Hardened steel
Steel is a very expensive high-tech material. Providing best quality (low carbon content) steel is a prime requirement for steelmakers worldwide. The largest steel plant of manufacturer Danieli Corus is located at Ijmuiden in the Netherlands, about 30 km from Amsterdam. It uses a VMEbus board and system to ensure highest quality steel output. The 3U VMEbus board VME1393 from AcQ InduCom, The Netherlands, is used in a sublance system to control the quality of the steel production. This system is designed to measure temperatures with 0.5 °C accuracy up to temperatures of 1,700 °C. AcQ InduCom delivers the systems ready-to-run to the steel plant in Ijmuiden and since 1995 to several steel plants in China. Most of the steel worldwide is produced and used in China. This is a tough environment for the VMEbus-controlled sublance system, measuring temperatures inside molten iron, to help in transforming it into high-quality steel (see Figure 1, photo courtesy AcQ InduCom).
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The sublance device, a temperature and oxygen sensor placed inside molten iron, is located close to the oxygen lance (the main lance). The sublance may also include a sample chamber to extract iron/steel samples for laboratory analysis. The sublance device measures the temperatures, carbon, and oxygen content. The sublance is water-cooled, and the probe enclosures are made of cardboard. This cardboard carbonizes in the hot steel bath. Carbonized cardboard resists temperatures well over 3,000 °C. Sublance systems are fully automated.
Danieli Corus installed their first sublance system at the Ijmuiden facilities in 1997. This was constantly updated, and additional sublance systems were installed during ongoing plant operations. By 2003, there were 39 systems installed. In 1958, Danieli Corus (formerly Hoogovens & Danieli & C. SpA) developed the Static and Dynamic Model (SDM). The SDM model balances combinations of the following, based on metallurgical relations:
- Heat
- Oxygen
- Slag
- Iron
A computer program balances these substances and the heat online in accordance with the Metallurgical Model (MM). A database serves as input and output for the MM. A user interface provides access to the parameters, variables, set points, and actual values as defined or stored in the database structure. There is a 12-/16-bit analog-to-digital converter on the VME1393. This version features eight differential analog inputs.
Advanced Integrated Data Acquisition and Stimulation System
The Advanced Integrated Data Acquisition and Stimulation System (AIDASS) supports the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) in flight test instrumentation applications. Both ground and flight testing benefit from the highly modular and flexible test system AIDASS. A single VMEbus crate (chassis) with selected interfaces and real-time processors constitute a basic AIDASS system. The noncritical GUI uses the Windows OS.
Various interfaces, components, or functions such as the following may be part of a particular system:
- Analog converters
- Discrete processors
- Filters
- MIL-1553B (STANAG 3838)
- ARINC 429
- AFDX (ARINC 664, Part 7)
- Gateways
Generally, a VMEbus-based I/O system with various interfaces utilizes several real-time CPUs in parallel to report extracted, condensed, and meaningful data via Ethernet to the user on a separate PC using the Windows-based GUI.
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The AIDASS user may use the Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench, better known as LabVIEW from National Instruments (NI), as an integrated tool and software environment in test and measurement applications. LabVIEW, possibly in cooperation with other software, may provide automatic test runs, data analysis, time-synchronous simulations, and other functions.
LabVIEW programs, called Virtual Instruments (VI) may be seen as a software suite with three parts. These parts are:
- An interactive communications interface, such as an instrument front panel
- The source code, a truly graphical program (‘G’), made from objects (icons, wires, nodes, loops)
- Symbols (subprograms) and connectors (I/O)
The data visualization functionality of AIDASS allows checking the value of any signal or set of signals defined in the signal definition. It is possible to display a single parameter value or – even more versatile – to display a complete message or a list of signals. Different types of numerical or graphical displays can be used for visualization.
Recently Rittal, Germany, received an order to supply VME64x enclosures for the AIDASS system. The efficiency of the cooling concept and rear I/O integration were key requirements. On-site technical support and short response times also influenced the decision.
For further information, e-mail Hermann at [email protected].