Crop Shear Optimisation

System to cut hot steel billets into "best" lengths using a cold shear gives reduced scrap and manning levels plus improves throughput.

The system was designed to cut steel billets into shorter lengths, using a cold shear, before the steel is pushed into a furnace and then on to the main rolling mill. By accurately cutting the steel into the “best” lengths, more finished products could be made and the overall cost per product reduced.

Despite the fact that the raw billets were of a defined specification, the tolerances used were sufficiently wide that accurate measurement of the incoming billets was essential to determine the “best” cut lengths.

The harsh nature of the environment and the deviations in shape of the raw billets meant that the reliability of the equipment to produce accurate measurements was paramount.

Weight measurements were determined by the existing load cells but the length measurements were made using a laser device, engineered to scan over a defined path until the end of the billet was detected. Using the weight and length data in conjunction with information provided by the operator about the nature of the final product, allowed calculations to be made to determine the “best” lengths to automatically set the cold shear to.

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