A design package for steel rod production scheduling and mill design

The software (named Auto Rod) is for the continuous, high-speed (e.g., 120m/s, or 24,000ft/min) hot rolling in a rolling block in which all stands are driven by a single motor. Influences from speed, temperature, interstand tension and steel grade, etc. are considered. Various design procedures are provided for designer to selection. Graphic presentation of results and capability for technical drawing for groove overlay, roll and groove geometry, rolling diagram as well as of summarizing load, power, temperature and interstand tension. The software is intended to solve various problems many steel producers currently suffer with, such as flutter (mill vibration during high speed rolling).

Windows environment, user interface and part of graphic functionality are programmed with Visual Basic. Database is implemented with Visual Basic together with SQL, etc. The calculation and most of the graphic functionality are implemented with C/C++ and MFC/Windows API. ActiveX and OLE are used for interface design and data output overlay, while DLL is applied to connect calculation part with the interface. In the whole design and implementation process, Object-oriented technology is employed. Such a combination makes full utility of today's software technology, to insure best software functionality with minimal development cost.


Fig. 1: Form of Auto Rod used to plan the number of total stands required for a steel mill

As an example, the form to plan required number of stands is introduced (Fig.1). When user selects the number of stand to have a trial, say, 16, then, 16 groups of data boxes will automatically generated, allows the user to plan the area reduction, toll diameter, groove type, etc. If the user changes to, say, 18 stands, then 18 groups of data boxes will be produced. This functionality was implemented with VB's control array. The first group of data boxes were drawn in design stage. The height of the form is automatically adjusted with the number of data boxes. The software allows user, either to make a totally new design, or to modify based an existing design. After the number of stands (passes) has been planned, the user can switch to the pass editor, either by double click a given stand (for example, stand 16) in "Stand No." box, or single click the stand and click the "Edit Std." Button, or switch through the main form. The "Pass Edit" form for oval passes is shown in Fig. 2, as an example.

Fig. 2: The "Pass Edit" form used to edit oval passes

The "Pass Edit" form, either for an oval pass or for a round pass, consists of six major parts:

For the design through modifying an existing pass, the data of reference pass are displayed in the form for modification. For new design, the system provides a roughly suggested data in each field for modification.

The Object-Oriented design for the software follows steps such as Use-case study, Conceptual model design, Dynamic model design, etc. Class diagram were designed and drawn with the Rational Rose software. Nearly 20 classes were used. By arranging the interactive relationship of the classes, e.g., composition, association, derivation, the code can be in very rational order.

The implementation for the software began in May 1999, and planed to be finished it by end of September 1999.