Claims:WE CLAIM:
1. A system for on-line monitoring of product in rolling mill and coordination of rolling mill operations and/or on in-line equipment status and desired corrective measures for improving productivity and reducing downtime comprising
a display unit having a display panel having a front faced screen representing the mill layout to be monitored;
multiple back lighted light indications disposed on the front screen, each of the indications represents equipments in distributed locations in the mill;
atleast one window indicating status of said equipments and respective cooperative operations in the rolling mill through process related controlled light indications for ready corrective actions if and when required.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said display unit includes back lighted light indications involving PCB based tile type single colour or dual colour LEDs.

3. The system as claimed in anyone of claim 1 or 2, wherein the front screen preferably includes acrylic sheet having thereon computer generated graphics representing the mill layout and toughened fibre sheet for protecting the graphics.

4. The system as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 3, comprises specially designed cutout resembles to actual shape of the corresponding equipment disposed in rear frame precisely aligned to the front graphics.

5. The system as claimed in anyone of the claims 1 to 4, wherein the display unit is adapted to receive and display the operational and maintenance requirement of the rolling mill as part of status of equipment in terms of Run/Trip/ Off/On, Billet tracking, Forbiddance/Permission Information, Status of critical lubrication and cooling facilities and Stand overload alarms.
6. The system as claimed in anyone of the claims 1 to 5, including a PLC based controller system disposed inside the display unit and interfaced with the equipments of the mill distributed over a wide area.

7. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the PLC based controller system comprises communication gateway based on industrial open protocol of Modbus TCP/IP for collecting information from various equipments in heterogeneous platforms of the mill.

8. The system as claimed in anyone of the claims 1 to 7, wherein the light indication illuminates differently involving different frequencies of illumination or dual coloured illumination to represent multiple ststus of the equipment for correlating the urgency in operative control required.

9. The system as claimed in anyone of the claims 1 to 8, comprises intelligent network interfacing with third party systems for displaying Production data, material tracking and instantaneous speeds and loads of critical stands through meters.

10. The system as claimed in anyone of the claims 1 to 9, adapted for instantaneously display regarding status of equipment and operation for long product rolling mills where large number of equipment and facilities are at distributed locations under a single window at strategic places for coordinated operation in the long product rolling mills.
, Description:FIELD OF THE INVENTION:
The present invention relates to on-line monitoring of a long product rolling mill process. Particularly, the present invention is directed to develop an improved large programmable display system for comprehensive on-line monitoring of a long product rolling mill process such as Wire Rod Mill and Merchant Mill of a Steel Plant having widely distributed equipment and operation.

BACKGROUND ART.:
Long product mills such as the Wire Rod Mill and Merchant Mill of a Steel Plant are basically continuous or semi-continuous mills with large number of mechanisms and equipment. The operations and controls in such mills are widely distributed from several pulpits and machine halls. In addition, mill is supported by several facilities that are critical for operation of mill as well as maintaining quality.
Since the large number of equipment and facilities are at distributed locations, it is critical that information regarding status of equipment and operation is instantaneously available under a single window at strategic places for coordinated operation. This is especially important because the rolling is carried out at a very high speed with multiple billets in the line simultaneously and in the event of failure of any in-line equipment, status should be instantly known and corrective action taken not only to reduce downtime. Information about facilities for lubrication, cooling, furnace, cranes and other auxilliaries are essential for smooth mill operation to maintain the desired productivity and quality.
Snaps shots given in the accompanying figure 1 give some existing systems of mimic display used in long product rolling mill process areas of steel plant. As shown in the referred figure, back lighted mimic displays involve LEDs to depict process is an existing concept. However, following are points to be noted for the known systems:
i. The status display in (i), (ii) and (iii) are depicted using ordinary LEDs in single colour. The complete equipment symbol is not illuminated and hence the visual clarity is lacking
ii. An improvement over single Led type illumination is noted in (iv)-(v) where cluster LEDs, as used in rectangular or square annunciation windows, are employed to depict sections of conveyors [see red strips in (v)]. Here again predominantly red cluster LEDs have been used.
iii. All the above displays are illuminated through output signals from a controller placed externally. The elements are dynamically turned off and on depending on whether control signal output is high or low.
iv. Another development towards display of process information is use of HMI terminals in conjunction with PLCs. These displays have advantages that more information is displayed, flexibility of colour scheme and block display is also there. But the size of such displays is limited to standard PC monitor size or now a day’s also LED screens. More over these are more suitable for control room dust free environment. Also here again, these terminals are interfaced with external PLC for signals.
Thus there has been a need for developing an improved large programmable display system for comprehensive on-line monitoring of a long product rolling mill process which will solve the above discussed problems of the existing systems of mimic display used in long product rolling mill process areas of a steel plant.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION:
It is thus the basic object of the present invention to develop a system for on-line monitoring of a long product rolling mill process.

Another object of the present invention is to develop a display system which would be adapted to monitor and display information regarding status of equipment and operation of a long product rolling mill under a single window at strategic places for coordinated operation of the rolling mill process.

Yet another object of the present invention is to develop an improved large programmable display system for comprehensive on-line monitoring of a long product rolling mill process such as Wire Rod Mill and Merchant Mill process of a Steel Plant having widely distributed equipment and operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:
Thus according to the basic aspect of the present invention there is provided a system for on-line monitoring of product in rolling mill and coordination of rolling mill operations and/or on in-line equipment status for desired corrective measures to improve productivity and reduce downtime comprising:
a display unit having a display panel having a front faced screen representing the mill layout to be monitored;
multiple back lighted light indications disposed on the front screen, each of the indications represents equipments in distributed locations in the mill;
at least one window indicating status of said equipments and respective cooperative operations in the rolling mill through process related controlled light indications for ready corrective actions if and when required.

According to another aspect in the present system, the display unit includes back lighted light indications involving PCB based tile type single colour or dual colour LEDs.

According to yet another aspect in the present system, the front screen preferably includes acrylic sheet having thereon computer generated graphics representing the mill layout and toughened fibre sheet for protecting the graphics.

According to a further aspect, the present system comprises specially designed cutout resembling actual shape of the corresponding equipment disposed in rear frame precisely aligned to the front graphics.

According to another aspect in the present system, the display unit is adapted to receive and display the operational and maintenance requirement of the rolling mill as part of status of equipment in terms of Run/Trip/ Off/On, Billet tracking, Forbiddance/Permission Information, Status of critical lubrication and cooling facilities and Stand overload alarms.

According to yet another aspect, the present system includes a PLC based controller system disposed inside the display unit and interfaced with the equipments of the mill distributed over a wide area.

According to a further aspect in the present system, the PLC based controller system also comprises communication gateway based on industrial open protocol of Modbus TCP/IP for collecting information from various equipments in heterogeneous platforms of the mill.

According to yet another aspect in the present system, the light indication illuminates differently involving different frequencies of illumination or dual coloured illumination to represent multiple status of the equipment for correlating the urgency in operative control required.

According to a further aspect, the present system comprises intelligent network interfacing with third party systems for displaying Production data, material tracking and instantaneous speeds and loads of critical stands through meters.

According to another aspect, the present system is adapted for instantaneously displaying status of equipment and operation for long product rolling mills where large number of equipment and facilities are at distributed locations under a single window at strategic places for coordinated operation in the long product rolling mills.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS:
Figure 1 shows a schematic illustration of the existing systems of mimic display used in long product rolling mill process areas of steel plant.

Figure 2 shows a Layout of Wire Rod mill.

Figure 3 shows a layout of Merchant mill.

Figure 4 shows a preferred embodiment of display system designed for Wire rod mill.

Figure 5 shows a preferred embodiment of display system designed for Merchant mill.
Figure 6 shows a display system designed and fabricated for Merchant Mill in accordance with the present invention.
Figure 7 shows an improved display system of wire rod mill in accordance with the present invention.
Figure 8 shows a Programmable Logic Controller interface housed inside the display system panel itself in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION WITH REFERENCE TO THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS:
Reference is first invited from the accompanying figure 2 and 3 which shows Layout of Wire Rod mill and Merchant mill. The accompanying figures 4 and 5 illustrates the graphical design of the display systems for Wire rod mill and Merchant mill which are specifically designed and implemented to depict the entire process and equipment status of the mill.

The information to be displayed is selected based on the operational and maintenance requirement. The information preferably includes status of equipment (in terms of Run/Trip/ Off/On), Billet tracking, Forbiddance/Permission Information, Status of critical lubrication and cooling facilities, Stand overload alarms etc. The display system also incorporates Lamp test facility.

The large size display of the present improved large programmable display system for comprehensive on-line monitoring of a long product rolling mill process is specially designed and implemented to depict the entire process and equipment status of the mill. The information to be displayed is selected based on the operational and maintenance requirement. Information includes status of equipment (in terms of Run/Trip/ Off/On), Billet tracking, Forbiddance/Permission Information, Status of critical lubrication and cooling facilities, Stand overload alarms etc. Display system also incorporates Lamp test facility.

The present display system is fairly large (1.8mtr long x 0.8 mtr wide for WRM and 3 mtr long x 2 mtr wide for Merchant Mill) and houses a controller system inside the display panel itself. The accompanying figures 6 and 7 give details of present display system first designed for Merchant mill and thereafter the further improved version designed for Wire Rod Mill. Some good features of Merchant mill system e.g. large size, multi colour graphics/screen concept are adopted for the improved display system designed for Wire Rod Mill.

The display system of the present invention incorporates a multi-colored back lighted facia or light indications using PCB based tile type LEDs of low power consumption-high intensity type. Each of the indications represents equipments in the mill.

Single colour type indications as well as dual colour type indications are used in the design for improved representation of the process. To optimize the types of indications used, only square and rectangular indications are used. However, actual shapes of the equipment are realized through specially designed cutout in the rear frame of its corresponding indications that is precisely aligned to the front screen graphics. Front screen representing the mill layout to be monitored is computer generated graphics printed on acrylic sheet with toughened fibre sheet for front protection.

The information to be displayed is selected based on the operational and maintenance requirement. Information includes status of equipment (in terms of Run/Trip/ Off/On), Billet tracking, Forbiddance/Permission Information, Status of critical lubrication and cooling facilities, Stand overload alarms etc. Display system also incorporates Lamp test facility.

For implementation of the information system, data is required to be interfaced from a large number of equipment distributed over a wide area. A PLC system for status of field equipment and facilities is built inside the display housing itself. For collecting information from existing information systems having heterogenous platforms, communication gateway based on industrial open protocol of Modbus TCP/IP is built into the system.

Since the display system is designed to pictographically display each equipment of the mill. Special display algorithms are created so that a single symbol would be illuminated differently to represent multiple information. This is realized in two ways, using different frequencies of illumination (e.g. continuous for ON, slow flash for Trip) and also through dual coloured LEDs illuminated through different outputs.
Apart from PLC based interfacing, data is also acquired through software interface with third party systems for display in the display system through the scheme given in the figure 8. Production data, material tracking and instantaneous speeds and loads of critical stands are displayed through meters in the same display system. Faults of critical support systems are also displayed in the Annunciator on the display panel with this methodlogy. Forbiddance/ Permissions from the various operator posts across the mill is also made accessible centrally through this methodology. This software and network based interfaced eliminated the need for rewiring or duplicating of already available hardwired signal.
The present system thus provides comprehensive unique and advantageous display system for representing the actual mill layout and the widely distributed equipment for a long product rolling mill. The developed algorithms for displaying multiple information of equipment through variation in illumination and the methodology for interfacing with existing heterogeneous recorders and PLC over different platforms using communication gateway and displaying the information centrally facilitates on-line monitoring of product in rolling mill.