Summary

A major steel mill in India operates one of the most advanced production lines in the country, including a high-precision Cut-to-Length line capable of processing steel coils up to 25 mm thick with edge trimming. Looking to further optimize its operations, the customer wanted to install a bidirectional gas flow meter on its Linz-Donawitz gas (LD gas) holder. The 100,000 Nm³/h LD gas holder collects gas from the SMS (Steel Melt Shop) converter and exports it through two DN1000 (40″) lines, each operating at roughly 1,000–1,200 mmWC when its booster is active. These lines feed into a DN1600 (64″) booster fan gas (BFG) network running at 900–1,100 mmWC. The customer wanted to feed LD gas into the BF gas network, but faced a safety concern: if a booster motor failed to keep the line pressure above the BFG network’s 900–1,100 mmWC during spillback, BFG gas could flow back into the LD gas holder undetected, creating a safety risk for the entire LD gas holder setup.

Application

Fig. 1: T5 Bias 90 installation with XAMP preamplifiers on the 64″ (DN1600) BFG line.

Solution

The Panametrics sales and application engineering team reviewed the process conditions and the customer’s requirements. Drawing on extensive experience with steel mill gas applications, the team proposed the DigitalFlow XGM868i with T5 (100 kHz) transducers in a Bias 90 configuration. The flow meter was successfully installed and commissioned by the Panametrics Services team. The customer was very satisfied with the result — the measured data matched expectations — and has since deployed Panametrics ultrasonic flow meter technology on other LD gas lines throughout the same plant.