Continuous Thermal Imaging to Prevent Steel Breakouts
SUMMARY
Steel breakouts are hellish, real-life nightmares. Showering a plant or with hundreds of tons of 1400°C (2552°F) molten iron is an extremely dangerous and costly mistake that steel mills try desperately to avoid. Monitoring ladles and torpedoes with thermal imaging makes preventing breakouts more realistic, but traditional handheld cameras require an operator, limiting inspection frequency and creating potentially dangerous workplace conditions. US-based ANT Automation understands the devastating effects of a breakout, and their CIRA System is helping plants around the world limit their risk of incident with continuous thermal monitoring
THE CHALLENGE
Heating and transporting molten iron is inherently hazardous. A breakout can result in the loss of thousands of dollars in raw materials, severe damage to nearby equipment, extended downtime, or worse– the injury or death of a worker. Fortunately, proper safety measures and healthy equipment can go a long way in avoiding major accidents. Diligent preventative maintenance of the ladles and torpedoes used to shuttle molten iron between steel making processes is critical.
Many steel mills rely on manual thermal imaging inspections. “Most plants have a handheld thermal camera,” says Javier Barreiro of ANT Automation, an industrial solutions provider in Pittsburg, PA. “They go maybe once a week or every couple of days, take some pictures of the ladle, then create a report.” While these surveys can provide valuable information, Barreiro has concerns about the infrequency of manual inspections. “It’s sampling your plant. The probability of catching a hot spot is very low.” Several days between inspections would be a non-issue for many industries, but taking extra precaution is vital when consequences involve uncontained molten iron–especially when material strain occurs quickly. “You could be in normal operation and have a refractory brick break. A hot spot can happen in less than one minute,” says Barreiro. Quickly identifying hot spots on ladles or torpedoes would require multiple full-time personnel in high-risk areas of a plant, making continuous thermal monitoring through manual inspection cost-restrictive and dangerous.
THE RESULT
The Continuous Infrared Analysis system’s effectiveness hinges on reliable thermal imaging, and more than 15 years of working with FLIR cameras led ANT Automation to integrate the FLIR A315 into its platform. With a 320 x 240 resolution, the A315 offers 76,800 unique thermal data points and can detect temperature differences as small as 50 mK. Its highfrequency streaming capabilities can achieve full-frame 16-bit images up to 60 Hz and 18-1304-INS-AUT-App Note 10/04/18 For more information about thermal imaging cameras or about this application, please visit www.flir.com/instruments/condition-monitoring The images displayed may not be representative of the actual resolution of the camera shown. Images for illustrative purposes only. can be fully controlled via PC, and with the appropriate housing, the A315 stands up to grueling steel mill environments. “We recommend FLIR cameras,” says Barreiro. “They are robust. They work in many different conditions and the way that they stream data is very convenient.” Clients install CIRA and other continuous monitoring systems for different reasons, some as simple as cheaper insurance premiums. Whether it’s to refine maintenance processes or to better protect nearby equipment, many plants adopting the platforms had experienced breakouts in the past. For Barreiro, that’s much too late. “We need to prevent this from happening the first time.
Learn more:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUpIlulqDWo- FLIR’s thermal imaging cameras used for different applications
