Meeting steel demand through servo advancements

Over the last few years, India has emerged as a hub for steel making. There have been several significant technology advancements in methodologies relating to roughing mills, finishing mills and emerging technologies, such as CSP (continuous steel processing) and mould oscillation circuits in casters.
While steel mills are sometimes considered to be "old-style" manufacturing, there are many examples where some of the latest motion control technologies are being used for new mills, as well as retrofits. Steel mills represent an interesting challenge as advanced technologies must be used in demanding environments. These environments include exposure to extensive heat, dirt and the rigors of a 24/7 operation. As a leader in providing servo and servo-proportional valves to most of the world's well-known steel mills, Moog has offered some for special applications in the booming China market and innovative projects in India as well.

Steel industry in India and China
The Indian steel industry is nearly a century old with Tata Iron and Steel Co. being the first integrated steel plant set up in 1907. The industry has grown and now India is the 4th largest producer of steel in the world. The finished steel production in India has grown from a mere 1.1 million tonnes in 1951 to the current level of around 58 million tonnes. While the growth in the steel sector was formerly in the public sector units, the situation has changed dramatically since 1990, with most of the growth originating in the private sector.
India's National Steel Policy released couple of years ago has set a long-term goal that India should have a modern and efficient steel industry established according to world standards and catering to a diversified steel demand. This will require indigenous production of over 100 million tonnes per annum by 2019-20.
In addition to greenfield projects, this also calls for modernising existing steel mills with retrofits and adoption of latest technology.
 In China, almost all domestic demand steel products can be made locally with a few special & high grade steel products need to be imported. About 35% steel products are produced by private steel companies and the Chinese government is currently trying to control capital investments in steel market in order to manage the over capacity issues.

Servo technology advancements
 Requirements for motion control in iron and steel production machinery are challenging including the need for the highest precision, reliability and productivity, even in harsh environments with high temperature. This calls for deep application knowledge matched with a proactive approach to offer products and solutions that meet the exact requirements of this industry.
 Moog Motion Controls recently hosted an event, titled "Servo Technology Advancements in the Steel Industry". The event held in Goa, India, saw participation of industry experts from India, China and Japan.
 The seminar focused on technologies and methodologies relating to servo valves and actuators. Another area of focus was digital valves, which can be used for problem-diagnosis of mills with the added functionality of remote monitoring/diagnosis through CAB Bus interface.
 With a wide range of hydraulic and electric products and solutions to meet a growing range of some of the most demanding applications on iron and steel production machinery, Moog is a leader in providing world-class servo valves to robust controllers and other products that are the most reliable to meet the needs of operations that run 24/7.

Partnering steel mills
 A unique application completed by Moog in India for a local steel mill was the billet caster project with Mukand Limited, also called Hospemj.monde