Erzhong equipment: technological innovation promotes the high-quality development of metallurgical equipment

In the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "strengthen the deep integration of industry, education and research led by enterprises, strengthen the goal orientation, and improve the transformation and industrialization level of scientific and technological achievements." In the new era and new journey, enterprises should better lead by innovation to accelerate the construction of a new pattern of development, and focus on promoting high-quality development to point out the direction.

As a research and development and manufacturing base of major technical equipment in my country and one of the few dual-level equipment with extreme manufacturing capabilities in the world, in the course of more than 60 years of industrial master machine creation, it has always resolutely implemented the strategy of rejuvenating the country through science and technology, and promoted fundamental and strategic major projects with inexhaustible creativity. The R&D and manufacturing of technical equipment is the strong cornerstone of national economy and national defense construction.

Because of its indispensable strategic basic position, steel determines the important role of the steel industry in my country's strategy of building a socialist modernized and powerful country. As a necessary condition for steel production, steel rolling equipment is the "determinant" of steel quality, and the technical field of steel rolling equipment is also the forefront of innovative technology applications and the promotion of intelligent and green development of major domestic equipment.

In the early stage of reform and opening up, a series of metallurgical equipment leaders such as Erzhong actively responded to the call of the state, went abroad to study, introduced, digested and absorbed foreign advanced strip rolling equipment technology, and jointly conquered the core of Baosteel Phase II project: 2050mm wide strip The complete set of steel hot-rolling equipment has formed a large number of research and development achievements. This is the first time that my country's hot-rolled steel plate rolling equipment technology has "connected" with international advanced technology in a true sense. The hand-drawn drawings and pages of hand-calculated manuscripts have witnessed the courage and wisdom of my country's metallurgical equipment research and development pioneers to solve the country from scratch, make the impossible possible, and strive to fill the domestic technological gap.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the state proposed that the heavy industry should "gradually realize domestic independent design and get rid of being restricted by imported technology". At that time, Sichuan was going to build the first high-level medium and wide-band steel hot-rolling production line in western China with national production of machinery, fluid, and electricity. As the general manager of machinery, fluid, and electrical technology for the rolling line, Erzhong felt unprecedented pressure. At that time, the calculation conditions were not as rich as they are now. In addition to calculations, many structures and equipment had to make simplified models of wood or metal for experimental verification. own hands! He Wanming, who was the deputy chief engineer of Erzhong at that time, still feels emotional whenever he recalls this period of history. Through the joint efforts of all units, the production line has been put into operation in only 13 months, and many advanced technologies and equipment such as automatic thickness control of the core of the rolling line, hydraulic bending and roll shifting, etc. have all been localized and applied. It proves that the design and manufacture of rolling equipment in China has the ability to get rid of import and turn to independent innovation.

Entering the new era, China's metallurgical equipment technology field has completed the stage of stable development and high-speed development, and entered the stage of high-quality development. Efficiency improvement, energy consumption reduction, technological upgrading, and green development have become the main development directions. And Erzhong is also thinking, as a heavy equipment enterprise that is the "cornerstone of the country", how to deeply integrate technological innovation and heavy equipment in the field of metallurgical equipment technology to create internationally leading intelligent and green high-end equipment? Qi Xiaohu, the deputy chief engineer of Erzhong Equipment and the person in charge of China's first self-developed "coreless transfer" hot coil box, once said in the company's science and technology conference: "As a technology advancement 'power source', R&D and design personnel dare not There is no goal, we can't 'wait, rely, and demand'. The needs of the country and the industry are our goals. We must actively think about and try new breakthroughs in intelligent, low-carbon, and green heavy equipment, and give full play to our own capabilities. Engineering practice and manufacturing advantages not only require self-reliance, but also joint breakthroughs to implement technological innovation and transformation of achievements, which is not only the need of the enterprise, but also the need of the country." And the Erzhong team has always forged ahead in this direction . In 2019, Erzhong's self-developed high-efficiency and high-precision hot-rolled strip production line was put into operation, applying the fully self-developed slab automatic width setting technology, steel plate width and thickness automatic control technology, full-process temperature drop control technology, high-speed rolling and A series of energy-saving, consumption-reducing, quality-improving, and efficiency-enhancing technologies, such as rapid transportation technology and energy storage balancing technology, have increased production efficiency by about 15% and reduced energy consumption such as water, electricity, and gas by about 10% compared with domestic production lines of the same specification. The downtime of equipment failure has been reduced by about 20%, reaching the domestic leading and international advanced level, and paved a feasible way for the high-quality development of hot-rolled strip rolling equipment. In 2022, Erzhong will successfully apply the reversible continuous rolling high-efficiency rolling technology of the roughing mill to the strip rolling production line with a width of more than 2m. This is not only the first innovation in China, but also the first in the world. In order to overcome the difficulties, Erzhong machinery, fluid, electrical, simulation and other majors worked together, and countless checks, experiments, and program rectifications finally ensured the successful application of the technology and the smooth operation of the production line. Once again, the efficiency of the Lift and reduce energy consumption to new heights. And all this is just a new starting point for the development of China's metallurgical equipment. There is still a long way to go in the future, and there are more "stuck" key technical issues waiting to be resolved.

Although the road is far away, action is approaching, and although things are difficult, they must be accomplished. Metallurgical equipment enterprises must keep in mind, under the call of the times, thoroughly implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress, never forget the original intention, and keep in mind the forging of "national importance" The mission of "device" will continue to forge ahead on the road of independent innovation and scientific and technological power.