Initially, 5G did not bring a disruptive experience in the commercial field due to various reasons such as high operating costs. Later, it transitioned to the industrial field. In recent years, traditional labour-intensive industries such as ports, mining, and steel have been well integrated with 5G. The innovation and upgrading of communication technology is the development trend of the times. The digital and intelligent transformation of steel enterprises is inseparable from advanced communication technology. The application of 5G not only improves production efficiency but also solves the problems of poor working environment, high-risk factors and high labor intensity, which is in line with the development requirements of the steel industry.
Changzhou Dongfang Special Steel grab crane unmanned transformation
It is understood that it turns out that the dust concentration in the coal bunker at the grab driving site of the coal injection workshop is high, the noise is high, and the working environment is poor. At the same time, the attractiveness of the steel industry is gradually declining, and problems such as difficulty in recruiting workers and high labor costs have become difficult problems for the transformation and development of enterprises.
In response to the above problems, Changzhou Dongfang Special Steel Co., Ltd. carried out an unmanned transformation of the grab crane. After the implementation of this project, based on 5G communication and through key technologies such as unmanned driving position tracking, anti-sway control and three-dimensional scanning, the whole process of tracking and intelligent optimization dispatching of grab driving and unloading trucks in the reservoir area will be realized to reduce work intensity and improve Target effects include the degree of informatization, improving equipment safety, and improving the operational efficiency of the reservoir area.
According to reports, Changzhou Dongfang Special Steel’s coal injection workshop has two grab cranes. There are two coal bunkers in the workshop to store different types of materials. The coal bunkers are separated by physical retaining walls. Materials are brought into the warehouse mainly by unloading trucks and supplemented by cars. When leaving the warehouse, materials are grabbed by grab trucks and entered into the feeding port. There are a total of 3 feeding ports in the warehouse.
For the two bulk material grab cranes in the workshop, without changing the traditional manual operation mode, 5G high-speed, low-latency communication is fully utilized to achieve unmanned operation of the grab crane. At the same time, based on logistics automation, through 5G communication, the inventory management platform and unmanned driving scheduling and control are used to comprehensively track the warehousing and driving operation processes of materials to achieve refined management of the warehouse area.
Based on 5G communication, through key technologies such as unmanned driving position tracking, anti-sway control and three-dimensional scanning, the whole process tracking and intelligent optimization dispatching of grab driving and unloading trucks in the reservoir area can be achieved to reduce work intensity, improve informatization, and improve Target effects include equipment safety and improved operational efficiency in the reservoir area.
Unmanned transformation:
This project adopts a wireless communication solution and deploys a wireless Wi-Fi local area network to complete data communication between the vehicle and the central control. At the same time, 5G CPE is deployed on the driving vehicle and the control signals are transmitted to the server in the central control room through the 5G private network in the factory to achieve communication redundancy.
In addition, laser scanning facilities are used to obtain coal pile surface data to realize the driving positioning function. The driving body is automatically controlled and modified to realize the driving anti-sway control function, automatic material grabbing and feeding functions, and a multi-region video surveillance system is deployed. It is currently in use. The control room remotely operates and issues task orders.
The unmanned transformation project of the grab crane in the coal injection workshop will solve the need to improve the manual working environment, reduce personnel and increase efficiency. In terms of economic benefits, the effect of saving personnel is obvious, reducing the frequency and cost of maintenance and repairs, making the production process more standardized, the inventory utilization rate higher, and the production safety in the reservoir area greatly improved.
First, improve the working environment of employees, reduce work intensity, and no longer have to work in a harsh on-site environment for a long time without interruption.
Secondly, the personnel structure has been reasonably optimized, and a unified monitoring and dispatching platform has been used to realize centralized management of unmanned equipment and systems in the reservoir area, further reducing manpower investment.
Thirdly, it avoids equipment damage and failure caused by manual brutal operation, greatly reduces equipment loss and maintenance, delays equipment service life, and reduces maintenance costs.
Finally, the most critical thing is that with the upgrading and transformation of automation, informatization and intelligence, refined management of the reservoir area has been achieved. Intelligent transformation not only brings core competitiveness to the company but also brings a cool and comfortable working environment to front-line production workers. Gradually realizing intelligent manufacturing of the entire process, entire industry chain and entire value chain has gradually become an effective path for many steel manufacturing companies to improve their “intelligence content.”
Intelligent transformation of the steel industry is an inevitable trend
In traditional warehouse areas, work tasks are completed manually. Employees work in shifts. Material information is manually filled in. The warehouse location and target materials are manually searched. Hoisting operations require the cooperation of people on and off the vehicle, resulting in confusion in material information. The labour intensity is high, the labour cost is high, the operating efficiency is low, and the safety and occupational health risks are high.
At present, intelligent warehousing systems have been widely used in the industry and are mature technologies, such as the Shagang Acid Rolling Raw Material Warehouse Unmanned Crane Project, Shagang Hot Rolling Slab Warehouse Unmanned Crane Project, and Dongfang Special Steel Grab Crane Unmanned Renovation Project. In the future, as the steel industry accelerates its transformation towards intelligent manufacturing, with the support of technologies such as automation, informatization, and intelligence, “unmanned” warehousing in the steel industry will surely become a trend.
In addition, there are many scenes in the current heavy industry production process that have harsh environments and are not suitable for human operations. These scenes also urgently need related intelligent and unmanned upgrades. The exploration and research of related scenes still require greater investment. Breakthroughs in relevant scenarios will bring great value to manufacturing companies.