Bangalore

Global technology company ABB will provide electromagnetic brake systems (EMBR) for two compact strip production (CSP) casters at Tata Steel’s flagship plant in Jamshedpur, India, working under contract from engineering and construction organization SMS Group.

Jamshedpur, located in the eastern state of Jharkhand, is India’s first planned industrial city and was established following the founding of Tata Iron and Steel Company by Jamsetji Tata and his son Dorabji Tata in the 1900s.

ABB's scope of supply also includes DCS800 DC drives, dry type transformers, water cooling systems, commissioning services and metallurgical performance evaluation. ABB is contracted through SMS which specializes in plant construction and mechanical engineering for the steel and nonferrous metals industry.

The contract builds on ABB’s large installed base with premier steel producers globally. ABB EMBR is installed on 40 percent of thin slab casting strands worldwide and allows for higher quality and faster throughput. This well-established technology, invented by ABB in 1985, enables steelmakers to achieve steel cleanliness similar to conventional vertical bending casters, improves casting speed and increases mould copper plate lifetime. By generating a static magnetic field, which decreases meniscus metal flow speed and turbulence, the ABB EMBR provides a whole range of metallurgical improvements including elimination of mould powder entrapments, a more even molten mould powder layer and a meniscus which is flatter, hotter and less turbulent.

“The project at Tata Steel in Jamshedpur is a key order for ABB. It builds on our large installed base with premier steel producers around the world,” said Raghu Badrinathan, Area Sales Manager – ABB Metallurgy.

Vipul Gautam, Group Vice President, Global Account Executive for Tata Group, ABB, “Tata Steel is a highly-valued customer for ABB and it is our continuous endeavor to provide the best-in-class technology and solutions to them. We believe that our metallurgy solutions and particularly the ABB EMBR solution will help them to achieve superior performance of their casters in minimum time, lowering their cost of production while improving quality.”