Progress of Mechanical Equipment, Process Control and Instrumentation Technologies for Innovation in Steel Production Processes

摘要

Steel business has encountered very rapid and drastic changes in economical circumstances for the last decade and Kawasaki Steel has continuously developed mechanical equipment, process control and instrumentation technologies by applying various kinds of fundamental researches and taking into account customer's requirements. These technologies constitute the most important technological elements in steel production process and include the following 3 fields: (1) Design and construction of commercial production process based on fundamental basic research results, (2) Improvement in production process based on the analysis of phenomena, and (3) Increase in the productivity of existing plant through equipment administration. This paper reviews the technical development of Kawasaki Steel in the above-mentioned fields during the last decade, and introduces some technical topics, e.g., "Ultra-short term revamping of Chiba Works No.6 blast furnace", "High quality cast products in steelmaking and continuous casting process", "Continuous hot strip production", and "Optimal control for hot strip finishing mill". The perspective of steel production process in the future is also described.