Control & Automation Business Unit of Larsen & Toubro has successfully automated the Blast furnace - 2 of Bokaro Steel plant of SAIL. The automation systems implemented includes Hot-Standby PLC systems having Redundant IO modules with self diagnostics capability & Redundant SCADA servers with Client-Server architecture. PLC system supplied for: Stock House for material handling and charging material in skip, Bell Less Top (BLT): for discharging material inside furnace through, Stoves to control the supply of hot blast (1100° C) to the blast furnace, Instrumentation for monitoring Blast Furnace parameters and Closed Loop Cooling System (CLCS) for Blast Furnace cooling.

Three state of the art, ergonomically designed control rooms were setup for the Blast Furnace Operation. The Furnace control room & Machine Hall are equipped with redundant SCADA servers and Clients for furnace operation. Engineering stations are also provided for each PLC system for Logic programming.

Plasma display screens of 65" are installed for overall furnace monitoring. Redundant OPC servers are provided as a part of the SCADA system for providing data to third party OPC Compliant software. C&A solutions also involved interface with Electro Static Precipitator (ESP), Mud-gun and Gas cleaning plant (GCP) PLCs and interfacing with Skip PLC for proper BF Operation.

The Upgraded Blast Furnace has increased productivity in terms of useful volume of Blast Furnace from 2000m3 to 2500m3 and the working volume of Blast Furnace increased from 1750m3 to 2250m3. Hot Metal Production Increased from 0.75 MTPA to 1.5 MTPA. The Blast Furnace now has 28 Tuyeres instead of 24. The Closed Loop Cooling System for Blast Furnace is the first of its kind in SAIL. Radar Type Stock Level indicator has been implemented in addition to the conventional Stock Rods.

The Blast furnace automation project for Bokaro Steel Plant also involved critical automation of instrumentation package for accumulation of all furnace parameters like temperature, pressure, water/nitrogen flow etc along with historical trends and alarms. The SCADA system provided also helps monitor critical parameters like "Control Nitrogen Purging" and "Under Burden Probe".

Comprehensive automation systems provided included Fiber Optic connectivity between all control rooms for Ethernet Network and interface with third party PLCs, Firewall for network security and complete networking accessories including network racks.

Partial image of the Blast furnace

Blast furnace control room