Maintenance of hot dip galvanizing line equipment
Danieli Wean United supplied high-tech solutions, developed to minimize capital, operational, and maintenance costs while matching Nucor’s target for maximum line productivity.
The Final Acceptance Certificates for the new equipment were signed on June 4, 2015.
Initially Nucor selected Danieli to design and supply the new degreasing section. In order to minimize the shutdown time required to remove the existing equipment and to install the new cleaning section, Danieli and Nucor Berkeley engineers collaborated to design a temporary by-pass, to be installed below the old cleaning section, and allow the plant to continue operating during erection and commissioning of the cleaning.
Danieli Automation supplied the electric and automation control systems for the new section, which were integrated with the existing Siemens platform.
During the project execution, Danieli and Nucor teams built a relationship of mutual trust based on professionalism and engineering experience. Based on these positive feedbacks, Nucor decided to place a contract with Danieli to supply also a new quenching section. The main target of this revamping was to improve the safety of the maintenance procedures, mainly the roll changing system. Therefore, a specific design was developed for easy and safe roll removal through a special car and dedicated lifting tools.
The new degreasing section provided immediate benefits for production, including cleaner strip and related reflectivity; about 40% less dross in the pot; and improved final product quality.
The new cleaning section will give Nucor Berkeley the ability to galvanize its products without strip surface contamination, greatly improving the overall product quality, a result that was well appreciated by BMW and Mercedes teams visiting the facility, and for which Nucor’s galvanizing line represents an important source of high-quality steel.