Bar and wire mill modernization at Nucor Steel Kingman

After the recent successful electrical and control system upgrades at Nucor Steel, Russula was pleased to receive an order in September 2016 to upgrade the Nucor Steel Kingman plant in Arizona. The new mill control system will incorporate the latest Russula automation solutions to produce steel bar and wire rod from steel billets that are coming from other Nucor Steel plants in Seattle, Utah and Nebraska. The Russula automation scope of supply covers the entire electrical upgrade, starting with an on-site assessment to determine the current automation functionality, engineering, equipment supply, installation supervision, and commissioning support.

Russula keeps safety at the forefront of every task in every project. An independent safety control system is included in the scope of the upgrade to manage the emergency stops of the bar mill, bar outlet and rod outlet. In order to guarantee the correct lock out procedure in the mill, Russula will supply an operator station with one Kirk Key for each group of stands. From this station the operators can lock out each piece of equipment in the mill in a secure manner.

The upgrade encompasses more than just the control system. Critical drives will be upgraded from DCV700 to DCS800 and integrated along with the rest of the drives with the new control system. The LCI block will be also be integrated via a gateway to interface with the Contrologix PLC.