It will not surprise many that there are no optimal conditions for rotating equipment and other process components in hot rolling mills. First, you have the considerable weight of the steel plates that pass through the mill. Second, high temperatures also exert an influence on the machines that manage the rolling process. That is why the heavy steel industry regularly engages Revimaxx to ensure process continuity.
A hot rolling mill transforms thick slabs of steel into steel sheets with thicknesses of up to 16 mm. Rolling this steel in multiple steps requires heating the plates to a very high temperature between 1,000 to about 1,270 °C. Only then can you make the steel plate thinner and longer using numerous rollers. And eventually - in the final phase - wound into coils. The steel cools down somewhat before coiling, but is far from being at room temperature. And this is certainly the case with the larger 16 mm plate thicknesses.
It is precisely for the final phase that Revimaxx’s overhaul team is regularly called upon. ‘In fact, just about every six months this gigantic machine needs another overhaul,’ said Johan Van Meenen.
’Which shouldn’t be surprising at all given the circumstances. The thickness of the inflexible steel demands a lot from the winding reel in the machine’s C-frame. And on top of that, the material’s high temperature means the system must withstand the most extreme conditions.’
Revimaxx is adept at dismantling machinery on site. And in this particular case, the components for the overhaul job were dismantled from the hot rolling mill.
For laymen, glass wool production is perhaps best compared to candyfloss. In both cases, fibres are blown off in a certain direction to form an airy whole. And in both cases, clumps are better avoided. With insulation, the goal is to assemble as homogeneous a product as possible composed of numerous minuscule air compartments. The result should provide the lowest possible Lambda value (λ). Such a precondition seemed impossible to achieve with clumps in the mats.
A recent order is a superb illustration of Revimaxx’s knowledge and skill in boring. This involved a Flemish machine builder and specialist in industrial mechanical maintenance that needed a workpiece for a press.
Revimaxx can carry out overhauls that are neither small nor simple as proven by two gigantic parts of an equally impressive gearbox. We are overhauling these parts at the request of steel giant ArcelorMittal.
