Research and application of automatic control system of argon blowing at ladle shroud

Argon blowing at the ladle shroud requires the best flow control strategy to effectively avoid the secondary oxidation of molten steel, slag entrapment and heat loss during the casting of the tundish, and at the same time, give full play to the role of bubbles to remove inclusions. Therefore, an automatic control system for argon blowing at the ladle shroud was proposed. The data collected by S7-300PLC and software programming were used to adjust the argon blowing flow online in real time according to factors such as pouring and continuous pouring. On this basis, PID control algorithm and closed loop control mechanism were used for real time adjustment. The flow control valve ensures theminimum deviation between the actual value of the flow and the set value. The production data of this system in the first quarter of 2021 in a special steel plant show that the proportion of furnaces with an acid soluble aluminum (Als) loss percentage of less than 10% of each steel grade has increased by 5.52%, and the proportion of furnaces with an Als loss percentage of more than 60% has increased from 1% decrease to 0. The actual application results show that the use of the system improves the surface quality of the continuous casting slab and the performance of the final product.