The new automated steel plant laboratory of Thyssen Stahl AG in Ruhrort.

When the steel plant laboratory was reorganised, the decision was made to have an automated, central round-the-clock production control analysis facility equipped with pneumatic tube conveyor system, sample preparation machines and several analysis devices. The laboratory is located on the converter charging platform of the basic-oxygen furnace steel plant in Ruhrort and includes two automatic grinders for steel samples, an automatic slag preparation unit, two spectrometers, X-ray fluorescence analysis equipment and four eco-analysis devices that are fed largely automatically. A software system controls the preparation machines and the conveyor system, while a further software system controls the analyses. This has made it possible to significantly shorten the analysis times. Preliminary samples from the converter are analysed within 140 s; slag analyses can be achieved in times of around 400 s (including sample login procedure and pneumatic tube conveyance). The shift manning levels have been reduced by some 80%.