The Hot Strip Mill at the BlueScope Steel Pt Kembla Works underwent a recent upgrade to the Finishing Mill drive systems. Each of the 5 Finishing Mill stands had the main drive gearboxes upgraded to 9MW capacity. A heavy gear-oil lubrication system was designed, manufactured and supplied by CMA to BSL during 2005 and 2006. The lubrication system was designed and built to the most exacting heavy industry standards, and is a vital part of the operation of the entire Hot Strip Mill.

Features of the system include:

  • System was manufactured and assembled in CMA’s workshop, then disassembled and installed in the Finishing mill cellar. The system was modular in design, allowing major sections to be lowered through a relatively small floor opening.
  • 20,000 litre oil volume, and 1200 litre/min oil supply rate to the gearboxes. Gravity return.
  • Pumping systems designed to be able to handle cold oil viscosity to 10,000cSt.
  • Separate 300kW heating/ cooling and filtration pumping circuit.
  • Specially designed reservoir to optimise de-aeration and sediment settling.
  • Comprehensive system sensing including pressure, level and temperature monitoring in different sections of the reservoir.
  • Multi-level redundancy of critical system components.