Mexico’s TenarisTamsa has a capacity of approximately 1.23 million metric tons tons of seamless steel pipes (with an outside diameter range of 2 to 20 inches) and has been supplying the most demand oil and gas companies around the world for more than 60 years. The plant is located near the port of Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico. Its meltshop is comprised of a 170-metrict-ton electric arc furnace, LF, vacuum degasser and 4-strand continuous caster.
 
The ESTROP is an electric-actuated swiveling and hydraulic-actuated lifting device that performs the cleaning of the EBT hole, enabling a fast and reliable operation below the furnace without any manual operation taking place. The manipulator is a “stand alone” piece of equipment that can be installed on the bottom shell either on the left or on the right side of the EBT tap hole. The cleaning operation is performed either from the main control room or from a local control box installed in a safe position, close to the EBT area.
 
One of the main challenges of this project was to design a structure that was able to resist heavy heat loads since the ESTROP arm is constantly over the ladle during tapping, so MORE and TenarisTamsa engineers worked together from the very beginning of the project to find the best solution to avoid mechanical and electrical failures due to the heat coming from the ladle.
 
The ESTROP manipulator has been in operation since September 2014, and TenarisTamsa has already commissioned MORE for an additional unit for the spare shell.
 
The equipment has demonstrated the following benefits:
• Remote operation from furnace control room in a safe position
• Sturdy piece of equipment that needs minimum maintenance
• Improved operators safety
• Direct productivity improvements
• Reduced power off time
• Reduced operating costs