It's on the steep part of the improvement curve as technology improves. WCI's automated chemistry lab W CI Steel of Warren, Ohio, says the new fully automated, robotic optical emission spectrometer at its chemistry lab improves turnaround time. The steelmaker is nearly finished commissioning the system, supplied by Spectro Analytical Instruments. The system also was designed to improve the accuracy of analysis. Samples taken from the BOF, LMF, and caster are sent by pneumatic tube to the main chemistry lab, where robotic equipment unloads them and grounds their surface.
Samples then go to the new spectrometer for analysis.
Results are transmitted back to the production floor employing a Level 2 network system. With the former 1991-vintage system, operators carried samples to the lab, and the samples sometimes were prepared manually. The previous system also was becoming incompatible with new operating and network units being installed at the production facilities. The new system provides real-time nitrogen analysis and a wider range of carbon analyses. He hopes the new server will help the company find ways to improve analyses sent to the melt shop.