The use of Solar Energy in Steel Industries

Mohammed Tahir, Viktoriya Absalyamova

Solar Energy Research Center and Material Science department
Dalarna University, SE-78188, SWEDEN

Abstract-The purpose of this study is to make a design and

it to knock off some of the electrons loose which results in

simulation

their free flow

[1] .

of

the

solar

photovoltaic system

which

would

attempt to cover the energy demand of the initial part of the

pickling line hydraulic system at the SSAB steel plant. Proposed

The main challenges of solar energy are how to enable

system into the hydraulic pump directly, developing of PV

high efficiency storage. Different storage methods were used

photovoltaic pumping systems in this work are to run the

systems

which

produce

energy

DC

in

form.

The

second

proposed photovoltaic technology is a type of PV system which

delivers power to an AC load.

in recent years, among others, batteries, flywheel, ultra

capacitor and other. In this project, to enable high efficiency

control

storage of solar energy in steel industries, the use of

components performance evaluated to yield a proper set of

hydraulic accumulates as solar energy storage was studied.

Hydraulic

system

studied

and

evaluated

and

guidelines contributing towards future energy savings. The

study shows that one PV system can deliver energy to an AC

motor-pump set covering 17.6% of total energy and another PV

system can supply a DC hydraulic pump substituting 26.7% of

the demand.
The

study

includes

that

the

PV

system

can

supply

significant part of the energy demand of the industrial system

such as the initial part of the pickling line hydraulic system at
the SSAB steel plant. Hydraulic accumulators can work as solar

energy storage quite effectively. The studied method is to

generate a realistic load sequence for the simulation of the PV
system through precise energy consumption calculations within
the hydraulic line. The energy efficiency analysis could show

The study shows that the appropriate storage method in steel

industries are hydraulic accumulates due to the difficulties of
storing energy by other means and Industrial lines are the
tight composition of many components performing necessary
tasks chiefly consisting of hydraulic systems driven by
motors.
According

to

European

Steel

Technology

Platform

(ESTP), renewable energy is one of the main research

priorities leading to industrial sustainability. The Swedish
steel

industry,

SSAB,

IS

aiming

to

reduce

energy

that the initial part pickling line hydraulic system works with a

consumptions per tone of the steel by 10% at the end of 2011

low efficiency of 3.3%.

compared with 2006. For that reason, further research is

Keywords- Energy efficiency, Energy storage, Photovoltaic system,

Solar energy, Hydraulic system, Electrical motors

required

to

replace

certain

amount

of

its

electricity

requirements by its production through renewable sources of

energy,solar energy
[2] .

1. INTRODUCTION

Two important types of solar energy, light and heat, has

been known for some time. The challenges have been how to
exploit and harness these forms of energy. In addition to its
advantages, solar energy reaches the earth within 8 minutes,
from the solar surface.
In a solar cell which is also known as a photovoltaic or
PV cell,the sun's energy converted into electricity. Silicon is
a common used material to manufacture photovoltaic cells
due to its semiconductor properties. Fig. 1 shows a PV cell
and how the electrons are knocked off. As shown is the
figure, when

light

(photons)

hits

solar

cell, the

semiconductor material absorbs a part of its energy enabling

978-1-4577-1169-5/11/$26.00 2011

Fig. 1 PV cell and its make-up

[3]

IEEE

51

This project was supported by SSAB (Sweden's leading

Photovoltaic systems

producer of high-strength steel sheets and plates), where

SSAB is striving to reduce Carbon dioxide (C02) emissions
in conjunction with steel production. It is supporting the EU

Grid-connected
systems

project, ULCOS, for steel manufactures which has a goal of

reducing today's C02 emissions by at least 50 percent.
SSAB also wants to reduce C02 emissions by at least 2 %
per ton of steel in today's steel production.
The objectives of this project is to make a preliminary

Fig. 2 PV systems classification

design and simulation of the Solar PV system which would

attempt to cover the energy demand of the initial part
pickling line hydraulic system at the SSAB Steel plant. The
energy consumptions of the hydraulic system are studied
based on the measurements and corresponding calculations
of the energy input into the system and energy output by it.
The results estimate effective energy use within the studied
hydraulic system. The general analysis of the hydraulic and
control components performance can yield a proper set of
guidelines contributing towards future energy savings.

Fig. 3 Typical PV system which is used to run AC load

[l3]

II.

PHOTOVOLTAIC APPLICATIONS AND

THEIR DEMAND WITHIN INDUSTRIAL SECTOR

III.

HYDRAULICS AND ENERGY USE IN

THE STEEL INDUSTRY

The use of PV generated electricity is the same as

electricity produced from conventional sources. PV systems

The two classifications of hydraulic systems, mobile or

can potentially supply electricity to any specific appliances

movable to the spot and fixed non-movable machines are

or the electricity grid. PV energy production is remarkable

shown Fig. 4. Industrial or stationary applications are non

because it can adjoin to any other energy source traditional

movable oil hydraulic systems of fixed machines which can

or renewable and is flexible in terms of its implementation.

be placed in a specific manufacturing environment. These

The PV systems' classification is shown in Fig. 2; a grid

systems are based on fluid power when an incompressible

connected

system

where

the

installed

PV

system

is

connected to the national electricity grid and an off grid or

fluid solution transforms and does work through a set of

pipes towards the hydraulic motors and pumps
[4] .

stand alone type of PV system where the system cannot be

connected to the grid and batteries
[3] .

The studied hydraulic system for the steel plant is shown

in Fig. 5. The mechanical energy of the prime mover,Fig. 5,

One of the features of the photovoltaic pumping system

is transferred into hydraulic energy, and the two parameters

which is useful for the present project is that the system runs

of torque and shaft speed are converted into pressure and

the hydraulic pump directly. This is because along with the

flow by the hydraulic pump. The hydraulic motor, which is

development of PV systems which produce energy in DC

next in the chain on Fig. 5 converts pressure and flow back

form, there is the corresponding development of DC motors

into

technology and therefore DC brushless hydraulic pumps are

converted into hydraulic form, it can be easily transferred

finding their way into the market now. Another proposed

into different locations because the pressurized fluid can

mechanical

energy.

When

mechanical

energy

is

photovoltaic technology which can be helpful in this project

flow freely through pathways reaching remote locations

is a type of PV system which delivers power to an AC load.

without significant energy losses.

The typical PV system for these kinds of facilities would

encompass a PV modules array, an inverter, AC connections
boxes,and circuit breakers as shown in figure 3.

52

shown in the simulation. For that kind of a solution,the grid

Hydraulic systems
classification

connected PV system modified as in Fig. 6.a. The primarily

proposed PV system in this project, when the power demand
of the AC electrical motor (ASEA type,ABB) would be used
as a PV system load. The second proposed PV system would

Mobile or self
propelled
machines

Non-movable or
fixed machines

charge the hydraulic accumulators directly by using a DC

brushless hydraulic pump, Fig.
electrical

load

for

the

PV

6.b.

system

In this case, the

coincides

with

the

hydraulic components' energy demand when a DC hydraulic

Fig. 4 Hydraulic systems classification

pump works periodically.

It is important to note that the design and simulation of
photovoltaic systems for industrial purposes only became
Speed

Speed

Mechanical
Energy

----t

Hydraulic
Energy

possible due to the integration of hydraulic accumulators into

----t Mechanical

the pickling line hydraulic system. This is because these

Energy

hydraulic accumulators were able to reduce short peaks of

high power demand when the power demand would exceed

Fig. 5 Studied hydraulic system for the steel plant

32 kW.
A

IV.

typical grid-connected photovoltaic system

should

include the specifying of components as it is shown in Fig. 7.

RESULTS AND DICUSSIONS

Based on energy methods the result of energy analysis;

an experiment design and energy efficiency calculation is
presented. Proposed method to perform the energy efficiency
calculations of the initial part of pickling line hydraulic
system is based on the pressure measurements for each
hydraulic component integrated into the hydraulic system
and the current measurements of the electrical motors. The
amount of

energy consumed

by and

delivered

to

the

hydraulic system by electrical motors is the data that is used

to do the calculations for the overall system efficiency.
A.

Photovoltaic system design and simulation

Photovoltaic system design and simulation is shown in Fig.

6. This is done for five powerful motors that run pumps to
provide necessary power demand of an industrial hydraulic
system. The study shows that, at present only 3.3 % of the
energy is finding its way to become a useful output and run

.. 1:
,

hydraulic actuators in the pickling line of the SSAB plant.

Due to that reason, a precisely calculated power demand of
the pickling line become an objective to conduct the study
about how well a photovoltaic system can be fitted into the
energy delivery chain of the SSAB steel plant.

Fig. 6 a: Grid-connected Photovoltaic system running AC

motor and hydraulic pump combination; b: Grid-connected

The result of this project shows also that the pickling line

Photovoltaic system running DC motor and variable

system could be modified towards an energy efficient

hydraulic pump combination

perspective so that the hydraulic accumulators could reduce

the number of hydraulic pumps from five to one as it was

53

Fig. 8 a: Power delivered by AC type motor within one

Photovoltalc System

Pickling Line cycle,b: Calculated total energy delivered by

AC type electrical motor

CONCLUSIONS

V.

This study showed that the PV system can supply a

significant part of the energy demand of the industrial system
such as the initial part of the Pickling line hydraulic system
at the SSAB steel plant. The hydraulic accumulators can
work as solar energy storage quite effectively. A way was
found to generate a realistic load sequence for the simulation
Fig. 7 General functional diagram of Grid-connected
Photovoltaic system
B.

of the PV system through precise energy consumption

calculations within the hydraulic line. The energy efficiency
analysis could show that the initial part Pickling line

AC motor based Pickling Line Photovoltaic System.

hydraulic system works with a low efficiency of 3.3%. The

reasons that reduced energy efficiency with the SSAB

The AC load based pickling line photovoltaic system

pickling line were discovered and analyzed. The main reason

would supply the energy demand of one AC motor which

is that the system is oversized because it was designed for

runs a variable hydraulic pump. This combination charges

the worst case upset conditions and because of this, there

the hydraulic accumulators and delivers energy into the

was always an excess flow in the system. Due to this, the

pickling line hydraulic system as shown in Fig. 8. Fig. 8a

pickling line continuously operated in throttling mode due to

shows calculated Power delivered by AC and Fig. 8b shows

partially closed valves which wasted a lot of energy. It was

calculated total energy demand of the AC motor-pump. As

concluded

can be seen in Fig. 8, the maximum power is not exceeding

modernization because it works with very low energy

32 kW because it is assumed that hydraulic accumulators

efficiency.

that

the

hydraulic

system

at

SSAB

needed

would be introduced into the Pickling Line. Then the used

energy estimated by taking into consideration the fact that
within one hour the pickling line is used three times and with

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32

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1
---- ,----i----r 22

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at

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http://www. solargenuk.com/3asolarpv.html[Accessed
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