Exact steel scrap measurement system in two different operation areas for Lech Stahlwerke GmbH (LSW) in Meitingen, Germany. The laser measurement systems by LASE determine the volumes of different steel scrap materials both in the storage area and in the scrap ferries permanently. For this reason the dosing of recycled steel scrap can be improved and even the quantity of each material sort in the storage area can be determined, too. LSW produces high quality steel products from recycled raw materials and belongs to the division “Steel & Production” within Max Aicher Group.
Scrap storage measurement
In the storage area scrap materials are stocked according to their sort in totally 32 parcels, which are actuated by two crane systems. For the measurement of the scrap area two 2D laser scanners from the LASE 2000D-11x-Series are mounted on the main crane girder. Their scan planes are vertically downwards as well as parallel to the crane and deliver so called 2D profile data. Each single profile shows a cross section of the scrap pile, which are located under the laser scanner. For the measurement of the scrap volume a measuring drive is executed, which is initiated by telegram from the PLC control. A further evaluation unit from LASE (LCU – LASE Control Unit) collects the incoming 2D profiles and converts the values together with the crane position data into a 3D volume model. Separating walls for the segmentation of the storage area are filtered out by the measuring software and are excluded from the volume determination.
By the additional crane position measurement the storage management system always knows from which of the 32 parcels any material has been removed. By the knowledge of the exact volume for each single scrap material type LSW is able to manage the storage area and also to plan the disposition appropriately.
Scrap ferry measurement
After the steel scrap has been loaded from the storage area into a scrap bucket by crane, it is transported by a ferry to the electric air furnace. The measurement starts when an empty scrap ferry drives through the scan plane of the 2D laser scanner (LASE 2000D-11x-Series), which is mounted on the ceiling. The measuring procedure is triggered automatically just as the software detects the ferry in a predefined height. The collected profile data of the ferry are filtered by specific algorithms of the LASE-Software, with the result that associated parts of the ferry are not calculated mistakenly. By the help of a specially developed bucket edge detection function the bucket can be extracted precisely. The process is divided into an empty profile (reference measurement with zero volume) and a full profile measurement, where the fully loaded bucket is moving through the measurement system. The volume of the scrap material is determined by the difference of the empty and full profile.
All in all both installed laser measurement systems help LSW optimizing storage and production processes by the exact determination of the steel scrap quantities. In order to measure volumes laser measurement systems by LASE are highly suitable due to their high accuracy, high reproducibility and high robustness. The 2D laser scanners from the LASE 2000D-Series are versatile and also be applied for positioning and anti-collision tasks.
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