"The Indian steel market has been slumbering for almost forty years", says Guido Christ, Sales Manager for universal joint shafts at Voith Turbo. All this has now changed. "For three years, per capita steel consumption has been increasing constantly and this is influencing the demand for universal joint shafts for steel production." After growth of seven and a half percent, steel capacity was around 44 million tons last year. As a comparison, the capacity in China is ten times this figure. This highlights the fact that India has plenty of ground to make up, especially as steel demand is always a reliable indicator of the level of industrialization.

Economic researchers expect production of raw steel in India to continue to grow by around six percent a year, reaching a figure of 68 million tons by 2015. At the same time, the Indian Steel Ministry believes that the export rate will increase from 15 to 24 percent in the next 15 years. Good economic relations with India have meant that Germany is the fourth largest importer to the country. A third of all imported goods are in the engineering and electrical sectors.

Whether it is for the automotive industry, construction or pipelines, India is demanding increasing quantities of high quality steel with greater ductility and strength. This is having a knock-on effect on smelting and roller mill technology. New 10,000 kW electric motors for high loads and reduced roll diameters are leading to high continuous loads of over 6000 kNm on heavy plate mills. The two H series universal joint shafts that Voith Turbo is supplying to Jindal Steel & Power each weigh 60 tons and are designed for these heavy load requirements. They drive the working rolls with a diameter of 1100 millimeters in the new heavy plate mill at Siemens VAI. This rolls the steel slabs into plates up to 200 millimeters thick. The heavy plate mill in Angul is designed for a maximum slab width of five meters - currently the standard width. Around 1.5 million tons of steel pass through a heavy plate mill every year and slabs are becoming increasingly large, resulting in a demand for increasingly large machines.

The plates produced need to be absolutely uniform. To achieve this, the working rolls can be moved axially. The new universal joint shafts, which will be delivered to India next year, feature improved bearing embedding, which extends their service life. Flange dimensions optimally adapted for the flow of forces and reinforced journal crosses increase the torque capacity. To transmit extreme torques, the bearing bore on all Voith universal joint shafts has a jointless design. This enables the universal joint shafts to achieve transmission efficiency combined with excellent reliability.

A torque measurement system from Voith Turbo subsidiary ACIDA (Aachen) will also be installed at Jindal Steel & Power to continuously monitor the functioning of the universal joint shafts. The measured load figures allow the operator to accurately forecast the service life of the equipment. The rolling process can also be monitored and optimized. The on-site service that Voith Turbo provides through its workshop in Hyderabad was a key factor in the awarding of the contract. At this plant, which has recently been extended, Voith Turbo offers maintenance and support services for all Voith Turbo products sold in India.  Voith is the market leader for heavy duty universal joint shafts, and is increasing its market share in India.

The companies that make up the Jindal Group in India have been important customers for Voith for five years now. With twelve plants in India and two in the USA, Jindal is one of India's largest steel producers. The JSPL company has its headquarters in the state of Chhattisgarh in Eastern India, one of the newest Indian states founded just ten years ago. JSPL is the state's biggest investor in the private sector. The new heavy plate mill will be installed at the steel works in Angul, in the neighboring state of Orissa. JSPL is planning to increase its raw steel capacity by three million tons by 2008.

Voith Turbo, the specialist for hydrodynamic drive, coupling and braking systems for road, rail and industrial applications, as well as for ship propulsion systems, is a Group Division of Voith AG.