2017
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Jacksonville, FL - USA
Electrical upgrade at Gerdau improves drives safety
In November, 2017, the Gerdau (now CMC Steel) and Russula team successfully commissioned an electrical upgrade for the bar and wire rod mill located in Jacksonville, Florida. The plant maximized the upgrade by improving not only the mill functionality but also the safety features of its drives.
The electrical upgrade was conducted in three consecutive phases, divided by areas. Phase 1 included the main mill area specifically the DC drives for the stands and the cold shear as well as the AC drives for the auxiliary equipment. Phase 2 consisted of the bar mill exit area and Phase 3 consists of the wire rod mill exit area. In order to reduce the impact on production, the Phase 2 bar mill exit area revamp was revamped while the mill rolled wire rod. This approach reduced the downtime the plant incurred while upgrading the existing drives. The Phase 3 wire rod mill will be upgraded in the same way.
This project was principally a drives upgrade, although gear motors was supplied to upgrade the existing cooling conveyor and control software and hardware were supplied for the cold shear. Three engineering stations and spare parts were also within the automation scope of supply.
Automation scope of supply
The Jacksonville facility has gone to great lengths to achieve zero injuries, not just zero lost time. From changing the color of hardhats for higher visibility to putting up gates near forklift paths, all aspects contribute to creating a safe place to work for its employees. Safety is a core value for Russula. As such Russula proposed to enhance the current safety capabilities of the drives for this project.
The equipment was supplied with all the necessary drive components designed according to SIL 3 standards. The SIL (Safety Integrity Level) is a measure of the amount of risk reduction provided by a Safety Instrumented Function (SIF), which in the case of SIL 3 reduces the risk factor by 1000 to 10,000 times. Complete drive enclosures were supplied with double remote operated disconnects in the form of a lockable disconnect and contactor.
Above and beyond the typical SIL 3 double disconnects for the DC drives, Russula has included an additional level of safety by supplying a safety rated voltage presence monitoring device VPMD for each DC drive. The Rod Block DC drives with upgrade kits were also provided with the VPMD devices to improve the drive safety.
The drives upgrade was successfully commissioned at the Jacksonville plant
This project represents the strong market position of Russula for revamping drives. Following the drive upgrade at the Jacksonville plant, Russula was awarded three similar contracts from different long product producers in North America.
