What are the requirements for the use of air compressors in the steel industry?

As a heavy industry, the iron and steel industry has extremely strict requirements for air compressors, which need to meet the needs of complex working conditions such as high temperature, dust, and high load. The following is a professional analysis from the four dimensions of technical performance, operational stability, environmental compliance and maintenance convenience:

1. Technical Performance Requirements

1. pressure and Flow Adaptability:
   • it is necessary to cover multi-scene pressure requirements such as blast furnace injection (0.6-0.8MPa), converter steelmaking pneumatic control (0.4-0.6MPa), rolling line pneumatic clamp (0.7-1.0MPa), etc.
   • The flow rate needs to be dynamically matched according to the scale of the production line. For example, the daily coal injection volume of a large blast furnace can reach 5000 tons, and the corresponding air compressor needs to provide a continuous and stable air source.
2. gas quality control:
   • the oil content should be ≤ 0.01 mg/m & sup3;(ISO 8573-1 Class 1 standard) to avoid oil pollution to the blast furnace coal injection system.
   • The dust content shall be ≤ 0.1 μm to prevent the precision pneumatic valve from sticking.
   • The pressure dew point shall be ≤-20 ℃ to avoid condensation and freezing of compressed air in the transmission pipeline.

2. operation stability requirements

1. continuous operation capability:
   • the equipment shall support continuous operation for more than 72 hours, and MTBF (mean time between failure) shall be ≥ 8000 hours.
   • Key components such as screw rotors and bearings need to be made of special alloy materials, and the high temperature resistance needs to be above 200 ℃.
2. Load adaptability:
   • A wide load regulation capacity of 30-120 per cent is required to cope with fluctuations in gas consumption during the blowing and shutdown periods of the steelmaking converter.
   • The transient response time should be ≤ 500ms to ensure the pressure stability of the pneumatic system.

3. environmental compliance requirements

1. energy efficiency standards:
   • to meet the GB 19153 "positive displacement air compressor energy efficiency limits and energy efficiency grade" level 1 energy efficiency requirements.
   • Compared with traditional equipment, the energy saving rate needs to be increased by 15%-20% to reduce the comprehensive energy consumption per ton of steel in iron and steel enterprises.
2. Emission control:
   • noise should be ≤ 75dB(A), in line with the "industrial enterprise boundary environmental noise emission standards".
   • The waste heat recovery system shall be equipped, and the compressed heat energy shall be used for preheating air or heating domestic water, and the comprehensive utilization rate of energy shall be ≥ 85%.

4. Maintenance Ease Requirements

1. life of wearing parts:
   • the replacement period of the air filter element shall be ≥ 2000 hours, and the oil core shall be ≥ 4000 hours.
   • The lubricating oil replacement period should be ≥ 8000 hours, reducing the frequency of downtime and maintenance.
2. Intelligent monitoring function:
   • the IoT module needs to be integrated to realize remote pressure, temperature and vibration monitoring.
   • With fault warning function, it can predict bearing wear, oil blockage and other hidden dangers 24 hours in advance.

Typical application scenarios

• blast furnace coal injection system: Two-machine hot standby air compressors shall be equipped. In case of single failure, the standby machine shall be automatically started within 30 seconds to ensure the continuity of coal injection.
• Oxygen lance control for converter steelmaking A variable frequency air compressor shall be used to dynamically adjust the air supply according to the height of the oxygen lance, and the pressure fluctuation shall be controlled within ± 0.05MPa.
• continuous casting machine mould vibration pulsed compressed air shall be provided, and the frequency shall be accurately synchronized with the vibration frequency of the crystallizer (100-300 times/min).

Summary of technical value
air compressors in the steel industry need to pass high pressure ratio design, precision filtration system, intelligent frequency conversion control and other core technologies to achieve efficient, stable and clean the gas supply is guaranteed. Its value is not only reflected in reducing the energy consumption of single-ton steel air compression, but also in improving the reliability of pneumatic system, reducing unplanned downtime, ensuring the core production indicators such as blast furnace smooth flow, converter rhythm, continuous casting billet quality, etc., to help iron and steel enterprises to achieve the dual goals of cost reduction and efficiency and green manufacturing.