JIANGYIN XICHENG IRON & STEEL, China

Italian based DANIELI-Group received the order for a new 7” seamless tube plant from JIANGYIN XICHENG Iron & Steel Co., Ltd. [XICHENG]. Lead-managed by DANIELI CENTRO TUBE the plant will be installed at the XICHENG head office in Jiangyin, a city with 1.5 million residents in the south-east of Jiangsu province, in the center of the Yangtze delta.

An important part of this new tube plant is the hot rolling mill which transforms round billets with a diameter of 200 mm into green pipes. The hot rolling mill is a continuous one and consists amongst others of a FQM™-Elongator, an Extracting Block [EXB] and a Stretch Reducing Block [SRB]. After its completion, the plant will be capable to produce 400.000 t/a of high quality seamless tubes with excellent tolerances and mechanical properties according to international standards. The tubes produced within a diameter range of 48.3 to 177.8 mm and a wall thickness range of 3.18 to 25.0 mm will mainly be used in the gas and oil industry.

FRIEDRICH KOCKS GmbH & Co KG in Hilden / Germany will supply the 3-stand Extractor and the 24-stand Stretch Reducing Block, both based on the 3-roll “Star Drive” design featuring separate drives for individually driven rolls. The 3-roll stands for EXB and SRB are designed for a nominal roll diameter of 360 mm. The extractor will be operated with non-adjustable stands only, whereas the stretch reducer with both the non-adjustable as well as the adjustable ones.

Main characteristics of this concept are the in-line remotely controlled pass adjustment for the adjustable stands, the stand quick changing system as well as the roll shop with quick roll changing system. All these aspects significantly reduce the total number of change stands normally required for optimum production.

Furthermore the scope of supply comprises the process automation systems and the KOCKS’ TUMICON-System which consists of various components. The computer program TUMICON serves as a calculator for the pass design and optimum setup values (e.g. motor speed) as well as a management tool for rolls and stands. The TEC-BOX with the functions AWC for wall thickness control and HEC for minimization of heavy ends is a highly dynamic open and closed loop system for quality optimization. The supply is completed by the INSPECT-System which visualizes the technological controls of the TEC-BOX as well as the measured values from the rolling mill (wall thickness, heavy ends, etc.). Process know-how and commissioning of the scope of supply are also KOCKS’ responsibility.

Commissioning of the new 7” seamless tube plant is scheduled for the second half of 2010.