CISDI’s intelligent autonomous locomotive, a world first for the steel sector

—— All-weather perception, automatic coupling and accurate positioning in all conditions

The global steel industry’s first intelligent and autonomous locomotive has been trialled successfully in China.

The single, heavy-duty hot metal transport locomotive, invented by CISDI, is running smoothly and stably at Baowu Group’s Zhanjiang Steel plant in China.

When the autonomous locomotive system is operational it will make the transportation of hot metal cheaper and remarkably more efficient, improve working conditions and cut labour costs.

The transportation of hot metal from the ironmaking plant to the steelmaking plant, two closely-linked and important logistics and production systems, is fraught with difficulty.

Currently, the complicated scheduling of locomotives and all procedures - coupling, parking, aligning, route-planning and ladle matching - have to be done manually and are fraught with problems and hazards.

A smooth transportation relies on the skill and experience of workers operating the vehicles. If an emergency arises, how swiftly they react can make a huge difference to safety and costs.

In addition, the interface between the iron and steel plants is noisy and the air is laden with dusts, and during bad weather the transportation car, fitted with a ladle holding hot metal at 1,500 degC, may have to run the gamut of rainstorms and typhoons.

CISDI’s solution to this problematic process is an intelligent, unmanned hot metal transport system.

Featuring a self-learning, self-adapting, high-precision control model, the locomotive has all-weather environmental perception and can identify obstacles in its path and act accordingly.

The hook between locomotive and torpedo ladle car connects and releases automatically and the ladle car is positioned accurately even in the most severe conditions.

This project integrates artificial intelligence and intelligent expertise with the industrial plant, setting the benchmark for further innovation-driven developments in the creation of an intelligent steel eco-system.

CISDI’s autonomous locomotive, loaded with hot metal, traverses the railway crossing from ironmaking plant to steelmaking plant at Baowu Group’s Zhanjiang Steel