7TH EUROPEAN COKE AND IRONMAKING CONGRESS - ECIC 2016

In today’s competitive iron making environment the optimization and continuous supervision of the sintering process is of major importance. Today, the quality control of mixes mainly relies on the experience and expertise gained by one or several operators working at the production facility. Standardized and representative sample taking and preparation is an unfulfilled wish of the operating personnel. The benefits of sampling, sample preparation and analysis are even more important when they are combined with process models and expert systems. Only a comprehensive and detailed knowledge of the process parameters together with measurement of process variables enables corrective actions and an optimized operation of the plant. This paper describes the development of a fully automated sampling device which takes several representative samples directly during material discharge from conveyor and a sample preparation system via utilisation of robotic systems and measurement of permeability, bulk density and other material properties. Direct action is taken via level2/expert system to change process parameters (e.g. moisture) according to the measurements. Continuous adjustments and design modifications results in a stable and robust measuring system including peripheral devices and a sophisticated control unit.