OptiMet
What is it
OptiMet is an advanced application addressed to the Electrical Steel Mills, developed by Iso Sistemi with the aims to reduce costs and improve steel quality. OptiMet calculates quality and quantity of charge materials (scrap and ferroalloys) needed to produce the programmed steel at the lowest cost, subject to all the physical and operational constraints of the plant.
The OptiMet solution is a powerful tool for a more economical and precise running of the steel mill, and in addition is a valid support for specialists in the continuous improvement of operational practices and quality. It also allows an accurate quantification of the “value in use” of the charge material offered by the market and hence of their relative affordability.
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Structure
OptiMet is structured in two parts:
- The metallurgical model Met, which correlates the features of the outgoing flows to those of the incoming flows. Met is based on the resolution of the materials and enthalpy budgets for each stage of the process. The calculation includes all the elements involved in the process that characterize the quality of the steel to be produced. It also gives an estimate of the consumption of electrical and chemical energy and of the melting times required for each given charge mix.
- The Opti optimization algorithm, which seeks the feasible solution at the lowest cost. Opti, which is based on a non-linear version of the simplex method, provides the composition of the scrap charge and the weights of ferroalloys yielding the minimum cost of casting, taking into account the energy consumption and the tap-to-tap time.
Return on investment
The experience gained in the field has shown that the return on investment in OptiMet takes place in a very short time: the cost of the system will pay for itself with the benefits accrued in times that, for a producer of special steels, may also be of the order of few months of operation.
"Steel Solutions" Suite
OptiMet is part of the suite “Steel Solutions” and is integrated into the IsoMelt supervisory system, also developed by Iso Sistemi: the two products were designed to work together providing the client with the maximum benefit. It is also possible to use OptiMet by integrating it with a legacy monitoring system already installed at the customer.
