Highveld Steel upgrades motor control centres

Second Quarter 2005 News & events

All-new Unitrol fully withdrawable motor control centres are replacing existing CHI Control MCCs at furnaces in Iron Plant One at the Highveld Steel and Vanadium Corporation's works outside Witbank.

Highveld Steel is at present upgrading furnaces in Plant One, including a new extension for the cooling plant to provide separate cooling pumps for each of the six furnaces in the plant. Previously a shutdown of the cooling plant would have affected all six furnaces, whereas with the new arrangement furnaces can be shut down individually.

According to Johan Koster, the consultant in charge of the project, the CHI motor control centres being replaced have been operating reliably since their installation in 1968. "There have been modifications involving new generations of components over the years," he said, "but there has never been any problem with the performance of the CHI MCCs."

As the first replacement MCC for Furnace No 5 was completed, an order was placed with CHI Control for an MCC for Furnace No 6 for a similar installation, for delivery in July/August. "The idea behind ordering these MCCs from CHI Control was to maintain the same standards," Koster explains.

The equipment selected for the MCCs includes Cutler-Hammer air circuit breakers, variable speed drives and soft starters, Socomec fused isolators, and the first of the new JCB61 earth fault relays recently introduced by CHI Control.

For more information contact Rob Hare, CHI Control, +27 (0) 11 827 9124, [email protected]

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