Metal/iron & steel industry

How an integrated standardized instrument pool minimizes costs at Rasselstein

Continuous annealing furnace 5

Flow measurement with orifice plate with Deltatop on continuous annealing furnace

Conductivity measurement with Mycom CLM153 in the degreasing system

Project management without frontiers The Continuous Annealing Furnace 5 large-scale project from ThyssenKrupp Steel affiliate, Rasselstein, is a system cast in one piece. For Endress+Hausers metallurgical plants/ steel project management team made the operating company an offer it virtually could not refuse: Endress+Hauser, which provides measuring technology offered in addition concepts and services, supplies and coordinates all the measuring points, even on an international basis. Thereby the workload for all those involved in the planning and construction phase were significant eased. Furthermore, the project results in a standardized instrument pool, allowing for considerable cost savings during ongoing operation and over the entire life cycle of the plant.

Rasselstein is a company steeped in tradition: Even the legendary Adler (Eagle), Germanys first train, made its maiden voyage from Nuremberg to Frth in 1835 on Rasselstein railroad tracks. Today, the affiliate of ThyssenKrupp Steel is Germanys only tinplate manufacturer and the largest tinplate production center in the world. With annual production rates of 1.24 million tonnes a year, the pioneer of iron and steel processing serves some 400 customers in 80 countries and has a market share in Germany of over 50 %. Its tinplate and thin sheet are made into packaging products and seals for food, beverages, pet food, chemical products and much more. Due to extremely positive growth forecasts for so called DWI material for two-piece beverage and food cans in Europe and the overseas, the company decided to expand its production of finished material. In the past number of years, the company has invested over 100 million in its location in Andernach. Plants put to the endurance test One of the prime assets of the factory is the new continuous annealing furnace 5 which went into operation on August 15th, 2005 and grants new pliability to 176,500 lbs of brittle, hard sheet steel every hour. The preceding cold-rolling process destroys the

inner metal structure, making the material useless as packaging material. But just two minutes in the 250-meter-long annealing furnace gives plasticity back to the metal sheets, measuring 1.40meters in width. Depending on the thickness of the metal sheet, the furnace must be heated to up to 880 C for recrystallization. The trick in this technically demanding process is to keep the strip temperature constant over the entire length and breadth in an inert gas atmosphere, explains Horst Hilger, responsible for measuring and control technology in the continuous annealing team at Rasselstein. The heating capacity is designed in such a way that we can anneal every sheet thickness at full speed. Every stoppage produces spoils over the entire length of the furnace. For this reason, all suppliers have to undergo an availability test and prove that their system achieves a time-usability rate of 97 % over six weeks while in 24-hour operation. This applies just as much to the supplier of the furnace and the degreasing system as it does to Endress+Hauser which, at the request of the client, equipped the complete continuous annealing furnace 5 with devices to measure flow, level, pressure, temperature and conductivity.

Flow measurement with Promag 50 in the degreasing system

Flow measurement with Prowirl 72 in the degreasing system

Flow measurement with Promag 50 in the recooling system

Horst Hilger values direct contact with his suppliers: Its important for me to have a direct point of contact. I have an excellent working relationship with Mr. Schuster. Jrg Schuster, specialist for the metallurgical plants/steel sector in technical sales at Endress+Hauser, has implemented quite a number of systems at Rasselstein - but never on this scale. But it was not a problem for the experienced sales associate: for this large-scale project, he simply brought his colleagues from the metallurgical plants/ steel industry network on board who are specialized in tailored solutions for this industrial sector and can lead the entire management of the project. Industry network pays off With its integrated industry concept, Endress+Hauser simply convinced us, that it minimizes the variety of applications. And thats a deciding factor for us, Horst Hilger points out. In this instance, we only specified one single make. The individual industrial plant manufacturers said what they wanted to measure and Endress+Hauser suggested the device to suit their requirements. All the companies involved had to agree among themselves as to which measuring technology is the best for every application.

In the Drever continuous annealing furnace, various Endress+Hauser devices measure the flow of water, air and gas. In the degreasing system supplied by Nisterhammer Maschinenbau, they control and monitor the pump stations and the individual rinse sections. A total of 10 conductivity measuring points are responsible for the quality control of the entire cleaning process - from precleaning, electrolytic cleaning and brush cleaning to rinsing and passivation. Furthermore, Rasselstein deploys level, pressure, temperature, flow and conductivity measurement in the entis Systemtechnik recooling system and other units of the annealing furnace. Thomas Brhl, project manager for metallurgical plants/steel at Endress+Hauser, was responsible for coordinating the individual plant units, a task which sometimes went beyond national boundaries when working with the Belgian furnace producer Drever, for example. Thanks to central quote and order processing, complex projects can be managed effectively and interfaces optimized. The industrial plant manufacturer does not have to go through a time-consuming process where it normally requests a quote from several listed suppliers, compares their quotes, reworks them individu-

ally where necessary and then reexamines them at a later stage. Formula for success for cost reduction A standardized instrument pool from one single supplier has many advantages. It reduces cost, Horst Hilger says. In addition, it also has many benefits in terms of engineering and commissioning. On the long term, more cost savings can be made with regard to spare parts storage, maintenance and training. For employees only have to familiarize themselves with one company and one software package. Five different suppliers means that staff have to acquire knowledge five times to have a command of all the makes. X number of suppliers also means X different operating programs which are probably not compatible. With the FieldCare tool, all 220 measuring devices can now be configured in a uniform manner. If we have a level measurement unit from Endress+Hauser in a system, we put a spare unit in stock. If we have a second system, the number of units in stock remains at one. If we have another manufacturer, another part is put in stock - that makes two etc. With different makes, at least one device is put in stock per manufacturer, explains Horst Hilger.

Instruments International Endress+Hauser GmbH+Co. KG Instruments International P.O. Box 2222 79574 Weil am Rhein Germany Tel. +49 7621 975 02 Fax +49 7621 975 345 http://www.endress.com info@ii.endress.com

CS 018B/11/en/10.06 71032784 Straub/INDD CS2