“SeCoil is an investment that brings real benefits to a company involved in producing aluminium sheets”, Piotr Skarbiński, Vice President, Business Segment Aluminum Process and CAB, SECO/WARWICK

Piotr Skarbinski earned an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Zielona Góra, specialising in precision and biomedical instruments. His professional career began in 1988 with Elterma as a project engineer. He joined SECO/WARWICK in 1990 as a project engineer for atmosphere furnaces and was promoted to Atmosphere Furnace Team Leader in 1995. In addition to these responsibilities, he worked with both the Aluminum Process and Incinerator product groups. In 2000, he assumed responsibility as Director of Europe's Controlled Atmosphere Brazing (CAB) Team. He became the CAB Global Product Leader in 2006, and since 2014, he has served as a Vice President of the CAB and Aluminium Process business segment at SECO/WARWICK S.A.

AL Circle: How does SECO/WARWICK's vision align with the evolving needs of the aluminium flat-rolled sector?

Piotr Skarbinski: Since the middle of the last century, our parent company, known under the then name SUNBEAM EQUIPMENT CORP., was one of the main American suppliers of furnaces for melting and heat treatment of aluminium alloys. One of the solutions offered at that time was a furnace for annealing rolls of mass-flow type tape and foil. This technology is still used in foil annealing. At the end of the 20th century, jet heating technology was developed for annealing rolls from tape, which uses nozzle systems for heating the rolls front surface. In this case, heat transfer occurs from the front surfaces along the rolls individual layers, which causes much faster roll heating and cooling. Thanks to this, the furnace has greater efficiency and lower energy consumption (due to shorter process time) and heat emission (through the furnace housing). SECO/WARWICK also developed this technology by purchasing a ready-made patented solution known as Vortex at the turn of the century. 

AL Circle: What distinguishes SECO/WARWICK's heat treatment systems from its aluminium processing industry competitors?

Piotr Skarbinski: A few years ago, we came to the conclusion that it was possible to develop an even more competitive jet-heating solution. A research and development program was created with the involvement of our R&D department. In the beginning, we analyzed various solutions available on the market using CFD simulations, adding solutions invented by our specialists to the analyses. The search resulted in an optimal (for now in theory) solution. In the second stage, we conducted the selected nozzle systems’ comparative tests on a measuring device. The tests confirmed the results from the CFD simulations. In the third stage, we installed the new VORTEX 2.0 system on the furnace and conducted a series of tests, which also confirmed the new system's advantages, enabling the process time reduction by up to 30%. The new system has been patented and is currently being implemented in the industry in 2 projects.

AL Circle: Can you elaborate on the latest technological advancements in your heat treatment furnaces that precisely benefit aluminium flat-rolled products?

Piotr Skarbinski: In addition to the new VORTEX 2.0 system mentioned above, SECO/WARWICK furnaces are equipped with modern control systems using the attributes of Industry 4.0. SECOIL, SECO/PREDICTIVE, SECO/PREVENTIVE and OEE should be mentioned here:

SeCoil is an innovative heating process simulator. One of the challenges of the modern metallurgical industry is the heating processes’ precise control, which is key to achieving the highest quality products. This advanced heating process simulator supports the Vortex^® 2.0 system, which is dedicated to the aluminium coil heat treatment. Thanks to it, production processes can be optimised, increasing production efficiency and quality.

SeCoil^® is available in two versions: as an offline simulator (desktop) and an online simulator (on-board controller).

1. Desktop Version (Offline)

It is a versatile tool for designing heating technologies and analyzing the heating process. It offers a range of functionalities enabling:

• Calculation of heating curves based on input parameters.

• Calculation of the temperature field in the coil cross-section during the heating process.

• Process optimisation for currently processed coils.

• Development of heating recipes for new requirements and new loads’ ranges.

Thanks to these functions, SeCoil allows for the heating process’ precise planning and control, which translates into the final product’s better quality.

2. Online Version (On-Board Controller)

It is an innovative solution which replaces the actual temperature measurement in the load with a so-called virtual measurement. Computer simulation takes place in real-time, which allows for: Read the full interview here.