OPAL FOR CONTINUOUS CASTING
THE PROVEN DIMENSION IN OPTICALALIGNMENT OF SLAB CASTER
Optical measurement has been an established technology
in industrial plant construction for years. Use of laser
technology in particular is preferred because of its highmeasuring accuracy, which is achieved through precise
control and evaluation of laser signals. This system is alsoof growing importance for quality assurance as well as
repair and maintenance because of its ease of use.
Primetals Technologies, which has pioneered innovative
processes, technologies and automation in the steel
industry, now has a proven optical laser measuring system
for segment alignment. OPAL (OPtical ALignment) takes
its place in the portfolio of existing mechatronic products
for casting (for example OsciChecker and Mold Checker).
The system fulfills a wide range of different customer
requirements, such as measuring accuracy and ease ofoperation and handling. OPAL can be integrated in themaintenance of new or existing plants.

Leveling laser
ReceiverHandheld PC
Measured data administration

YOUR CHALLENGE
Covering a wide range of steel grades and section sizes
whilst ensuring maximum quality and equipment lifetimes
demands high precision in the continuous casting strand
guide system, especially the strand guide rollers. In order
to be able to guarantee optimum roller position a quick
and easy roller alignment system is required, which also
helps reduce time and costs. A further requirement is anintelligent system for handling the recorded measurement
data over the entire product life-cycle as the basis for Plant
Condition Monitoring.
OUR SOLUTION
With OPAL, Primetals Technologies offers an integrated
optical laser measuring system for the exact alignmentof strand guide rollers. This achieves extremely highmeasuring accuracies even under the harshest operating
conditions in steel plants. OPAL provides automatedmeasurement and recording of the roller positions.
The data generated from the measurements allow a precise
comparison between nominal and actual roller positions
to be made. Recommendations are then provided for theshimming of each roller and strand guide module. The
intuitive human-machine interface and the automatedmeasuring process guarantee easy operation and reduced
measuring times during maintenance. The OPAL software
advises the necessary service and maintenance intervals forthe system components.

Condition monitoring
Opal system concept

primetals.com

Opal robust equipment case

Mobile HMI for Data Acquisition

SYSTEM CONCEPTLaser Receiver with wireless datatransmission

OPAL is based on a high-precision leveling laser thatgenerates a horizontal laser plane in 3-dimensional
space. This is used as reference for measuring the strand
guide components. A laser receiver with integrated
microcontroller records the measured values andpasses them on to the control processor by wirelesstransmission. The measured data is automaticallyanalyzed and saved by the OPAL software and a test
report of the completed measurement is then generated
automatically from this data, this ensures traceability at
any time.

MAIN BENEFITSIn addition to the measuring software, the system also
has an intelligent measurement data management system
which makes Plant Condition Monitoring possible. This
allows the strand guide components to be monitored
throughout the entire product life-cycle.

• Electronic data management system –enables Plant Condition Monitoring• Perfect roller positioning – thanks to highmeasuring accuracy• Adapted for use in the steel plantenvironment• Automated measuring process – guaranteedeasy operation and reduced measuring times• Can be integrated into new and existing
plants – more than 50 references worldwide

OPAL - easy to operate caster segment measuring system

Primetals Technologies
Austria GmbHA joint venture of Mitsubishi Heavy
Industries and partners
Turmstrasse 44 | 4031 Linz | Austria
primetals.com
Order No. T03-4-N587-L2-P-V3-EN
Printed in Linz | © 2020

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