Team News Riveting
Rourkela, March 18
An Up-Graded 1771 series of RIO modules for PLC and Automation system in Phase-I &II of Raw Material Handling Plant of SAIL, Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) was inaugurated by S R Suryawanshi, ED (Works) on 16th March 2024.
Present on the occasion were S S Roychoudhury, CGM (RMHP), several other CGMs of the Plant and Officers and employees of the Department.
Notably, both Phase-I & II of RMHP caters to unloading, stacking & dispatch to Blast Furnace 1, 4 and 5, Sintering Plant 1 and 2, LDBP, Calcining Plant-2. The Rockwell make PLC was commissioned in the year 1994. In its Electrical Control system the installed 1771 series modules became obsolete over 10 years ago. These modules component manufacturers stopped manufacturing the components. In order to maintain the operation defective modules were repaired in-house. However, over a period these spares also got exhausted resulting in to an emergency condition.
RMHP team took up the challenge and prepared a scheme, as per which a new Control Logic I/O ( Input / Output) module was procured and the aging Data Highway Plus network was replaced with fiber optic and ethernet technology for faster data transmission, increased bandwidth & improved reliability.
The execution period for this AMR project was 08 months but the job got completed ahead of the schedule. Retrofitting of 34 RIO stations and laying of 20 kms of Fiber Optic cables for PLC & Automation system of RMHP in 13 different sub-stations of Phase-I & II were executed in phased manner with staggered small shut-down duration without seriously hampering production.
The upgrade initiative was spearheaded by the dedicated team comprising K. Mohanta, AGM, N.K Parida AGM, B.K. Behera, Senior Manager, S. Panigrahi, Deputy Manager, S K Samal, MOMT, M R Panda, MOMT and SK Gouda, MOMT.
The job was successfully completed with seamless integration of complete automation system of RMHP under the visionary guidance of S.S. Roy Choudhury, CGM, M K Giri, GM In-charge – Electrical, S Rana, GM (Electrical) and S Kumar, DGM(Electrical).
The successful completion of the upgrade project at RMHP represents a milestone achievement, underscoring the SAIL’s proactive approach to innovation and continuous improvement. This will definitely help RSP in achieving challenging targets in 2024-25.
