EUROPEAN STEEL TECHNOLOGY AND APPLICATION DAYS 2017 - ESTAD 2017

The current market is seeing an increase in the demand of added value products including the production of high strength plates which ideally must keep the use of high cost alloys to a minimum. Applications such as oil and gas pipelines, offshore structures and shipbuilding, require good control of both mechanical properties and the final shape of the plates. The production of such plate is more economically possible with the application of the MULPIC plate cooling technology coupled with advanced process control. This paper describes a recent modernization project at the plate line at China Steel’s Kaohsiung Works, with the aim of increasing the product mix and improving the quality of cooled products. China Steel and Primetals Technology worked closely together to install the MULPIC upstream of the current laminar cooling machine to allow higher cooling rates to be achieved by using the Direct Quench cooling technology. The modular design philosophy used in the MULPIC reduced installation time and Final Acceptance was achieved with all guarantees passed. An overview of this project is presented together with a description of the cooling system and its associated automation. The MULPIC is designed to provide the high cooling rates and temperature accuracy needed to achieve the combination of high strength and toughness essential to plates destined for demanding applications. Plate flatness accuracy is controlled using edge masking, crown valves and head tail masking. This paper also demonstrates the importance of the advanced model based automation coupled with a sophisticated adaptation. The new Primetals valve technology is also described which allows the flow to be controlled to the accuracy needed for precise plate cooling. Typical performance results are given which demonstrate the accuracy that was achieved.