A method for precise drum distribution in a fully automated sintering and inspection system

Abstract

This application provides a method for precise drum feeding in a fully automated sintering and testing system, relating to the field of drum feeding and testing technology in sintering production. The method includes S1, preliminary preparation: starting the fully automated equipment self-testing system to perform self-testing control on each device. This application provides a method for precise drum feeding in a fully automated sintering and testing system. Through the coordinated use of rapid feeding, fine micro-feeding, and early stopping of feeding, the accuracy and pass rate of drum feeding weight are significantly improved. This effectively solves the weight overshoot problem caused by material inertia and equipment response delay, increasing the drum feeding pass rate from approximately 80% to over 99.5%. Furthermore, it eliminates manual intervention costs and improves overall inspection efficiency. When drum feeding fails, the system automatically discards the material and re-feeds, avoiding the time cost of manual processing. This significantly improves overall inspection efficiency and ensures the timeliness of sintering quality testing data.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of drum preparation and inspection technology in sinter production, and in particular to a method for precise drum preparation in a fully automated sinter preparation and inspection system. Background Technology

[0002] Currently, the most common method for precise batching of sinter is manual batching using multi-stage vibrating screens and electronic platform scales. With the widespread adoption of fully automated sinter sampling and testing systems in steel enterprises, sinter drum strength testing has gradually achieved fully automated operation. The core equipment for batching is an electromagnetic vibrating feeder and a reducing scale, which are controlled by a PLC program to automatically batch multiple particle sizes of samples.

[0003] Traditional manual drum fitting operations suffer from poor working conditions and high labor intensity, and have therefore been gradually replaced by automated drum fitting systems. However, existing fully automated drum fitting systems have significant deficiencies in weight accuracy, with a drum fitting pass rate of only about 80%, and weight deviations frequently exceeding the national standard allowable range of 15±0.15kg. The core defects and root causes of these problems are as follows: 1. Defects in equipment operation characteristics: The electromagnetic vibrating feeder operates at a fixed frequency and amplitude. When the weight is close to the target value, it is impossible to accurately control the material flow rate, which can easily lead to excessive material falling. There is a response delay when the gate of the reducing scale closes. When the system detects that the weight has reached the target and closes the gate, a small amount of material still falls off the gate under gravity, resulting in an actual weight that is too large.

[0004] 2. Control logic design defects: The original PLC program adopted a simple logic of "shutdown when weight reaches standard", which did not consider the superposition effect of material inertia and gate closing delay, and did not measure the weight of material during the falling process; in addition, there was no weight verification and automatic retest mechanism, and manual intervention was required to re-match the drum when the drum was not qualified.

[0005] The aforementioned problems can easily lead to drum failure, which not only reduces the efficiency of testing the strength of the sinter drum, but also significantly increases the labor intensity of the operators. Summary of the Invention

[0006] This application is made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to provide a method for precise drum distribution in a fully automated sintering and testing system to solve the problems mentioned in the background art.

[0007] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides the following technical solution: a method for precise drum distribution in a fully automated sintering and testing system, the method comprising the following steps: S1. Preliminary preparation: Start the fully automatic equipment self-inspection system to perform self-inspection control on each device of the equipment. Then, send the sintered ore sample to be tested into the six-stage cylindrical screen to be graded and screened into six particle sizes, and lock three particle size samples from them. Lock the material to fall into the corresponding three reduction weigher hoppers. Then, input the target total weight of the drum and the preset qualified weight range through the host computer, and load the three major control program modules of segmented speed regulation, early shutdown and verification retest through the PLC. S2. Rapid feeding: The PLC sends a command to open the pneumatic butterfly valves of the three particle size reduction scales. Then, the matching GZ1 vibrating feeder starts and feeds the material to the lower collection box at high speed and uniform speed. Then, the reduction scale uploads the weight loss data to the PLC in real time for real-time accumulation and summarization. At this time, the system continuously calculates the total weight of the material discharged from the three scales in real time. When the accumulated weight of the drum approaches the set threshold, the PLC issues an amplitude switching pre-command in advance. S3, Fine Micro-feeding: The PLC automatically adjusts the amplitude of the electromagnetic vibratory feeder to 0.8mm. At this time, the feeding speed is automatically switched to fine micro-feeding. The PLC continuously collects the weight loss accumulation data of the reduction scale and monitors the pneumatic closing response delay of the gate and the material falling inertia margin throughout the process. S4. Early shutdown to stop feeding: When the total weight of the accumulated output reaches the preset early shutdown threshold, the PLC immediately sends a signal synchronously. At this time, the material falls naturally due to the inertia of the material after shutdown. Then, after waiting for the weight value of the scale to stabilize without fluctuation, the system locks the final actual total weight of the drum. S5. Verification and Judgment: The PLC retrieves the final weight after stabilization and compares it with the qualified range to complete the judgment. The qualified sample data is linked to the drum, while the drum weight and particle size ratio data are automatically sent to the drum control system. After the drum test is completed, the strength data and drum parameters are bound and archived. S6 Automatic Redistribution: When a sample fails to meet the drum distribution requirements, the PLC controls the robotic arm to transfer the unqualified sample to the waste conveyor belt to empty the material box. After the waste is completed, the system automatically resets the reducing scale and vibrating feeder, and restarts the entire drum distribution process from S2 to S5. S7. Batch Finishing Standby: After all drum sets for a single batch are completed, the system automatically goes into standby mode to wait for the next batch of materials. At the same time, the number of drum sets, pass rate and number of abnormalities for the entire shift are automatically generated into a quality report and exported to the workshop quality management system for automatic storage with one click.

[0008] Furthermore, the equipment self-test in step S1 includes sequentially powering on the six-stage cylindrical screen, the reducing scale, the GZ1 electromagnetic vibrating feeder, the collecting robot, the automatic drum machine, and the host industrial control computer, while simultaneously completing the communication handshake self-test between the S7-1200 master station and each slave station.

[0009] Furthermore, the equipment self-test in step S1 also includes zero-point calibration of the reducing scale.

[0010] Furthermore, in the equipment self-test of step S1, the opening degree of the pneumatic butterfly valve is set to 3 times the maximum particle size of the sinter, and the amplitude adjustment actuator of the feeder is checked.

[0011] Furthermore, in step S3, the amplitude of the electromagnetic vibrating feeder after adjustment is 0.8 mm.

[0012] Furthermore, in step S6, if the drum matching fails once, the drum matching process from S2 to S5 is restarted; if the drum matching fails three times in a row, the system terminates the automatic rematch process and activates the on-site audible and visual fault alarm.

[0013] Furthermore, after three consecutive failures to properly dispense the drum and triggering the alarm, the maintenance personnel checked the metering accuracy of the reduction scale, the vibration mechanism of the feeder, and the opening and closing components of the pneumatic gate. After troubleshooting, they manually reset the system and resumed the drum dispensing operation.

[0014] Furthermore, a single routine drum fitting malfunction only triggers a local audio-visual alert; however, three consecutive major drum fitting failures will simultaneously push alarm information to the workshop's central control screen and the mobile devices of maintenance personnel, enabling remote early warning.

[0015] Furthermore, in step S5, the strength data generated by the drum test is bound to the drum weight and particle size distribution parameters for this test and archived for storage.

[0016] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects: This method, through the cooperation of rapid feeding, fine micro-feeding, and early shut-off of feeding, significantly improves the accuracy and pass rate of drum weight distribution, thereby effectively solving the weight overshoot problem caused by material inertia and equipment response delay. This increases the pass rate of drum distribution from about 80% to over 99.5%, with weight deviation strictly controlled within the national standard range of 15±0.15kg, fully meeting the metrological specifications for sinter drum strength testing. Furthermore, it eliminates the cost of manual intervention, improves overall inspection efficiency, and automatically discards and re-distributes materials when drum distribution is unqualified, thus avoiding the time cost of manual processing. This significantly improves overall inspection efficiency and ensures the timeliness of sinter quality testing data. This method can be implemented simply by adjusting the hardware operating parameters of the vibrating feeder and upgrading the PLC control program, without replacing the core drum equipment, resulting in low modification costs. It can be directly applied to the existing fully automated sintering and inspection systems of steel enterprises. At the same time, the control logic is compatible with mainstream S7-1200 series PLCs and commonly used GZ1 vibrating feeders and reduction scales. It can be directly modified and promoted on the existing fully automated sintering and inspection systems of major steel enterprises in China, making it highly universal. Furthermore, the system collects full-dimensional data such as feed flow rate, equipment operating parameters, drum weight, particle size distribution, and drum strength in real time, and automatically uploads them to the plant-level MES quality system and workshop quality management platform. This enables automatic data archiving and one-click report generation, allowing the complete data chain to support production quality traceability, process analysis, and team performance evaluation, helping sintering production workshops achieve intelligent and digital quality management. Attached Figure Description

[0017] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of this drawing or the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of this drawing. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on the structures shown in these drawings without creative effort.

[0018] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall operation process of the present invention.

[0019] The purpose, features, and advantages of this accompanying drawing will be further explained in conjunction with the embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawing. Detailed Implementation

[0020] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of this application clearer, the following description and illustration are provided in conjunction with embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative and not intended to limit the scope of this application. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments provided in this application without inventive effort are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0021] Obviously, the following description is merely some examples or embodiments of this application. Those skilled in the art can apply this application to other similar scenarios without any inventive effort. Furthermore, it is understood that although the effort involved in such development may be complex and lengthy, for those skilled in the art related to the content disclosed in this application, any changes to design, manufacturing, or production based on the technical content disclosed in this application are merely conventional technical means and should not be construed as insufficient disclosure of the content of this application.

[0022] Unless otherwise specified, the terms "comprising" and "including" as used in this application can be open-ended or closed-ended. For example, "comprising" and "including" can mean that other components not listed may also be included, or that only the listed components may be included.

[0023] Unless otherwise specified, the term "or" is inclusive in this application. For example, the phrase "A or B" means "A, B, or both A and B". More specifically, the condition "A or B" is satisfied by any of the following conditions: A is true (or exists) and B is false (or does not exist); A is false (or does not exist) and B is true (or exists); or both A and B are true (or exist).

[0024] like Figure 1 As shown, a method for precise drum distribution in a fully automated sintering and testing system includes the following steps: S1. Preliminary Preparation: The fully automatic equipment self-inspection system is activated to perform self-inspection and control of each device. Then, the sintered ore sample is fed into a six-stage cylindrical sieve for grading and screening into six particle sizes (>40mm, 40-25mm, 25-16mm, 16-10mm, 10-5mm, <5mm). Three particle sizes (40-25mm, 25-16mm, 16-10mm) are selected as the sample size, and the material is placed into the corresponding three reduction-weight weigher hoppers. Next, the target total weight of the feeding drum (15kg) and the preset acceptable weight range (14.85-15.15kg) are entered into the host computer. The PLC is then loaded with segmented speed regulation (used to dynamically adjust the amplitude of the vibrating feeder based on the real-time weight of the feeding drum, achieving a smooth switch between normal and fine feeding) and early shutdown (built-in 14.9kg shutdown threshold, with real-time weight data acquisition and triggering of the shutdown signal). The system consists of three main control modules: verification and retesting (automatically determining whether the drum weight is qualified, automatically discarding and refeeding unqualified samples, and triggering an alarm for continuous unqualified samples). The equipment then performs a self-test, sequentially completing the following steps: powering on the six-stage cylindrical screen, the reducing scale (100kg capacity, 0.01kg division), the GZ1 electromagnetic vibrating feeder (with a horizontal feeding trough and adjustable amplitude of 0.3mm to 1.75mm), the collecting robot, the automatic drum machine, and the host computer; completing the communication handshake between the S7-1200 master station and all field slave stations; calibrating the zero point of the reducing scale (zero point drift threshold set at ±0.02kg, exceeding the threshold is considered zero point deviation); uniformly fixing the pneumatic butterfly valve opening to three times the maximum particle size of the sintered ore (to prevent large pieces of material from jamming the valve); and verifying the feeder amplitude adjustment actuator (ensuring accurate implementation of amplitude commands). S2. Rapid feeding: The PLC sends a command to open the pneumatic butterfly valves of the three particle size reduction scales. Then, the matching GZ1 vibrating feeder starts (set vibration frequency 3000 times / min, amplitude 1.6mm) and feeds the material to the lower collection box at high speed and uniform speed. Then, the reduction scale uploads the weight loss data to the PLC in real time for real-time accumulation and summarization. At this time, the system continuously calculates the total weight of the three scales in real time. When the accumulated weight of the drum approaches the set threshold (12kg), the PLC issues a pre-command for amplitude switching in advance. S3, Fine Micro-feeding: The PLC automatically adjusts the amplitude of the electromagnetic vibratory feeder to 0.8mm. At this time, the high-speed feeding is automatically switched to fine micro-feeding (to reduce the material falling rate and suppress instantaneous over-feeding). At this time, the PLC continuously collects the weight loss accumulation data of the reduction scale and monitors the gate pneumatic closing response delay and the material falling inertia margin throughout the process. S4. Early shut-off to stop feeding: When the total weight of the accumulated discharge reaches the preset early shut-off threshold (14.9kg), the PLC immediately sends a signal synchronously. At this time, the material will fall naturally due to the inertia of the material after shutting off (0.1~0.3s) (about 0.1kg of material will fall). Then, after waiting for the weight value of the scale to stabilize without fluctuation, the system locks the final actual total weight of the drum. S5. Verification and Judgment: The PLC retrieves the final weight after stabilization and compares it with the qualified range (14.85~15.15kg, i.e. 15±0.15kg) to complete the judgment. The qualified sample data is linked to the drum, while the drum weight and particle size distribution data are automatically sent to the drum control system. After the drum test is completed, the strength data and drum parameters are bound and archived. S6 Automatic Re-matching: When a sample fails the drum matching process, the PLC-controlled robotic arm transfers the sample to the waste conveyor belt to empty the material box. After waste disposal, the system automatically resets the reducing scale and vibrating feeder, and restarts the entire drum matching process from S2 to S5. If a single failure occurs, the drum matching process restarts. If three failures occur, the system terminates the automatic re-matching process and activates an on-site audible and visual fault alarm to remind maintenance personnel to check the measuring accuracy of the reducing scale, the vibration mechanism of the feeder, or the pneumatic gate opening and closing components. After the fault is cleared, the system is manually reset and the drum matching operation is performed again. For general faults, only audible and visual reminders are given on-site. However, for major faults such as three consecutive drum matching abnormalities, the alarm information is simultaneously pushed to the workshop central control screen and the mobile terminal of maintenance personnel to achieve remote early warning. S7. Batch Finishing Standby: After all drum sets for a single batch are completed, the system automatically goes into standby mode to wait for the next batch of materials. At the same time, the number of drum sets, pass rate and number of abnormalities for the entire shift are automatically generated into a quality report and exported to the workshop quality management system for automatic storage with one click.

[0025] It should be noted that this application is not limited to the above-described embodiments. The above embodiments are merely examples, and any embodiments with the same structure and effect as the technical concept within the scope of this application are included in the technical scope of this application. Furthermore, various modifications that can be conceived by those skilled in the art to the embodiments, and other ways of constructing by combining some of the constituent elements of the embodiments, without departing from the spirit of this application, are also included in the scope of this application.

Claims

1. A method for precise drum distribution in a fully automated sintering and testing system, characterized in that: The method for precise drum distribution in the fully automated sinter preparation and inspection system includes the following steps: S1. Preliminary preparation: Start the fully automatic equipment self-inspection system to perform self-inspection control on each device of the equipment. Then, send the sintered ore sample to be tested into the six-stage cylindrical screen to be graded and screened into six particle sizes, and lock three particle size samples from them. Lock the material to fall into the corresponding three reduction weigher hoppers. Then, input the target total weight of the drum and the preset qualified weight range through the host computer, and load the three major control program modules of segmented speed regulation, early shutdown and verification retest through the PLC. S2. Rapid feeding: The PLC sends a command to open the pneumatic butterfly valves of the three particle size reduction scales. Then, the matching GZ1 vibrating feeder starts and feeds the material to the lower collection box at high speed and uniform speed. Then, the reduction scale uploads the weight loss data to the PLC in real time for real-time accumulation and summarization. At this time, the system continuously calculates the total weight of the material discharged from the three scales in real time. When the accumulated weight of the drum approaches the set threshold, the PLC issues an amplitude switching pre-command in advance. S3, Fine Micro-feeding: The PLC automatically adjusts the amplitude of the electromagnetic vibratory feeder to 0.8mm. At this time, the feeding speed is automatically switched to fine micro-feeding. The PLC continuously collects the weight loss accumulation data of the reduction scale and monitors the pneumatic closing response delay of the gate and the material falling inertia margin throughout the process. S4. Early shutdown to stop feeding: When the total weight of the accumulated output reaches the preset early shutdown threshold, the PLC immediately sends a signal synchronously. At this time, the material falls naturally due to the inertia of the material after shutdown. Then, after waiting for the weight value of the scale to stabilize without fluctuation, the system locks the final actual total weight of the drum. S5. Verification and Judgment: The PLC retrieves the final weight after stabilization and compares it with the qualified range to complete the judgment. The qualified sample data is linked to the drum, while the drum weight and particle size ratio data are automatically sent to the drum control system. After the drum test is completed, the strength data and drum parameters are bound and archived. S6 Automatic Redistribution: When a sample fails to meet the drum distribution requirements, the PLC controls the robotic arm to transfer the unqualified sample to the waste conveyor belt to empty the material box. After the waste is completed, the system automatically resets the reducing scale and vibrating feeder, and restarts the entire drum distribution process from S2 to S5. S7. Batch Finishing Standby: After all drum sets for a single batch are completed, the system automatically goes into standby mode to wait for the next batch of materials. At the same time, the number of drum sets, pass rate and number of abnormalities for the entire shift are automatically generated into a quality report and exported to the workshop quality management system for automatic storage with one click.

2. The method for precise drum distribution in a fully automated sintering and testing system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The equipment self-test in step S1 includes sequentially powering on the six-stage cylindrical screen, reducing scale, GZ1 electromagnetic vibrating feeder, material collection robot, automatic drum machine, and upper industrial control computer, while simultaneously completing the communication handshake self-test between the S7-1200 master station and each slave station.

3. The method for precise drum distribution in a fully automated sintering and testing system according to claim 2, characterized in that, The equipment self-test in step S1 also includes zero-point calibration of the reducing scale.

4. The method for precise drum distribution in a fully automated sintering and testing system according to claim 3, characterized in that, In the equipment self-test of step S1, the opening degree of the pneumatic butterfly valve is set to 3 times the maximum particle size of the sinter, and the amplitude adjustment actuator of the feeder is checked.

5. The method for precise drum distribution in a fully automated sintering and testing system according to claim 1, characterized in that, In step S3, the amplitude of the electromagnetic vibrating feeder after adjustment is 0.8 mm.

6. The method for precise drum distribution in a fully automated sintering and testing system according to claim 1, characterized in that, In step S6, if the drum matching fails once, the drum matching process from S2 to S5 is restarted; if the drum matching fails three times in a row, the system terminates the automatic rematch process and activates the on-site audible and visual fault alarm.

7. The method for precise drum distribution in a fully automated sintering and testing system according to claim 6, characterized in that, After three consecutive failures to properly dispense the drum and triggering an alarm, maintenance personnel checked the metering accuracy of the reduction scale, the vibration mechanism of the feeder, and the opening and closing components of the pneumatic gate. After troubleshooting, they manually reset the system and resumed the drum dispensing operation.

8. The method for precise drum distribution in a fully automated sintering and testing system according to claim 7, characterized in that, A single, routine drum fitting malfunction only triggers a local audio-visual alert; however, three consecutive major drum fitting failures will simultaneously push alarm information to the workshop's central control screen and the mobile devices of maintenance personnel, enabling remote early warning.

9. The method for precise drum distribution in a fully automated sintering and testing system according to claim 1, characterized in that, In step S5, the strength data generated by the drum test is bound to the drum weight and particle size distribution parameters for this test and archived for storage.

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