Roughing Stand Condition Monitoring at NorthStar Blue Scope Steel

The hot strip mill has upgraded their production capacity by increasing the slab thickness from 90 mm to 103 mm, but it had some adverse effects on the reliability of the mechanical drivetrain components. The roughing stand has suffered from unexplained failures of rolling element bearings and couplings. Transient torque meters were integrated these with the CSi Machinery Health Management system. Detection of overload events and bearing faults has saved the mill over $2M to date in parts and unscheduled downtime.