Computer control systems of a bloom caster

Abstract

The new bloom caster at Sumitomo Metal's Wakayama Steel Works was succesfully commissioned in January 1979. This bloom caster is characterized by the fact that the operations of the tube round making are fully controled by computer systems through all the processes: refining steels, casting blooms and rolling billets. The nominal monthly production capacity of 80,000 metric tons was recorded as early as in the second month after the start up of this facility, and a world record of a sequence casting of 413 heats in half a year. In addition to high productivity, the computer systems have enabled us to obtain a better quality of steel products compared to the process by a conventional ingot method. The continuous cast blooms are sent directly to a reheating furnace without any surface conditioning, thus the residual thermal energy delivered from the LD converter is recovered and utilized for the following process. As a result, the computer control systems with which the new bloom caster is equipped contribute very much to upgrading steel quality, saving energy, increasing yield and reducing production costs.