Slab marking recognition at the Qarmet metallurgical plant in Kazakhstan

About the project

At the Qarmet metallurgical plant in Kazakhstan, Mallenom Systems, in collaboration with its partner InterVes LLC, implemented a project involving the design, supply, dismantling of existing equipment, and installation of a new slab-weighing system. This system includes a subsystem for video capture and the recognition of markings on continuously cast slabs.

Project objective:

To ensure an objective analysis of the yield of usable metal (cast billets) from the molten metal produced, by achieving:

• Continuous weighing of slabs;
• Precise tracking and control of shipments;
• Streamlined internal logistics and production planning;
• Improved quality;
• Reduced incident rates and production costs.

The system is integrated into the unified, comprehensive automated control system of the basic oxygen furnace shop and operates in close data exchange with related automated control systems.

Video capture and recognition subsystem

Developed by the Mallenom Systems team, this machine vision-based subsystem for video capture and marking recognition provides:

• Automatic detection of markings on the slab surface;
• Recognition of the characters present;
• Verification that a marking exists;
• Logging of recognition results;
• Transmission of the recognized identifier to external systems;
• Storage of images of the inspected slabs on an FTP server.

Operating principle:

Inspection is carried out at two independent, parallel-operating stations. Upon the arrival of a slab, an external system triggers the analysis process. A camera captures an image of the slab, after which the system automatically locates the marking and identifies the characters. Processing of results:

If the marking is missing or incorrectly applied, the inspection result is recorded as "NOK" (not OK). The system generates a rejection signal, sends an error message to the PC and PLC via TCP/IP, and saves an image of the slab to an FTP server.

If the marking is successfully recognized, the system transmits the identified number to the PC and PLC, saves the slab image, and generates a signal indicating that the inspection is complete.

Implementation results

The implementation of the slab weighing and marking recognition system has enabled the metallurgical plant to:

• replace outdated weighing equipment;
• achieve more accurate tracking of the weight of continuously cast billets and scrap (crop ends);
• optimize the technological process and production costs based on the data obtained.

For purchasing inquiries contact:
sales@mallenom.ru