Siemens VAI Metals Technologies has received an order from the Italian steel producer Acciaierie Venete S.p.A. to extensively modernize the company's blooming mill in Camin. To this end, a new blooming stand including ancillary systems will be constructed and integrated into the existing installations.
The project is aimed at improving the quality of blooms with the option of entirely or partly dispensing with downstream processing steps. The order is on a turnkey basis, and its value is in the low double-digit millions Euro range. The modernized blooming mill is scheduled to commence operation at the start of 2014.
Acciaierie Venete is a private manufacturer of rods and profiles made of carbon and high-grade steels that has several production facilities in Italy. The company's headquarters is in Camin in the province of Padua. Acciaierie Venete produces around 1.5 million tons of steel every year. The new blooming mill at the Camin steelworks will enable greater reduction of cross-sections throughout the rolling process. This will improve the metallurgical properties of end products. As a result, additional processing steps such as forging can be dispensed with either in whole or in part. This means that although the specific conversion costs are lower in total, steel grades as required in particular by the automobile industry or manufacturers of wind turbines can still be produced.
Siemens is constructing the blooming line from the exit point of the new bloom caster. From there, a transfer crane will transport the blooms either to the run-in roller table of the new reheating furnace or to the cooling bed. This will be realized as a walking beam system and will be able to provide different cooling profiles according to the product. Roller tables equipped with elevating and rotating fixtures will feed the new reheating furnace with the capability of hot charging. As a special feature, the reheating furnace will have two exits. This will ensure a supply of ingoing material to the existing continuous rolling line during construction of the new blooming line.
A high-pressure descaler will be installed between the furnace and the blooming mill. The blooming mill itself is conceived as a duo reversing blooming stand with shifting units. It features an inline quick-change system for simple and fast replacement of rolls and chocks. The rolls have a length of 1,500 millimeters and a diameter of 1,060 millimeters. Per hour, the blooming stand can process around 110 tons of blooms with a weight of up to ten tons and diameters of between 350 and 600 millimeters. Products with square cross-sections of 180x180, 240x250 and 280x280 millimeters and round stock with diameters between 180 and 315 millimeters are rolled from carbon and quality steels, and cropped by an hydraulic shear. A roller table to the existing continuous long product rolling mill completes the blooming line's mechanical equipment. The scope of delivery also includes the electrical, drive and automation technology, including medium-voltage transformers for the blooming stand, AC main drives including two motors with a power output of 1,800 kilowatts each, AC auxiliary drives, the complete level 1 automation, mechatronic components and a CCTV system.
Siemens is also responsible for the installation and commissioning and for customer training. Siemens will also assist the customer in obtaining the required safety certification for the machines and the overall plant in compliance with Italian and European regulations.