INVT IPE300 VFD Solution for Rotary Dumper at Anshan Iron & Steel in China

I. Project Background

Rotary dumper is a large-scale mechanized unloading device that can rotate open rail cars (such as coal cars and ore cars) at a certain angle (usually 160-180 degrees) to allow cargo to be unloaded by gravity into underground silos or conveyor belts. This greatly improves unloading efficiency, reduces labor costs, and is widely used in ports, metallurgy, power, and other material storage and transportation fields.

Rotary dumper product features:
• Types: Side-tilting, end-tilting, and C-type rotor rotary dumpers, suitable for different car structures and operational requirements.
• Technical advantages: Efficient unloading: Short single-cycle time (typically 1-2 minutes), with a processing capacity of over 8,000 tons per hour.
Automated control: PLC control, which can link positioning, clamping, flipping, and other actions.
Durability: Made of high-strength steel, suitable for harsh working conditions (such as ports, metallurgy, and mines).
•  Application areas: Transportation and unloading of bulk cargo such as coal, ore, and grain.

II. Customer Requirements
 Anshan Iron and Steel is the first large-scale integrated steel enterprise in the People's Republic of China. It is hailed as the “cradle of the steel industry in the People's Republic of China” and the “eldest son of the steel industry in the People's Republic of China,” and has made outstanding contributions to the development and growth of the steel industry in the People's Republic of China.

The rotary dumper at Anshan Iron and Steel's sintering plant is a key piece of equipment in the raw material transportation system. The rotary dumper fixes open rail cars (such as C60 and C70 types) at a specific angle (usually 160-180 degrees) and uses gravity to unload bulk materials (such as iron ore concentrate, coke, flux, etc.) from the cars for use in sintering batching.
The customer originally used a rotary dumper (Rockwell PLC + Rockwell frequency converter) supplied by Dalian Huarui Heavy Industry, and is now undergoing a frequency conversion localization transformation.

Requirement：
1. Without changing the original control system, the domestically produced VFD must be adapted to the Rockwell PLC.

2. Precise positioning and vehicle positioning control, the rotary dumper and railway open car must be precisely positioned.

III. Invt Solution

After considering product performance, on-site solutions, on-site services, and product prices, we ultimately chose to use the IPE300 series VFD from Invt, which communicates with Rockwell PLC via the EIP protocol.

VFD model: IPE300-0075-4-B *6 (4 units for the car dumper, 2 units for the rotary dumper)

The position of the open rail car is fine-tuned using car dumper to achieve precise positioning of the open rail car and rotary dumper. 

IV. Customer Benefits

1. Due to the international situation, customers faced high costs and long delivery times when purchasing Rockwell VFD. INVT's successful replacement solved this problem for customers.

2. Compared to the original Rockwell brand, INVT VFD is smaller in size and easier to install.

The successful application of INVT VFD in rotary dumpers has made an outstanding contribution to accelerating the localization process of Anshan Iron and Steel.

V. Conclusion

With the increasing maturity of VFD technology and services produced in China, Chinese production substitution has become a major trend. Relying on its technological advantages and accumulated experience, INVT will continue to move forward on the path of production in China and continue to make breakthroughs in key projects for major customers. In the future, INVT will continue to forge ahead and promote the replication and promotion of product solutions in industries such as metallurgy and ports.

VI. On-site Applications Pictures