Product category:
Metals processing plant and equipment
News Release from: DataScan Systems | Subject: Radio Frequency Identification installation
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 30 May 2005
RFID increases reliability of coke
production
An innovative RFID installation at Redcar Coke Ovens is reducing accidents and aiding reliability of coke production by preventing collisions between the coke car locomotives.
An innovative Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) installation at Redcar Coke Ovens, provided by DataScan Systems of Bromsgrove, is reducing accidents and aiding reliability of coke production The RFID positioning system locates locomotives which collect coke direct from the ovens and prevents collisions when visibility is limited
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 5 Oct 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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The coke plant supplies the adjacent blast furnace with fuel and both operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
"We need to keep coke production going continuously for safety reasons, but occasionally there were collisions between locos which could cause serious damage," commented Dave Aston, manufacturing engineer for Corus at Redcar.
"We had investigated many technologies in conjunction with Idec, who worked with DataScan to develop the solution based upon RFID tags.
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The installation has proved itself - we have not had a single incident since it went live." Statistics are impressive and stakes are high.
There are a total of 132 ovens, making 1.3 million tonnes of coke every year, feeding a blast furnace producing 3.25 million tonnes of iron per annum.
Ovens are emptied by using a rail mounted pusher machine, which lines up with the oven to be emptied, opens the door and pushes approximately 20 tonnes of coke at 1,320 deg C.
At the other side, the door is opened and the coke spills out and is collected in a rail mounted wagon.
This is then taken by locomotive to one of the two quenching towers where the yellow hot coke is doused with 20 tonnes of water.
Once cooled the coke is tipped, to be automatically taken by belt conveyor to buffer storage next to the blast furnace.
With an oven emptied every 15 minutes, this is a busy site and, although rail tracks both sides of the coke ovens are continuous, the operation is notionally split into two, with a quenching tower at each end.
Aston: "when one of the towers is out for maintenance or servicing both have to use the same tower and that is when collisions were occurring.
Each cooling operation produces two tonnes of steam, so often the drivers can not see each other," Aston continues: "Even though they are in radio contact, they could not always see where they were clearly, so there was a potential risk of collision.
This would then lead to possible injury and loss of production, which is a serious concern." In a project to implement an effective anti-collision system, Corus looked at a number of technologies including shaft encoders, laser and sonar positioning, even satellite tracking.
All failed.
The answer was to implement an RFID installation from DataScan Systems that would effectively correct the real position of the locomotive shaft encoder in the event of wheel slippage.
RFID tags are positioned on a wall alongside the locomotive track at 1.2m intervals, equivalent to the distance between coke oven doors.
Each of the three locomotives, two of which are in service at any one time, is fitted with a sealed RFID antenna which is directional.
This locates each locomotive to within 30cm and the location is presented in the cab on a monitor.
Location data is transmitted in real time to the central coke plant control room.
However, safety controls are automated.
The control system measures the distance between the locomotive units, which weight 110 tonnes each when fully loaded and travel at up to 125m per minute.
At 90m apart, each driver gets an audible warning in the cab.
At 80m apart, the locomotives are automatically restricted to 'creep mode' of a maximum of 25m/min and there is another audible warning.
If locomotives should approach within 15m, they are stopped automatically.
Aston: "We have tested this system every day for ten months and it is working perfectly.
Mechanical equipment tends to wear out very quickly here so radio frequency is ideal.
The anti-collision system can also be used to ensure maintenance staff safety.
"We have the ability to create a ghost locomotive.
We use this facility as a safety measure when we are on the track." There are a total of 309 RF tags spread along 370m of track.
The system employed the use of LRP250 Passive Read/Write RFID tags and LRP820-02 Long Range Passive Reader/Writer.
Each tag has an individual identification number so reading a tag reveals the exact location of the locomotive.
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