in close consultation with Corus, ABB started building the system at its facility in St Neots.
Corus stipulated the need to test the complete system before it left the ABB factory.
Corus spent eight weeks testing the control suite with bespoke simulation software, written by ABB engineers who satisfied themselves that it would work as specified with its existing systems.
Corus control engineer Spencer Pullin comments: "We have had a very good relationship with ABB throughout the last 20 years and this project was another example of 'Best Supplier to Best Customer' in action".
"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 the operators with the new operator interface".
"The wisdom of choosing a vendor to maintain commonality with the previous system paid off, as the operators were able to get up to speed on the system much more quickly than they would with something completely new".
"The operators' interface has been kept very similar to that of the previous ABB control system, making it easy for the operators to learn", comments Pullin.
Another major benefit of the new system is the improved management reporting.
All data from the controller is made readily available to management staff, making it easier for them to have overall control of the blast furnace.
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.
Each day these records are archived and can be pulled back at any time in the future for historical analysis.
The system also provides more redundancy, allowing Corus to ride through minor equipment issues without losing production".
"ABB delivers extremely good reliability from its control systems".
"We have never had to take a plant out of production due to a problem with ABB equipment since we changed over to using ABB control systems", says Pullin.
"The hardware and cabling for the system was installed during the outage for replacing the furnace refractories".
"Commissioning followed on from this".
"After installation, we simply switched on the control system and got going".
"It all went successfully", adds Pullin.
"The system has been in operation for three months now and has performed flawlessly".
One of the novel features of the project was a permanent landline installed to enable ABB 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.
Neil Baldwin, Project Manager for ABB says: "The project went well because of the close co-operation between the two companies".
"We both got benefits from it - Corus got the highly reliable and flexible system they wanted and we improved and strengthened our relationship with an important and valued customer".
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