Herkules and Symeo GmbH team up again in a Chinese steel works

Neubiberg (Germany), March 15, 2016 – On the heels of a successful joint effort at a Chinese steel works in 2011, Herkules, specialist for roll machining, awarded Symeo GmbH an additional crane anti-collision project in the newly built roll shop of BenXi Iron & Steel (Group) Co., Ltd. in China. Herkules was responsible for the overall construction of the roll shop, including the machinery, while LPR^® radar and GNSS positioning specialist Symeo supplied the new roll shop with a real-time crane positioning solution. The precise tracking of the semi-gantry and gantry crane movements with wireless technology, in addition to the individually defined warning and stop zones, provides employees and machines with reliable protection and ensures an efficient production flow.

A key point in the manufacture of steel products in the rolling mill is the roll shop, where rolls are machined. This ensures the production of high-quality products such as metal sheets e.g. for the automobile industry in the rolling line. Transport cranes, either automatically or manually operated, are deployed to transport the rolls in the roll shop and to load the machines.

Herkules constructed roll shop at BenXi Iron & Steel

Under the project leadership of Herkules, specialist of roll grinding machines, a complete new roll shop was built for the steel producer BenXi Iron & Steel in China. Herkules supplied not only all roll shop components such as roll grinding machines and cranes, but also provided the Roll Shop Management System for roll shop automation.

Robust Symeo wireless measurement technology reliably captures crane coordinates

As a sensor specialist for positioning systems and wireless data transmission, Symeo was responsible for the localization and anti-collision solution that guide 2 automated semi-gantry cranes – so-called loaders – and 3 manned gantry cranes over different runways. Relying on Symeo’s patented LPR^® positioning radar technology, the distance between the Symeo wireless sensors mounted on the cranes and fixed reference points, the so-called transponders, is continuously measured to position the equipment in real-time. Since the sensors feature a robust housing and rely on radar to capture the data, the measurement results are not impacted by dust, dirt, vibrations or extreme temperatures. The entire sensor chain is maintenance-free.

Anti collision system with 3D visualization and custom warning zones

The position of the cranes, as well as the predefined warning and stop zones, are displayed in 3D in the control room. If the distance between cranes falls below a specific predefined parameter, individual crane movements can be slowed down or stopped by a direct connection to the crane control system. As an option, a decentralized approach can be used to forward all of the positioning data to each participant in the anti-collision system using various wireless communication channels.

Upon completion of the two projects, Herkules and Symeo are planning an additional crane positioning and anti-collision project at a further Chinese steel works in 2016.