Metallurgical cranes and steel mill cranes are mainly used in the following areas.
1. Raw Material Yard Cranes
Gantry Grab Cranes: Used at docks or raw material yards for unloading, stacking, and retrieving bulk cargo (ore, coal, scrap steel).
Bridge Grab Cranes/Electromagnetic Beam Bridge Cranes: Used in indoor raw material rooms to load scrap steel into baskets or for charging blast furnaces.
2. Steelmaking Workshop (Core Area) Bridge Cranes
Foundry Cranes (Ladle Cranes)
These are the most important and highest-level cranes in steel mills, often referred to as the "throat of the steel mill."
Function: Specifically designed for lifting ladles of molten steel or iron containing high-temperature molten metal.
Features:
Ultra-high safety level: Typically employs a double-trolley, double-beam, four-wire rope structure; if one drive fails, the other can independently and safely lower the ladle.
Dual braking system: The lifting mechanism has at least two independent brakes.
Slow positioning function: Enables extremely smooth and precise injection of hundreds of tons of molten steel into continuous casting machines or ingot casting platforms. Heat Radiation Protection: The driver's cab and main structures have special heat insulation protection.
Iron Ladle Crane
Specifically used to transport molten iron ladles from the blast furnace to the converter and complete the pouring (iron ladling) operation. It also has extremely high safety requirements and heat protection design.
Metallurgical Bridge Crane
Used for lifting auxiliary materials (alloys, refractory materials), scrap steel baskets, equipment maintenance, etc., its working class (A6-A7) is higher than that of ordinary factory cranes.
Slab Clamp Crane
Used in the continuous casting area to clamp and transport the cut, high-temperature slabs from the billet exit roller conveyor.
3. Cranes in Continuous Casting and Hot Rolling Areas
Clamp/Disk Crane: Uses special clamps or electromagnetic chucks to transport high-temperature steel billets, square billets, and slabs to the heating furnace or rolling line.
Roller Conveyor Crane: Used on the rolling line to laterally transfer steel between different roller conveyors.
4. Finishing and Finished Goods Warehouse Cranes
Electromagnetic Disk Cranes: Used in finished goods warehouses for handling steel sections, plates, etc. By controlling the excitation current, they can lift one or more bundles of steel at a time, offering high efficiency.
Horizontal/Vertical Coil Clamp Cranes: Specifically designed for handling steel coils. Horizontal coil clamps tighten from the inside of the coil, while vertical coil clamps grip from the outside.
Crane with Weighing Function: Integrates an electronic scale for weighing finished goods during shipment or process weighing.
Metallurgical cranes are unique because they operate in some of the harshest industrial environments:
1. Extreme loads and high-temperature environments: Directly lifting molten metal (molten iron and steel exceeding 1500°C) or incandescent steel billets (above 500°C), causing heat radiation and conduction to the structure and mechanisms.
2. Highest safety level: A fall, overturning, or loss of control could lead to catastrophic accidents such as explosions, fires, major casualties, and production shutdowns. Safety is the primary design consideration.
3. Ultra-high working level: Extremely frequent starting and braking, high load rates, belonging to the A7 and A8 (extra-heavy) working levels, placing extremely high demands on the fatigue strength of motors, brakes, and steel structures.
4. Complex and harsh environment: High temperature, high dust, high humidity, and the possibility of molten metal splashing.
5. Precise control requirements: Millimeter-level stable and precise positioning is required, especially in processes such as casting and molten iron mixing.
