Steel Manufacturing - Blast Furnace Tuyere Vision System and Analytics for Process Operations Optimization

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Powered by Canadian craftsmanship, Stelco's operations in Hamilton and Nanticoke reflect the strength of their communities. Together, more than 2,200 innovative and dedicated employees work to produce over two million tons of high-quality steel products each year, building the success of customers and sectors across North America. Lake Erie Works in Nanticoke, the location of Stelco's blast furnace, was commissioned in 1980 making it the most modern integrated steel mill in North America. Stelco is seeking to improve their insights into the blast furnace processes to better support their operators and the blast furnace operations. In particular, Stelco is seeking to investigate, develop, and integrate a new camera and analytics system. To address that opportunity, Stelco needs multidisciplinary support from a team with expertise and experience with the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), image processing and analytics, and software development. The Mohawk College IIoT Lab is the team with that multidisciplinary expertise to undertake the investigation and system development and integration in collaboration with Stelco. This project will create 18 student training opportunities in software, mechatronics, and mechanical engineering at Mohawk College's Applied Research Department, IDEAWORKS. The project will also support Stelco employee development in IIoT hardware and imagery analytics to support long-term advancements in smart steelmaking. In 2020, Stelco upgraded and relined its blast furnace and created what Stelco believes is the first smart blast furnace of its kind in North America. The blast furnace is expected to operate for the next three to four decades. This project will help continue that smart blast furnace progress. Overall, the blast furnace upgrading and $30M invested in 2019 for a new batch annealing facility show Stelco's continued efforts to grow its operations and maintain high quality jobs in Southern Ontario. This project will help to maintain Stelco's competitiveness and resilience in competitive domestic and international markets.