Metals Technologies

SIROLL Furnace Optimization

Provides optimally heated pieces to hot rolling operations while
minimizing fuel consumption
Our solution:
SIROLL Furnace Optimization is a
complete hardware and software solution
that provides the latest technology
in supervisory control of the reheat
furnace. The system calculates and
tracks the thermal condition of individual
pieces inside the furnace, including
hot-charged pieces. Based on this
information, optimal zone temperature
setpoints and furnace production
rates are determined. The system
takes into account both planned and
unplanned delays in rolling production
minimizing fuel consumption during
idle times, and optimizing the ramp-up
of setpoints in anticipation of continued
production. The optimized heating
strategy results in accurate discharge
temperatures, minimal surface scale
formation, minimal decarburization,
minimal fuel consumption, and minimal
environmental emissions all while
respecting the desired piece-to-piece
dropout rate and maximum temperature
gradient within each piece. The system
is well-proven in many applications for
slab, billet, bloom and round products,
and for reheating furnaces with various
configurations including walking beam,
pusher, rotary hearth, etc.
Your challenge:
Hot rolling operations need high-quality
reheated slabs, billets, blooms or rounds
at the lowest possible cost at the mills
optimal production rate. The heating
strategy has a major influence on both
the quality of reheated pieces and on
the amount of fuel used for reheating.
A traditional, non-optimized heating
strategy may seem sufficient under
steady state conditions but does not
provide optimal quality and cost
performance when there are interuptions
in production, variations in product grades
or dimensions, or variations in target
dropout temperatures. In todays
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 optimally heated pieces to hot rolling operations
while minimizing fuel consumption
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Good reasons for SIROLL
Furnace Optimization:
Reduced energy costs and emissions
(CO, CO2, NOx, SOx) fuel
consumption reduced by 6 to 15%
Consistent piece-to-piece discharge
temperature performance average
bulk temperature within 1% of
target temperature
Temperature consistency within each
piece variations within the heated
piece as low as 1% of the target
temperature
Reduced scale formation and
decarburization surface quality is
improved as a result of the optimized
heating strategy
High productivity quality goals are
achieved while respecting the desired
production rate. Tighter control of
dropout temperature, so no need to
overheat pieces to be safe
Improved rolling mill gauge
performance temperature
consistency from piece-to-piece and
within each piece results in consistent
hot rolling stock
- Decreases temperature variations
between pieces
- Increases product surface quality
by minimizing the amount of
scale and decarburization
Delay management adjusts zone
temperatures to maintain the proper
product temperature during delay
conditions to permit resumption
of production at the end of the
delay while minimizing fuel
consumption and achieving
quality goals.
Mill pacing software maximizes
production while accounting for the
requested discharge interval and the
available heat input of the furnace.
The system uses minimum piece-to-
piece discharge intervals to calculate
residence profiles (location/time
profiles) for all pieces in the furnace.
Based on the residence profiles,
an optimized heating strategy
is determined.
System components:
The major components included in
the SIROLL Furnace Optimization
system are:
An on-line, multi-dimensional
thermal model calculates piece
temperatures and gradients while
accounting for changing product
dimensions, varying initial temp-
eratures (including hot charging),
skid marks, and material grades. The
model is used to predict the heating
of every piece in the furnace.
Furnace control software strategies
provide zone temperature and
production rate setpoints to
consistently produce properly
heated pieces. The setpoint
control strategy:
- Reduces fuel consumption
- Decreases temperature gradients
within the product



System components and architecture
Furnace control software that minimizes fuel consumption and saves on energy costs
Modelled Section of a Round Product
Example modeled sections of a round product
Example modeled section of a slab with fixed (F) and
moveable (M) skids
Charge tables
Model profile
Mill pacing
Heat balance
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System components:
Adaptive feedback software biases the
aim discharge temperatures according
to mill temperature feedback and typical
rolling practice.
Data acquisition software collects
furnace and product information for
accurate piece tracking, production
and quality reports, operator interface
screens, and any desired data transfer
to higher-level computers.
An off-line model, as a design and
analysis tool, brings flexibility to a
system that is expected to handle new
product grades and sizes that might
be added to production in the future.
The off-line model uses the same heat
transfer calculation subroutines as the
on-line model. It allows the user to
input different product data and furnace
conditions in order to generate desired
what if types of scenarios and calculates
the results under those conditions.
The off-line model proves to be a very
useful design tool at all stages of system
development, commissioning, tuning
and on-going usage.
Modelled Section of a Billet Product
Example modeled sections of a billet
Example modeled sections of a beam blank
Modelled Section of a Beam Product
System architecture:
SIROLL Furnace Optimization is designed
in a client-server configuration with
ethernet communications between a
single server computer and multiple
Human-Machine Interface (HMI) client
computers. The server is typically
implemented on the Windows
platform and is also available on other
platforms. The client workstations are
personal computers with a Windows-
based graphical software package
that can be distributed to additional
client computers without the need for
additional software licensing.
The SIROLL Furnace Optimization
system provides optimized setpoints
to the SIROLL Furnace Control system
which provides basic automation for
the material handling and combustion
control equipment. The system can
also be integrated with existing basic
automation systems as well as other
existing computer systems.
Typical system architecture with SIROLL

Furnace Optimization and SIROLL Furnace Control
Mill pacing
Heat balance
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Selected success stories with
SIROLL Furnace Optimization
Customer: ArcelorMittal, Vanderbijlpark, South Africa
Furnace type: (1) Walking beam, (3) pusher type - upgrade
Product type: Slab
The results: - 6.8% reduction in fuel usage
Commissioning: 2007
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Customer: Corus (British Steel), Scunthorpe, UK
Furnace type: (1) Walking beam - new and upgrade
Product type: Bloom
The results: - Average deviation from target
dropout temperature 1.09C
- Standard deviation 2.20C
Commissioning: Original 1997, upgrade 2007
Customer: Maanshan Iron & Steel, Maanshan, China
Furnace type: (3) Walking beam - new
Product type: Slab
The results: - Average deviation from target
dropout temperature -2.72C
- Standard deviation 13.88C
Commissioning: 2006
Customer: Duferco Farrell Corporation, Farrell, PA, USA
Furnace type: (3) Pusher type - upgrade
Product type: Slab
The results: - 8.92% reduction in fuel usage
- Increased productivity at the HSM
- Reduced target discharge temperatures
attributable to tighter controls
Commissioning: 2004
Customer: Nucor Steel, Hertford, NC, USA
Furnace type: (1) Walking beam - upgrade
Product type: Slab
The results: - 7.26% reduction in fuel usage
- Average discharge temperature gradient
reduced from 342F to 187F
- Guarantees proven over a sample set
of 17,149 slabs
Commissioning: 2004
Customer: US Steel Tubular Products (Lone Star Steel), Lone Star, TX, USA
Furnace type: (2) Pusher type - upgrade
Product type: Slab
The results: - 10.2% reduction in fuel usage
- Scale formation reduction 18.7%
- Average deviation from target
temperature 13F
Commissioning: 2003
Siemens SIROLL Furnace Optimization
World-class solutions for world-wide customers

Company Country Furnace Mill Type Heated L1, L2* New or Year of
Type (Qty.) Product Upgrade Start-up
Canadoil Plate Ltd. Thailand Walking Beam (2) Plate Slab L2 New 2012
AHMSA Mexico Pusher Type (2) Plate/Steckel Slab L1,L2 New 2011
Jigang China Walking Beam (3) Plate Slab L2 New 2010
Columbus Stainless South Africa Walking Beam (1) Steckel Slab L2 Upgrade 2010
Evraz Regina Steel Canada Walking Beam (1) Plate/Steckel Slab L2 Upgrade 2008
ArcelorMittal South Africa Walking Beam (1) Hot Strip Slab L2 Upgrade 2007
Pusher Type (3)
Corus UK Walking Beam (1) Medium Section Bloom L2 Upgrade 2007
Maanshan China Walking Beam (3) Steckel Slab L2 New 2006
Voestalpine Stahl Austria Walking Beam (1) Hot Strip Slab L2 Upgrade 2006
AHMSA Mexico Walking Beam (2) Hot Strip Slab L1, L2 Upgrade 2005
Jiangsu Shagang China Walking Beam (2) Hot Strip Slab L2 Upgrade 2005
Duferco Farrell USA Pusher Type (3) Hot Strip Slab L2 Upgrade 2004
Nucor Steel Hertford USA Walking Beam (1) Plate Slab L2 Upgrade 2004
Severstal Russia Pusher Type (4) Hot Strip Slab L2 Upgrade 2004
JISCO China Walking Beam (1) Steckel Slab L2 New 2004
USS Tubular Products USA Pusher Type (2) Hot Strip Slab L2 Upgrade 2003
Voestalpine Stahl Austria Pusher Type (2) Plate Slab L2 Upgrade 2003
USS Mon Valley USA Pusher Type (5) Hot Strip Slab L2 Upgrade 2002
Arcelor Mittal Algeria Pusher Type (2) Hot Strip Slab L2 Upgrade 2002
Timken USA Walking Beam (1) Bar Billet L1, L2 Upgrade 2002
ArcelorMittal USA Walking Beam (1) Hot Strip Slab L1, L2 New 2001
ArcelorMittal USA Walking Beam (2) Hot Strip Slab L1, L2 Upgrade 2001
BMZ Shlobin Belarus Walking Beam (2) Bar Billet L2 Upgrade 2000
Evraz Vitkovice Czech Republic Pusher Type (1) Plate Slab L2 Upgrade 1999
Laiwu Steel China Walking Beam (1) Medium Section Billet L2 New 1998
IPSCO, Inc. Canada Walking Beam (1) Plate/Steckel Slab L2 Upgrade 1997
TMK IPSCO USA Walking Beam (1) Hot Strip Slab L1, L2 New 1997
British Steel UK Walking Beam (1) Heavy Section Bloom L1, L2 New 1997
Timken USA Walking Hearth (1) Bar Billet L1, L2 Upgrade 1997
AHMSA Mexico Walking Beam (2) Hot Strip lab L1, L2 New 1996
American Steel & Wire USA Walking Beam (1) Bar Billet L1, L2 New 1996
China Steel Taiwan Walking Beam (2) Hot Strip Slab L2 New 1996
J&L USA Walking Beam (1) Medium Section Billet L1, L2 New 1996
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L1 = SIROLL Furnace Control basic automation (Level 1)
L2 = SIROLL Furnace Optimization process automation (Level 2)
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Alpharetta, GA 30005
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info.us@siemens.com
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contains merely general descriptions or
characteristics of performance which in
actual case of use do not always apply as
described or which may change as a result
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