AISTech 2019 — Proceedings of the Iron & Steel Technology Conference

6–9 May 2019, Pittsburgh, Pa., USA

DOI 10.1000.377.144

Tokyo Steel CCM4: A New Danieli Technology

M. Fornasier 1, L. Morsut1, M. Papinutto1 , N. Takeuchi2 , N. Boldrin1

1
Danieli Officine Meccaniche
Via Nazionale, Buttrio (UD) , Italy, 33042
2
Tokyo Steel
Okayama, Japan,

Keywords: Fast Cast, OPEX reduction, Power Mould, EHA oscillator, Energy Saving, Industry 4.0, Preassembled Skids.

INTRODUCTION
A New Fast Cast Technology is working in Tokyo Steel Okayama Works, boosting plant productivity up to 240 t/h in a
compact and tailor-made design of R10m 5-strands CCM4.
The advanced solutions, EcoPower Mould and Hy-Power oscillator at first, combine high efficiency with high casting speed.
Enhanced flexibility allows to produce a wide combination of product mix simultaneously, in completion with the evolving
market and superior quality for structural steel.
The Danieli innovative concept design fits with the challenging brown-field constrains, resulting in a fast and reliable
evacuation solution for products in the hot charge curved roller table at maximum productivity.

DISCUSSION
CCM4 Project Overview
On November 4th, 2017 the first cast of the new CCM4 has been performed in Tokyo Steel - Okayama Steel Works. In facts,
Danieli was awarded the order for this new CCM the foregoing year with the goal of increasing efficiency of the casting
process at lower production costs, as well as for maximizing the flexibility in multi-sections casting and for enhancing the
productivity.
The new CCM4 consists in a new 5 strands caster, 10m main radius, with a heat size of 220t, for a production of both billets
SQ170mm and blooms SQ225mm and 250x310mm, with a productivity ranging from 40 to 48 t/h, mainly for structural steel
grade for feeding the section mill and the wire rod mill inside same steel plant. The caster has the capability of casting the
three different sections simultaneously, with a wide range of different combinations.
The common thread of the project has been to maximize productivity, to enhance the process efficiency by keeping high
reliability of the process at same time: this is what the Fast Cast Technology can ensure, in terms of high throughput, energy
saving, good product quality and consistent flexibility for complying with the changing market demand. The CCM is also
designed to assure the quick section change to minimize the machine outage.

The skid design concept

During the engineering phase the focus has been put on the optimization of the design for a pre-assembly of the machine in
the workshop. This has been done applying a “skid design concept” to the CCM since the very beginning of the engineering.
This approach in principle is giving several advantages for a new machine. At first it allows dividing the machine in several
sub-units, which can be tested separately targeting to have failure-free equipment delivered on site ready for erection. This
testing in workshop is convenient in terms of possibility to repair possible inaccuracies before shipping since the sub-unit is
still in the proper facilities and so it can be done in due time having available the proper tools and equipment.

© 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology. 1411

Furthermore, the pre-assembled skids will allow also to delivery on site much less “free materials” on site for erection that
could get partially lost and that is also taking up larger areas for storage. The skids can be easily shipped in the containers and
arrive on site ready to be installed in the machine.
Additionally this skid design concept makes possible to perform part of the erection in the workshop, instead of on site. On
other hand, this results in saving time for the erection and the cold commissioning, being skids already pre-tested, and with
the possibility to be installed in an easier way.
Some units, such as the hydraulic systems, are particularly suitable for the skid design concept, since the complete equipment
is prepared ready to be installed in the plant, including tanks, piping circuits, pumps, valves, sensors, cabling are
preassembled on a platform ready “to be plugged and played”.

The Fast Cast Technology

To reduce OPEX the CCM operates continuously close to the max design productivity with 5 strands producing at maximum
speed without compromises on the product quality.
For such a purpose the Continuous Casting Machine is equipped with Danieli cutting-edge technologies in terms of process
control: the Eco Power MouldTM 1, the last generation of Hy-Power Oscillator System (Electro-Hydraulic actuator), and the
3Q technology system.
The Eco Power MouldTM is the latest development of the well proven Power MouldTM concept introduced by Danieli for the
extremely high productivity required in the MI.DA. plants2,3.
The Power MouldTM technology optimizes heat transfer during the solidification process in the most demanding condition
where limited thermal efficiency and the inherent thermomechanical flexibility of a traditional mould cannot operate. The
Power MouldTM thanks to a dedicated water channel design guarantees a very uniform temperature distribution on each cross
section of copper tube, an essential condition for a very uniform shell growth along the mould. Compared to the previous
versions the new Eco Power MouldTM has also an improved cooling system and optimized stiffness together with a reduced
OPEX.
The mould design has been further developed by acting on the construction techniques and with the use of new materials to
increase the characteristics of stiffness, besides of the lightening of Cu tube.
Thanks to a tailor-made cooling design the cooling density can be modulated along the copper tube contour allowing precise
control of the shrinkage of the cast product, particularly at the corners, where the most severe and dangerous subsurface
defects originate.

Figure 1. Section view of Eco Power Mould Figure 2. Hy-Power actuator for oscillator

The Eco Power MouldTM has a longer life compared to a conventional Cu tube moulds. For ultra-high casting speed
scenarios, namely greater than 40 t/h/strand, where conventional moulds cannot withstand the extreme heat transfer, the
Power MouldTM proved to have stable properties and operational results.
The recent Oscillator System is driven by the compact Hy-Power actuator which is a “stand-alone” electro-hydraulic system
working on-board that drives the cylinder.

1412 © 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology.

The system includes a high dynamics brushless servomotor, a pump, a small accumulator and an actuator. It does not require
a dedicated common hydraulic unit or servo valves, accumulators, piping, instrumentation or cabins that are normally
installed in the “conventional” hydraulic oscillation applications. The equipment reduces installation cost for erection and
decreases operating and maintenance cost in comparison to a conventional hydraulic oscillation drive.
It also guarantees maximum flexibility in the choice of oscillating parameters, improving mould lubrication efficiency and
shallowing oscillation mark depth.
The new CCM4 in Tokyo Steel in Okayama Steel Works has been designed to fully cope with the energy savings policies
and the equipment is endowed with tools that allow to limit the consumptions during both the steady-state and not steady-
state conditions. For instance, the primary cooling pumps are equipped with an inverter controlled drive system to minimize
electric energy consumption.
In the perspective of the energy saving the CCM operates with the hot charge technology.
For such a purpose the evacuation area is especially designed to cope with the customer challenging brown-fields constraints.
In particular a transfer car has been installed with a single curved roller table that could have been the productivity
bottleneck, but thanks to a joint effort in engineering and simulation activities Danieli and Tokyo Steel were able to exceed
the limits.

Figure 3. Machine layout.

The discharge area has been the object of a deep analysis resulting in a fast and reliable evacuation solution for the products
in the hot charge curved roller table. Indeed the run-out area was designed not only to assure the maximum productivity but
also to guarantee the highest flexibility in terms of product sizes evacuation.
The machine is designed to cast multiple sections, with strict requirements on target productivity and the highest possible
flexibility in bloom handling operations: it is requested to be able to cast up to 3 different formats at the same time on
different strands, with the possibility to discharge different sections in single or double banking mode and to switch between
different configurations during casting, changing online cutting length and discharge destination for the various strands.
For the comprehensive evaluation of the compliance of installed equipment and automation logic with such complexity it was
decided to apply a proprietary software library developed by Danieli for discrete-event simulation, which is able to model and
simulate equipment and material flows for many different conditions in a very high level of detail and is able to capture the
issues arising during dynamic changes of production schedule for all the possible cases envisioned by Tokyo Steel.

© 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology. 1413

 Figure 4. CCM4 in operation.
A high number of test cases were prepared and simulated (up to 8 strand/section configurations for a total number of 67
different scenarios), in order to cover all the possible variability in the production, considering the influence on the time line
evaluation of transient operations and also the delays involved in bloom labelling and weighing operations.
For each configuration, a simulation run was executed with a sequence of 20 heats to test the case in the worst condition, i.e.
at maximum casting speed and minimum cutting length, and all data recorded to database for offline analysis. Cycle times,
resources occupation indexes and waiting delays were recorded for all the bloom transport stations and sensors foreseen in
the machine. Several iterations of the simulation cycles were performed before being able to comply with all the required
specification in every test case under analysis.

Figure 5. Machine run-out configurations

Thus, it was possible to evaluate in advance the bottleneck of the system and starting from a first release, where some of the
cases were found not compliant, a revision was made to modify the working cycle logic of the lateral transfer, giving
precedence wherever possible to pushing cycles for simultaneous management of multiple strands over pickup cycles where
blooms from only one strand at a time were removed.
The result was an improvement both in utilization rate for all involved resources and a reduction of events of blooms waiting
in the line for delays in transport operations.

Figure 6. Run out area optimization.

1414 © 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology.

The caster is controlled by the last generation of Danieli Automation 3Q technology system, which includes technological
packages and a state of the art supervision system. The technological packages control and optimize the whole process and
they include: Q-MIX for the management of mixed steel, Q-COOL for liquid pool control and solidification model, Q-CUT
for cut optimization and Q-ART for quality assessment on line.
Q-MIX minimizes the amount of mixed steel or optimizes the mixing according to the market order. It reduces the amount of
downgraded steel, reduces the number of tundish changes and increases yield.
Q-COOL together with the accurate tuning Air-Mist Secondary cooling system is able to optimize the surface and internal
quality of products in a wide range of casting conditions.
Q-MOULD is the specific package that monitors the performance of the mould and the oscillator in terms of friction, heat
flux and speed. It provides closer insight in the process taking place in the mould and the data are acquired and stored for
historical analysis and trending, and, with a data-driven approach it is possible to identify and even to prevent undesired
events.
Q-CUT model calculates the optimal cutting sequence by determining the combinations that makes the best use of the
available steel quantity.
Q-ART allows a total control of product quality and assures consistency to product quality for hot charging; moreover, it
increases the plant yield by reducing unnecessary product re conditioning and reduces cost related to manual inspection.
Operators, supervisors and technologists are supported by a set of supervision tools, which provide interface with the
equipment (Operator Assistant) and data aggregation at various level and detail including API (Area Performance Indicator),
PPI (Plant Performance Indicator) and Q3-Intelligence (suite for business intelligence).

The CCM4 Productivity and Quality

The CCM4 is actually casting 170 x170 section low carbon structural grades at 3.5 m/min in open stream with oil lubrication.
Low carbon grades including peritectics and microalloyed grades are cast in sections 225x225 and 250x310 up to 1.9 m/min
up to 1.25 m/min respectively. Blooms are produced in open stream with funnel and mould fluxes lubrication for an
improved surface quality.
The Provisional Acceptance Certificate has been signed three weeks after the first heat and the Final Acceptance Certificate
on June 2018. The production learning curve is the result of a trustful and close cooperation between Danieli and Tokyo Steel
that were able to reach the ambitious and stable performances in a short lap of time.

Production Nov 2017 – Nov 2018

Figure 7. CCM4 Production Ramp-up

The high-quality standards obtained are in accordance with the contractual figures and meet expectations of the client who
faces a very competitive domestic market.
The higher productivity was an advantage for the quality of the micro alloyed grades.
As known the micro alloyed grades are prone to surface corner crack when straighten in the Low Ductility Throat range of
temperatures. Before the revamping, the surface defects were avoided by dropping the surface temperature by an on-line
quenching: this cooling allowed the blooms to be straightened at temperatures below the sensitive range but it had a negative
impact on the bloom internal quality. Working at higher productivity it is now possible to cross the W&S modules at suface

© 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology. 1415

temperatures higher than 1000°C, so well above the low ductility temperatures range also for the micro-alloyed grades. Thus,
it is possible to avoid the surface cracks improving as well the internal quality.

Fig 8. Bloom quality.

CONCLUSIONS
The new CCM4 is actually in full operation in Tokyo Steel Okayama Works, complying with high productivity and quality,
thanks to the close cooperation between Tokyo Steel and Danieli. The Danieli Fast Cast Technology confirms to be the key-
factor to enhance productivity and quality, complying at the same time with the flexibility in production required by the
market at lower running costs and lower energy consumptions.

REFERENCES
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Productivity, high quality and energy saving, Aistech 2015 Proceedings.
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Innovative Process for the Most Competitive Production of Rebar Product”, AISTech Proceedings 2010
3. M. Fornasier, C. Fabbro, M. Isera, A. De Luca, S. Ferrarese, N. Boldrin, Productivity Record @ 75tph in a single
endless line for bars, ECCC 2017 Proceedings.
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simulation, Vienna ECCC 2017, pp 38.

1416 © 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology.