Russian steelmaker PAO Severstal has boosted production from its tandem cold mill, thanks to a revamp by SMS group.
The mill, located at Severstal’s Cherepovets facility in north west Russia, was revamped ‘in an exceptionally short time’ according to SMS group, thanks to the company’s Plug & Work concept and high levels of co-operation between steelmaker and technology provider.
The revamp involved the complete replacement of the mill’s entry section and the four mill stands plus the installation of state-of-the-art rolling technology including CVC plus technology and other actuators for the four high mill stands, the X-Pact automation system, X-Shape flatness measuring and control system, and an assistance system to optimise threading and tailing out at each stand.
“A major challenge was to implement the replacement of the complete stands,” said SMS group. “The individual construction phases had to be scheduled such that the production was not to be affected until the main shutdown of the mill,” the company added.
In three of the mill stands the existing Leonard-type rolling motors were retained for further use, but relying upon cutting edge controls – which proved a challenge. Only the first mill stand received a completely new drive train consisting of a modern synchronous motor and the necessary converter equipment, resulting in a higher rolling speed.
Shutdown took three months and over that period SMS group and Severstal worked closely on dismantling and assembly.
As a result of the revamp Severstal has increased its overall capacity by 200kt to 1.3Mt.