VALLOUREC & SUMITOMO TUBOS DO BRASIL (VSB) issues FAC to SMS group for new PQF® roll redressing machine
Efficient roll dressing and higher reliability
VALLOUREC & SUMITOMO TUBOS DO BRASIL (VSB), based in Jeceaba, Brazil, granted SMS group (www.sms-group.com) the Final Acceptance Certificate (FAC) for the new PQF® roll redressing machine which is used in the 16 inches PQF® seamless tube plant.
The Franco-Japanese joint venture has set up a highly productive plant with an annual capacity of 600,000 tons in the Brazilian province of Minas Gerais. The continuous caster and the ladle furnace came from SMS Concast – the PQF® seamless tube mill from SMS group. They enable VSB to produce high-quality oilfield tubulars suitable for operation at great sea depths.
The new roll redressing machine taken into service is designed for roll profile redressing of the three rolls of the PQF® mill stands, leaving the three rolls themselves assembled in the stand which is now mounted in the machine housing containing the three roll drives and the three roll adjusting and locking devices.
This practice has the aim to avoid dismantling the stand with its three rolls and also the succeeding reassembly as is still common today on a standard CNC lathe.
With the PQF® roll dressing machine from SMS the rolls of the PQF® stands can be remachined quickly and precisely. This helps plant owners to reduce stand machining costs and operating spare parts inventory over the long term. Furthermore, it allows easier management of the rolling mill with its stands and results in time and cost savings for maintenance operations.