The world’s first large blast furnace control centre, designed by CISDI, has now gone into operation at Baosteel’s Shanghai plant.

It is now conducting the centralised control of operations for Baosteel’s four blast furnaces and managing their production.

The control centre crystallises Baosteel’s upstream-BF intelligence, and will provide remote technical support for other blast furnaces at Baosteel plants in Shanghai, Zhanjiang, Qingshan and Meishan.

CISDI’s teams managed two stages in the development of the world-leading intelligent and digital management model, which greatly enhances energy efficiency.

At the consulting stage, CISDI proposed a plan for intelligent control flows and a scheme for building an upstream blast furnace big data platform, plus blast furnace intelligent diagnosis and decision-making.

During the design stage, CISDI created a prefabricated steel structural model for beams and columns, which were incorporated with brick walls. This concept saved construction time while controlling costs.

The architectural style took into account the functions of the centre. Functional divisions were optimised and streamlined. The total height of the building is 24 metres and the lobby rose is 8 metres tall, thanks to the co-ordination of engineering factors governing structure, architecture, water, heating and power.

The blast furnace emergency operation system has been given its own integrated intelligent power supply and distribution system to ensure safe operations. An integrated safety control unit replaces the conventional control consoles.

The intelligent control centre lays a solid foundation for upgrading Baowu Steel Group to an eco-friendly and sustainable complex as it continues to lead China’s steel industry.

A visual of the exterior of Baosteel’s Blast Furnace Intelligent Control Centre

Inside the lobby at the Intelligent Control Centre