Modern Hot Strip Mill equipment for new state of the art steel plants and the modernization of existing plants to provide hot strip mills that ensure high quality production, effectivness, and competitiveness

The demand for modern grades of steel is growing, as are the requirements for product quality, mill productivity, and availability. In order to remain competitive, new and existing steel plants must meet this challenge in the best possible way.

SIROLL – expertise in plant layout, mechanics, electrics, drives, and automation.

The production of hot strip is a key element of steel production. Since a large proportion of steel production (approx. 50%) is hot-rolled, mills demand maximum throughput and availability combined with geometrical precision and optimum material properties. SIROLL provides solutions for the classic hot strip mill, the compact hot-strip mill, as well as the latest ESP plants for endless strip production with combined casting and rolling technologies.

The SIROLL product family provides the complete scope of hot strip mill equipment, components, utilities, drives, electric and automation systems, as well as a full range of technological and service packages to meet demands for the highest performance, product quality, and operational flexibility for both new and existing mills.

In the field of SIROLL HM technology Siemens VAI has introduced a number of technology packages for hot-strip mills. These contribute to a substantial reduction in production costs in addition to improved product quality performance.

An excerpt from these innovative solutions is listed below:

SIROLL Furnace Optimization

Dynamic process optimization for reheat furnaces

Hot-rolling operations require high-quality reheated slabs, billets, or blooms at the lowest possible cost. The heating strategy has a major influence on both the quality of reheated pieces and on the amount of fuel used for reheating. In today’s marketplace, a solution is needed to deliver the highest quality and lowest cost heating under all conditions with minimal impact on the environment. SIROLL furnace optimization provides that solution.

Depending on the actual status of the automation and the extent of the automation revamp (either the process control and/or the level 1) significant savings can be realized, that typically are reduced energy costs and emissions (CO, CO2, NOx, SOx) with fuel usage reduced by 6 to 15%.

SIROLL Furnace Optimization

Profile and flatness package

Optimum actuators and control system for high quality strip

Motivations to upgrade the profile and flatness control are many, the most important ones are the increase of profile and flatness adjustment range, improved profile and flatness tolerances, the ability to counteract all types of buckles, single work roll contour per mill stand, extended campaign length and reduced minimum gauges Installation of profile and flatness actuators like work roll bending and shifting systems featuring the SmartCrown® work-roll contour combined with the advanced and flexible profile and flatness control and model can be the solution.

SIROLL Flatness Gauge

Work-roll lubrication for hot-strip mills

Lubrication system for work rolls to reduce conversion cost and improve strip quality

By installing the barrel lubrication package on work rolls, surface defects are avoided and roll wear is reduced. The advantage of the Siemens VAI solution is the effective application of lubrication media onto the work rolls avoiding scale build-up and peeling of the work-roll surface with a minimum of rolling oil consumption while applying the oil precisely at selected times and controlled exactly to ensure stable rolling. The benefits of Siemens VAI work-roll lubrication include improved strip surface quality, reduced operation costs, extended mill utilization times, extended mill limits, and reduced energy consumption. As the reduction of deformation power up to 20% directly impacts the consumption of deformation energy, this package can be contributed as a "green" product.

SIROLL HM Work Roll Lubrication

Microstructure Target Cooling

Controlled cooling combined with clever costing

After rolling, the strip is cooled down several hundred degrees in a cooling line. This process is crucial for the mechanical properties of the material. With our new microstructure target cooling, we provide an online model to calculate and control the temperature course as well as the phase fractions of the material along the whole cooling section in real time. This gives you precise control of the cooling process, resulting in higher quality and lower costs.

Microstructure Target Cooling

Microstructure Monitor

On-line available system for continuous product quality assurance

Each strip that leaves the hot-strip mill must satisfy customer’s quality requirements regarding tensile strength, yield strength, and other mechanical properties. To save the time and expense of testing each strip separately, the microstructure monitor uses measured parameters to calculate the material properties, such as yield point or tensile strength, which are required for certification. This work is carried out online during production, thereby minimizing expensive laboratory measurements and significantly shortening the release time for the strip, as well as providing the possibility to have this values over the whole strip length instead of only the sample area.

Microstructure Monitor for SIROLL HM

SIROLL Power Coiler

Precise coiling of a wide range of steel products

The SIROLL Power Coiler was developed to enable efficient and improved coiling of high-strength and other advanced steel grades, especially for thick gauges. It is equipped with four wrapper rolls, whereby the first wrapper roll is characterized by a special design and control system. This coiler solution features a heavy-duty pinch roll with pre-bending capabilities. The SIROLL Power Coiler assures that the complete range of strip thicknesses from 1.2 mm up to 25.4 mm can be coiled at strip widths up to 2,100 mm. This reliable solution is ideal for installation in both new and existing hot-strip mills.