ABB has equipped the JSW cold rolling mill, the most modern CRM plant in the world at Bellary, with its latest technology. The CRM plant is equipped with modern automation, drives and control systems. ABB in India was the sole supplier for automation and drives for this green-field project which consists of continuous pickling line (CPL), compact cold mill (CCM), electrolytic cleaning line (ECL), skin pass mill (SPM) and two recoiling lines cum tension leveling lines (RCL).
ABB solutions helped the CRM plant to improve yield and productivity of processing lines, improved surface quality and finishing, better roughness transfer reducing turnaround time, accurate tension control, enhanced strip defect inspection to log surface defects and production planning and management through modern MES system.
JSW Steel Ltd., with a capacity of 10 million tonnes per annum is a major player. It is India’s second largest steelmaker and boasts of the most modern, eco-friendly steel plants with the latest technologies for both upstream and downstream processes. It is also one of the lowest cost steel producers in the world. ABB has prepared the CRM with advanced drive and automation technology. The drives control is based on the patented Direct Torque Control or DTC concept, providing dynamic performance in terms of torque and speed accuracy. The high torque accuracy and dynamics of the drives used in combination with mass flow control leads to extremely fast correction times of process disturbances and exceptional thickness quality. ABB power system and drives consist of ACS 6000 family of medium voltage drives based on IGCT technology, coupled with synchronous machines for accurate torque control for the compact cold mill. Medium Voltage switchgear system, LV distribution, and UPS system were also supplied in this project.
ABB has standard software modules for rolling mills, consisting of total integration of automation functions based on ABB 800xA control system. ABB has also provided the Level 1 and Level 2 automation system to integrate the plant. Level 1 control system for mills is based on 800xA which is highly flexible and scalable ABB DCS solution and level 2 consists of production management and process control.
In close collaboration with JSW Steel Ltd. and other suppliers, ABB in India ensured a rapid plant start-up by supporting it with the advanced automation systems. Ensuring that the CRM plant was commissioned within a record period of 24 months, it has presently a capacity of producing 10 MT per year cold rolled coils. On an average 350 coils are manufactured per day. The consistent cold rolled quality has enabled JSW to produce steel at a very competitive price catering to the automotive and process industries.