STEEL

METAL

LEVEL

MACHINE

CONTROL

IN

CONTINUOUS

CASTING

TUNDISH
Yu~
and

A.
V.

Sviridov,
A.
N. Pyatkovskii

S.

Oganesov,

UDC

669.185.1:62L746,5.047

One of the conditions for obtaining high-quality semifinished products in the continuous casting of steel
on a continuous casting machine (CCM) is stabilization of the level of the metal in the tundish. A constant
static head of metal to be poured into the mold and the r e m o v a l of c a s e s and nonmetallic inclusions from the
molten m e t a l are achieved with a constant metal level in the tundish.
On a m o d e r n CCM, m e t a l is poured into the tundish from steel ladles equipped with slide gates operated
by a hydraulic servo. The operation of the slide gate is c h a r a c t e r i z e d by the following f e a t u r e s . The gate can
completely c o v e r the working orifice of the steel ladle o r leave it fully opened, c o r r e s p o n d i n g l y allowing a
change in metal flow f r o m z e r o to m a x i m u m . The gate can also occupy an i n t e r m e d i a t e position, at which the
metal flow is insufficient to thoroughly heat the edges of the slide gate. The edges cool down and the through
section of the slide gate begins to b e c o m e closed with solidified metal, until metal flow c e a s e s completely.
This is an e m e r g e n c y situation. To avoid such o c c u r r e n c e s , it is n e c e s s a r y to operate the gate in a twoposition mode ( o p e n - closed), with the s e r v o moving the gate through the range where closing up of the through
section of the gate is possible at the m a x i m u m possible speed. In the working range of the gate, where closing
up is eliminated, the gate may be stopped in any position, e.g. m a y operate in a mode of continuous control.
A s y s t e m of automatic control of the metal level in a tundish which takes into account the features of
slide gate operation was developed by the Central Planning and Design Office (CPDO) Soyuzpromavtomatika
and its Lipetskii b r a n c h and put into operation on continuous slab c a s t e r s at the Novolipetskii Metallurgical
Plant.
The s y s t e m s made use of control m e c h a n i s m RP2. The position of the beginning of the range of gate
m o v e m e n t over which closing up of the gate through section may o c c u r is d e t e r m i n e d with a tappet switch.
The automatic control s y s t e m operates in the range f r o m the fully open position to the tappet switch position
according to the p r o p o r t i o n a l - i n t e g r a l (PI) law of control, and in the range f r o m the tappet switch to the fully
closed position of the gate a c c o r d i n g to the two-position law of control.
P r o d u c t i o n has now begun of unitized e l e c t r i c a l control equipment s y s t e m (UECES) devices p o s s e s s i n g
a n u m b e r of qualities which distinguish them advantageously f r o m e a r l i e r - p r o d u c e d e l e c t r o n i c control devices.
The use of UECES devices in control s y s t e m s has been determined to be expedient by virtue of their high
reliability, g r e a t e r n u m b e r of possible functions, and small size, which is essential for CCS control stations.
On the basis of UECES devices, CPDO has developed an automatic control s y s t e m for the metal level in a
tundish. Figure 1 shows a block d i a g r a m of the s y s t e m .
The metal level in a tundish is p r o p o r t i o n a l to the m a s s of the molten metal it contains and is m e a s u r e d
with g r a v i m e t r i c gauges (load cells) placed underneath the tundish. The type of load cell used depends on the
design and capacity of the tundish. A 0-5 mA dc signal p r o p o r t i o n a l to the m e t a l level is sent f r o m the load
cell (not shown in the diagram) to the input of an RBI2-Sh control pulse block with d i s c r e t e automatic control.
The control point is established by m e a n s of manual c o n t r o l - p o i n t - s e t t i n g m e c h a n i s m RZD. Adjustments of
the c o n t r o l b l o c k define the effeciency of the P and I gate control components. Control pulses from the control
block a r e sent through manual control unit BRU-3K (automatic r e m o t e - c o n t r o l mode selection) to contactless
r e v e r s i n g s t a r t e r PBR, which effects r e v e r s e control through block BU of the gate s e r v o SP. The intermediate

Central Planning and Design Office (TsPKB), Lipetskii Branch. T r a n s l a t e d f r o m Metallurg, No. 6,
pp. 27-28, June, 1977.
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377

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Fig. 1. Block diagram of automatic control

of metal level in an MNLZ tundish.
gate position tappet switch PV (which is closed within the range of gate movement over which closing up of the
gate through section is possible) is connected to the inputs of coupling rate (transfer constant) and integration
time discrete remote control block RBI2-Sh. With closing of the tappet switcht the coupling rate and integration time settings a r e automatically diminished and the control block shifts to the two-position control mode.
When the PV is opened, the control block r e v e r t s to the PI control mode with the earl i er-est abl i shed settings.
The system may be realized in both the instrument and cabinet variants of a UECES device.

378