AHR quite often has the opportunity to “think out of the box”. That said, our Air Saver Systems group recently completed a total re-design of the melt shop fume collection DEC systems duct at a steel mill in Axis, AL. As it is in most steel mills, the duct was routed over the building roof. This always creates issues relative to maintenance, inspections, and general attention required to monitor the overall condition of the duct. MOST mills don’t know there are problems until the duct is ready to fall. AHR was given a directive by our customer to come up with a better solution. We did so without changing the process or affecting the production. All of the work, with exception to the final tie-ins, was done during normal plant operation. Strategic planning including a very detailed schedule that was sectioned into 15 minute intervals was derived whereby EVERY planning goal was met and we completed the project earlier than anyone believed possible.
The duct was re-routed alongside the building in lieu of over the roof. This now allows for easy access and immediate recognition of problematic conditions. The new system has provided our customer with the ability to better maintain the Fume Collection System. This solution should be considered at all steel mills where maintenance is a continued concern.