Digital twin for bell-less top charging: accelerating blast furnace start-up and stability
Pedro Sampaio Cotta, Ronaldo Schittini Gardoni Junior
Abstract
Blast furnaces are central to pig iron production, where efficient operation directly impacts productivity, hot metal quality, and overall cost-effectiveness. A key factor in this performance is the charging system, which significantly influences furnace stability. This paper presents the development of a Digital twin for a new bell-less top charging system. The solution integrates the Rockwell process control system with the Siemens SIMIT simulation platform and Primetals Level 2 and Expert system. This Digital twin was used for testing, training, and scenario evaluation, contributing to a rapid and stable blast furnace start-up following relining.
Keywords
Referências
1 Amthiou H, Arioua M, Benbarrad T. Digital twins in Industry 4.0: a literature review. ITM Web of Conferences. 2023;52:01002. https://doi.org/10.1051/itmconf/20235201002.
2 Bettinger D, Schaler M, Bichler R, Fritschek H, Voglmayr B, Akkol M. When the bell-less top rings: orchestrating blast furnace efficiency with integrated automation systems. In: AISTech Proceedings; 2025 May 6; Nashville, USA. Pittsburgh, PA: Association for Iron & Steel Technology; 2025.
3 McKinsey & Company. What is digital-twin technology? New York; 2024 [cited 2025 Oct 10]. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-is-digital-twin-technology#/
4 Siemens. Simit simulation platform (v11.1) operating manual. Nürnberg: Siemens AG; 2023 [cited 2025 Oct 10]. Available at: https://cache.industry.siemens.com/dl/files/650/109823650/att_1152291/v1/SIMIT_enUS_en-US.pdf
5 Geerdes M, Toxopeus H, van der Vliet C. Modern blast furnace ironmaking: an introduction. 4th ed. Amsterdam: IOS Press; 2020.
6 Primetals. Enhancing blast furnace operations with VAiron blast furnace (BF) optimizer. Primetals Technologies; 2025 [cited 2025 Nov 3]. Available at: https://www.primetals.com/en/portfolio/solutions/ironmaking/blast-furnace/ vairon-blast-furnace-optimizer/
Submetido em:
06/10/2025
Aceito em:
28/12/2025
Facebook
Google+
Twitter
LinkedIn
Mendeley
StumbleUpon
CiteULike
Reddit
Email