But besides their fundamental role in the process, they need to be particularly reliable, since the blast furnace never stops, and neither do the locomotive and the cars that move the hot metal.
Keep reading to learn how Enacom’s researchers and Digital Twin technology can help optimize torpedo car processes in steelmaking.
Optimizing torpedo car scheduling
As with any industrial equipment, the torpedo car has maintenance needs that are closely tied to its operating environment.
In steelmaking, high temperatures cannot be ignored, and sparks and the presence of contaminants also influence preventive routines and the choice of tools used.
With this and other problematic factors in mind, such as the scheduling structure for torpedo cars in the steel industry, Enacom’s specialist team, in partnership with Gerdau, developed a study that proposes an optimization framework for scheduling torpedo car trips in steelmaking.
The paper titled “Torpedo Car Scheduling for Steelmaking” was presented at ABM Week 7 by Renan Santos, optimization analyst at Enacom, and covers our collaboration on this major project.
The paper presents an optimization framework for scheduling torpedo car trips at the Ouro Branco steel mill. The study discusses the problem’s operational constraints and describes the architecture of the proposed solution. Finally, it presents the performance results of the model simulated with Digital Twin technology in real-world test scenarios.
To learn more about the application of this technology, access the full paper and find out more.
See it in practice: Torpedo cars planned 48 hours ahead and replanned in under a second.