SMS Demag AG, Germany, has successfully commissioned the second LD converter in the oxygen steelmaking plant of Czech steelmaker Trinecké Zelezárny. The final acceptance certificate was granted after four weeks.

The first converter has been in production since November 2004. The new converters will add 300,000 annual tonnes of steel production the Trinecké oxygen steelmaking plant, boosting annual steel production for the plant to a total of 2.3 million tonnes.

SMS Demag’s scope of supply included two converter vessels, trunnion rings, lamella suspension systems and converter bearings plus converter tilting drives. Under the modernization project, SMS Demag also supplied a lifting winch with pneumatic emergency actuator for the oxygen blowing lance.

The lamella suspension system involves a reliable design for the constraint-free arrangement of the converter vessel within the trunnion ring. This type of converter suspension, which requires no maintenance, has been operating to the satisfaction of steelmaking plant owners in more than 80 converters around the world.

The converters also feature a new drive concept for converter tilting drives, which has been implemented in close cooperation between mechanical engineers, process engineers and electrical engineers. The new drive concept, which features a three-phase AC solution, precisely satisfies the varying requirements imposed on the converter tilting drives for the different process stages. The new solution also minimizes wear.

SMS Demag AG forms part of the Metallurgical Plant and Rolling Mill Technology Business Area of the SMS group. SMS GmbH is the holding for a group of companies internationally active in plant construction and mechanical engineering relating to the processing of steel, non-ferrous metals and plastics. The group is divided into the Business Areas of Metallurgical Plant and Rolling Mill Technology, Tube, Long Product and Forging Technology and Plastics Technology. In the year 2004 some 9,500 employees worldwide generated a turnover of about EUR 2.20 billion.