First parsytec strip steel surface inspection system for China

First parsytec strip steel surface inspection system for China

First parsytec strip steel surface inspection system for China

Keywords China, Parsytec, Steel, Steel industry

Despite the fact that China is the world's largest producer of crude steel, it must import about 80 per cent of the high-grade strip steel that it needs, for example for automobile manufacturing. A co-operative research project between Europe and China, sponsored by the European Commission, began on 1 March 1998 to enlarge China's contribution to high-grade strip steel through increased productivity. The goal of the project is to place surface inspection systems into Chinese strip steel production.

The project is attractive to both sides: the co-operation with Chinese institutions opens new avenues of access for European industry to the Chinese steel market. On the other hand, China gets European high-tech products to increase the productivity of its own steel production.

With a total production of over 107 million tons of crude steel in 1997, China is the world's largest steel producer. However, only about 20 per cent of its own demand for strip steel with high quality surfaces can be covered by domestic production, the other 80 per cent must be imported. China's goal, then, is to improve productivity and quality in the manufacture of its own high-grade strip steels. An important factor here is the exact quality evaluation for the entire surface of the strip steel, even at high strip speeds of over 1,000 metres per minute. However, this can only be realised through the application of automatic inspection systems.

This is the background for the joint European/Chinese research project, sponsored by the European Commission, that started on 1 March 1998. The aim of the project is a know-how transfer of such an inspection system to the special needs of Chinese strip steel production. The system should demonstrate that it is capable of performing comprehensive inspections at any speed. This means it must detect and classify even the smallest of defects, discern between minutely differing characteristics, and designate the defects found by type, such as roll pick-ups, scales, slip marks and so on, thereby making an exact evaluation of the strip steel's surface quality.

To fulfil the severe demands placed on such a system, well known specialists from industry and research will participate in the project. The European universities involved are; Institut für Bildsame Formgebung (IBF) (Institute of Metal Forming) of the RWTH Aachen (Rheinisch-Westfälisch Polytechnic), School of Applied Physics at the TU Delft (Delft Polytechnic) as well as their combined partnership CBP (Center for Image Processing and Pattern Recognition). These institutes are working together to develop the most modern software algorithms and mathematical processes for defect detection and classification, which will later become the primary component of the system.

The European industry partner is the Aachen based company ZIAM GmbH, a subsidiary of the Parsytec Group which has specialised in such technology transfers. Parsytec itself has been successfully developing a new approach in the field of strip steel surface inspection since 1995. This new Parsytec approach is based on a 100 per cent software solution combined with innovative illumination techniques and standard hardware out of the PC and multimedia mass markets. The result of these efforts is the Parsytec HTS-2 surface inspection system which has been on the market since the beginning of 1997. Against this background ZIAM provides a complete inspection system for the development of new image processing algorithms. The system includes an inspection bridge, high performance analytic computer, operating system software and neural network components for defect classification.

On the Chinese side of the project, the Anshan Steel Co., China's largest steel conglomerate, is an important project participant from the industry arena. It provides the necessary know-how for adapting the system to the specific requirements of Chinese steel production. This includes, for example, information about which production lines are suited for the installation of an inspection system from the steel manufacturer's point of view as well as information about installed equipment technology, the steels produced on them and the types of defects that occur. Sample defects will also be used for the training of neural network classifiers.

One of the first project phases will be the installation of the inspection system in the IBF at RWTH Aachen. This system will then be used to implement the software processes jointly developed by IBF and the TU Delft. It will also be used to provide engineers from the Chinese project partner with intensive training and instruction in the software environment and system operation.

Later on, the system will be installed at the Beijing University of Science and Technology in Peking where, with the help of information provided by Anshan and in co-operation with the European partners, it will be adapted to the special requirements of the Chinese steel industry.

After adaptation there will be a series of field tests and a refining of the classification software. Project completion is planned for March, 2000. This will be followed by a second phase in which the commercial series application of this type of system in the Chinese steel industry is foreseen.

For further information contact Parsytec Computer GmbH, Thomas Glodek/Nicole Lorbach PR and Communications, Auf der Hüls 183, 52068 Aachen, Germany.