1. NIPPON STEEL TECHNICAL REPORT No. 89 January 2004
UDC 621 . 746 . 27 : 681. 3
Application of Open System Technology
to the Continuous Casting Plant
Hiroto KOBAYASHI*1 Nobuo SUMIDA*1
Naohiro MORIYAMA*2
Abstract
In the renewal of old process computer system of the continuous casting plant,
Nippon Steel Corporation has attained cost reduction by the introduction of gen-
eral-purpose PC server and OS, and middleware (NS SEMI SYSTEM) originally
developed in the activity of open system solution. Also the adopting general purpose
RDB to the continuous casting plant has been realized in the first time. The reduc-
tion of cost and period in AP software development has been achieved by the pro-
gram code generator tool originally developed.
1. Introduction which is a slab continuous casting machine for single strands; and 2
At the Hikari Works of NSSC, an upgrading of the old process CC which is a bloom continuous casting machine for a double strand
computer system (hereinafter referred to as PC) for slab and bloom configuration. Both are vertical type continuous casting equipment.
continuous casting (hereinafter referred to as VCC) that has been Urgent renewal of the old systems was necessary for the VCC
employed for the past 21 years since operations began was com- PC because after 21 years of operation: 1. Spare parts had become
pleted during a periodic revision period in August, 2001. The up- exhausted through the aging of the process of the I/O apparatuses;
grading of the older VCC PC system was an attempt to reduce costs and 2. Expansion of memory devices for expanded functions was
through the introduction of general-purpose PC servers, and OS not possible. The scale of the system calls for an approximately 80 k
(Windows 2000 Servers*(1)) and new Nippon Steel middle-ware (NS step, mid-sized PC.
SEMI SYSTEM*(2)). Furthermore, this was the first attempt to adopt
a general purpose RDB (SQL Server 2000*(1)) to a continuous cast- 3. Upgrading issues
ing plant. In proceeding with this renewal project, one of the main issues
The reduction of costs and shortening of system development was particularly to reduce costs by achieving the following two points.
periods in AP software development were achieved through new and (1) Reduced costs for purchasing of hardware and software
originally developed program code generator tools. This paper in- (2) Reduced application software development costs
troduces the general concepts involved in the upgrading of the VCC In purchasing hardware, dedicated PCs of various manufacturers
PC in view of these features. were compared to employ the general purpose products for lower
costs in system introduction and operation based on engineering
2. The general concepts of the equipment and exist- know-how at Nippon Steel Corporation to develop our systems. Fur-
ing PC system thermore, through a completely in-house software manufacturing
Fig. 1 is a conceptual view of the steel making process flow and organization, the establishment of software development engineer-
VCC equipment of the Hikari Works. The facilities comprise 1 CC ing methodology for steel manufacturing controls and the develop-
*1 Environment & Process Technology Center, Technical Development * (1) Windows 2000, SQL Server 2000, Visual Basic, EXCEL are registered
Bureau trademarks in the United States of America and other Countries of the
2
* Hikari Works American company Microsoft Corporation.
* (2) “NS SEMI SYSTEM” is a registered trademark in Japan of Nippon
Steel Corporation.
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2. NIPPON STEEL TECHNICAL REPORT No. 89 January 2004
V-AOD
EAF vacuum argon oxygen CC
Material electric furnace ( de-carboning furnace ) (continuous casting equipment)
1 CC (slab)
vertical 1 strand
Scrap, Preheating
alloy, Rolling
sub-materials
process
Dissolving
2 CC (bloom)
vertical 2 strands
Melting
Fig. 1 Steel manufacturing processes and VCC equipment
ment of software development support systems improved the effi- the reliability of the system. Diskless WBT (Windows Based Termi-
cacy of application software (AP software). Recently, there has been nals) were chosen for the terminal monitors in consideration of envi-
a trend for a yearly increase in the introduction of open systems. An ronment durability and maintainability. To reduce the processing load
aim was to further improve AP software manufacturing ability through on the PC servers and to ensure response at the terminal monitors, a
the development of software development and manufacturing im- balancer type system was configured that separates each of the serv-
provement tools. These software development tools employ com- ers for functionality for screen control, list output control and data
mercially available software packages that provide efficiency in de- analysis. Furthermore, existing process computers and new PC serv-
velopment, through a visual approach. ers were connected via a sequencer. A vertical startup was realized
With this project of renewal, it was the first time to apply a pro- by improving test quality through a parallel run test and a shortened
grammed automated generation tool for Nippon Steel Corporation switching over period from the old to the new devices.
as an application software development tool for continuous casting
equipment. 5. Overall software configuration
Fig. 3 shows the overall software configuration1-3). Features of
4. System configuration the system configuration are improved reliability and maintainabil-
Fig. 2 shows the system configuration1-3). The general purpose ity by deploying Nippon Steel Corporation’s middle-ware on a gen-
PC server employed a duplicated configuration of disks to ensure eral purpose OS (Windows 2000*(1)) environment and a general pur-
pose RDB (SQL Server 2000*(1)), high processing speeds and to en-
Business computer sure transplant-ability (or reuse) of application software. Particularly,
(online machines)
Staff terminal this was the first time for general purpose RDB to be applied to con-
LAN for transmissions LAN between
over business computer steel manufacturing processes
Server for screens
PC server Application software
PC server PC server PC server PC server
for back up for control for control for screens Middle-ware for control
PC server
Printer For
(Windows PC server system) Visual Basic*(1)
server maintenance Windows 2000 Server*(1)
Application software
Hardware (Pentium-III)
Middle-ware for control
(NS SEMI SYSTEM for Windows*(2))
Information LAN RDB (SQL 2000*(1)) Server for printer
Windows 2000 Server*(1) Application software
Printer Printer
On-site On-site
terminal terminal Hardware (Pentium-III) Middle-ware for control
Excel, Visual Basic*(1)
LAN for control LAN for control
Windows 2000 Server*(1)
Hardware (Pentium-III)
Remote P I/O
PC
for existing equipment
Marking apparatus Existing EI control apparatus WBT (Windows based terminal)
. . . OS:Windows CE
Fig. 2 Overall system configuration Fig. 3 Software configuration
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3. NIPPON STEEL TECHNICAL REPORT No. 89 January 2004
Application ♦Simulation XX screen and lists
for evaluation Simulator Components
data table
Placement and definition
Middle-ware for control Application for evaluation
PC database Middle-ware for control
RDB (SQL 2000*(1))
(RDB)
VB, EXCEL*(1)
Windows 2000 Server*(1) Application
Windows 2000 Server*(1) definition documents
PC server Screen server
for evaluation for evaluation
♦1 sec. and
5 sec. cycles
(RDB)
Sequencer
WBT, PRT terminals Tables
for evaluation Automatic generation
mechanism
(1) Possible to load to PC database on SQL server*(1) without processing delays
or memory leaks.
(2) Operation almost completely possible without turning on SQL server*1
(3) Connection possible only by simply definition of IP addresses between PC
Source — exe.
>
servers (Windows 2000 Server*(1)) and WBT (Windows based terminal)
(4) Designing point: Application software only accesses simple SQL statements
to ensure reliability (development of originals RDB Middle-ware) Fig. 6 General concept of program automatic generation tools
In conventional application software development, after creating
the program processing design documents in the upstream design
Possible to apply to on-line system
phase (function specifications, configuration designs), the software
Fig. 4 Knowledge attained through the prior evaluation system was developed in the process to code the program and to test it. In all
cases, because of the human element, program processing designing
tinuous casting equipment which require high levels of reliability and testing needed to be repeated a number of times due to human
and real-time information response. For that reason, it was deter- error. Also, separations between the program process design docu-
mined to apply the actual equipment after a thorough pre-evaluation ments and program source occurred which caused an increase in the
of those issues (see Fig. 43)) had been conducted. Online data analy- number of amendment mistakes was a cause of trouble in software
sis servers employ web servers on a Linux*(3) system. By connecting development manufacturing improvements.
OA terminals on each staff’s desk, a low cost, yet highly convenient These problems were solved for the development tools by de-
system was developed. scribing application process definition documents (the placement and
definitions of development components for screens and lists) and
6. Features of application development converting to program source generation/execution formats via an
A feature of application software development is the application automated generation mechanism and enabling uniformed develop-
of a program development tool of Nippon Steel Corporation. This ment including installation on the actual machines2, 3) (See Fig. 6).
tool was developed using generally sold tools (Visual Basic, Excel*(1)) This has made it possible to quickly maintain good quality software
and general purpose RDB. The aim is to improve manufacturing2,3) maintenance for the maintenance divisions as well as for users on
through automation of program processing designs, production and the manufacturing side.
stand-alone tests (See Fig. 5).
7. Conversion of overall engineering techniques
Through these efforts, an overall conversion of engineering tech-
Nippon Steel software development manufacturing improvement tool niques was tested, not only to simply improve software manufactur-
ing. In conventional waterfall-type techniques, it is easy to ensure
software quality for each software manufacturing phase, but there
Processing design
Function design
Configuration
are major demerits in that the quality of and changes in the required
AOT
Coding
GOT
SOT
design
specifications cause many returns and that many human operating
mistakes greatly affect the overall process2, 3) (See Fig. 7).
A spiral type technique was used. This employs originally manu-
factured tools that eliminate human error and which do not affect
any user department. To this use of that technique, the following
Automation
changes of concept were tried2, 3) (See Fig. 8).
(1) Required specifications cannot be 100% decided.
Elimination of separation of process design documents and programs (2) Have users on the manufacturing side submit requested speci-
fications gradually after they had been thoroughly studied,
Fig. 5 Scope of program automatic generation without applying any time restrictions to them
(3) Have submitted requests verified by the users on the manu-
* (3) Linux is a trademark or registered trademark of Linux Trvalds in the
United States of America and in other countries. facturing side as soon as is possible
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4. NIPPON STEEL TECHNICAL REPORT No. 89 January 2004
Requested Function
specifications design Configuration
design Processing
design Coding
SOT
User AOT
GOP
department Waterfall type design technique Follow-up
User department
System development department
Limit to submit requested specifications
Return of specifications Unstable software quality
Cost increases
Specifications not decided
Stringent engineering process
Quality of requested specifications decreases
Delayed follow-up period
Fig. 7 Waterfall type design technique
users departments on the manufacturing side to confirm the most
Desired specifications cannot be 100% determined. requested specifications and to make further requests for changes or
improvements thereto. For that reason, the system development de-
Do not apply time restraints on user divisions
(to ensure quality of desired specifications) partment can propose screens and tables for those screens and lists
♦ User side
(development using the originally manufactured tool makes it pos-
Function design to
verifies sequentially sible at this stage for the program source to already be generated),
♦70%
configuration design and to discuss those specifications with those user departments while
• A certain level of Process design to GOT ♦80% developing and operating model operation data on a general purpose
requirement range
RDB. In this way, not only is it possible to confirm requested speci-
Process design to GOT
♦100% fications, but also to experience actual operation such as the system’s
Desired specifications
determine/ Process design to GOT operability, response and visual impression. The application per-
add/ formed this time is the most effective.
change
Fig. 9 shows the main effects2,3) of the spiral up type develop-
ment technique obtained through its practical use.
General purpose Early delivery enables configuration and
machines verification that is close to the final product
8. Effects
Fig. 8 Change of concept and spiral up type approach Costs for purchasing new hardware were reduced approximately
2/3 (versus conventional costs), and application software develop-
Manufacturing side user division System Development Division ment costs were reduced 50% by introducing general purpose com-
ponents and applying our originally made application program tools.
(1) There is no time limit to determining (1) Because it is possible to check Also, as an overall engineering technique, a practical approach was
the required specifications, so it is the required specifications in
possible to submit good quality a format that is very near the actual taken from the waterfall type to a spiral-up type to enable shortened
- Improved required quality - product of the user division, it is setup times and a vertical installation by early verification of the
(2) Submitted requirements can be possible for early recovery from
experienced in a format close to mutual misunderstandings. entire system.
the finished product. - Early recovery
from misunderstandings -
- Realization of contents
of requirements - (2) Early verification of the entire system
9. Conclusions
(3) By early verification and experience, is possible. - Early verification - A low cost, open type control system of good quality was devel-
submitted specifications are better (3) Because test quality at the entire oped. By achieving the first general purpose RDB application to con-
clarified, and amendments are more system level is improved, vertical tinuous casting, the possible for application to other processes that
accurate. installation is possible.
- Clarification of requirements - - Shortened follow-up times - require similar or better process performance and responsiveness was
(4) By sequentially accepting and (4) Results of work can be viewed attained.
verifying, there is better concern in shorter time periods, therefore
toward project participation. system development staff have
- Improved concern for participation - a greater sense of confidence. References
- Greater sense of confidence - 1) Kobayashi, H., Tukamoto: CAMP-ISIJ. 15, 172(2002)
2) Kobayashi, H.: Short serial colum “Spiral up type approach to minimum
Fig. 9 Effects and knowledge from the application of spiral up type specification change”, Nikkei Degital Engineering. 2002-1
3) Kobayashi, H., Sumida, N., Moriyama, N.: Institute of Electrical Engi-
(4) Sequentially amend, and change based on their verifications neers of Japan Metal Industry Research Committee (Metal Industry Ap-
Particularly, with regard to screen and list functions, it is easy for plication General), MID-02-14, 2002
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