ABB has won an order to provide its state-of-the-art electrification and control systems for a production line project of Ningbo Baoxin Stainless Steel Co. Ltd. (Baoxin) in China, allowing the stainless-steel manufacturer to produce high-quality, ultra-thin precision stainless steel for the market.
Located in Ningbo, in east China's Zhejiang province, the new production line aims to produce 30,000 tons of automotive steel per year, which will be used to manufacture parts for construction, aviation, automobile, and other industries due to its excellent strength, precision, surface finish, and corrosion resistance.
Baoxin’s stainless steel production line, with equipment from four vendors, comprises a 20-high cold rolling mill, a bright annealing line, a degreasing line, a tension leveling line, and a slitting line. ABB will provide end-to-end electrification and control for the production line, including variable speed motors, ACS880 direct torque control drives, instrumentation, ABB Ability Smart Sensors, and ABB Ability System 800xA-based level 1 and level 2 control systems.
The facility will manufacture stainless-steel strips with a thickness of up to 30 microns, for which a wide range of precise tension control and stability is critical. “ABB’s asymmetric dual motor control system can help reduce equipment and power consumption, provide accurate and stable tension control, as well as minimize thickness difference and the probability of breakage,” said Zhenhua Zhang, ABB Metals Industry Lead North Asia and China.
The asymmetric dual motors control technology, developed by ABB’s Metals team in China, allows real-time accurate tension control for metals, ranging from 7-280kN (kiloNewton). It can switch automatically between single and dual motor modes according to process requirements, ensuring accurate load distribution and dynamic load compensation for each motor. For the bright annealing line, which comprises eight sets of tension meters, ABB’s solution can allow for closed-loop tension control.
Well-established expertise in ultra-thin metals manufacturing, unique control systems technology, and the ability to coordinate with multiple equipment vendors are just some of the reasons why metals customers choose ABB for these kinds of projects.
“ABB’s advanced, intelligent digital technologies will help our customers in China to produce high-end metals at a higher speed, enabling the smart future of manufacturing,” said Zhang.