The biggest manufacturer of alloy wheels in Europe - the Ronal Group - puts its faith in the tried-and-tested systems of ARP

On its 30th anniversary, ARP, the well-known manufacturer of chip disposal and recycling systems, is celebrating its biggest order since the foundation of the company.

The Ronal Group, a long-standing partner and customer of ARP, is currently building a new factory in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. This is the second location in Mexico after Queretaro, where the company has been manufacturing aluminium wheels since 2001, and will have an annual capacity of 2 million aluminium wheels.

The issue of chip disposal and automatic recycling and melting down of chips to return them to the wheel production process is an important variable for the economic production of aluminium wheels. ARP is proud that the Ronal Group has once more put its trust in the experience and time-tested systems of ARP.

The chips are sucked away from the production machines fully automatically in the planned installation. In this respect, particular importance is attached to the combination of vacuum blowers, volume of chips and suction pipe, since (a) long extraction distances have to be negotiated and (b) the suction power is limited because the location is approx. 1860m above sea level. The power of the blowers is optimally tailored to the requirements by means of the ARP control technology, in order not to waste energy unnecessarily here.

The chips now arrive at the processing installation, where they are cleaned and dried. They are then fed to the furnaces at a dosed rate. The loss of material through burn-off is very low as a result of the clean chips and the special feeding system to the melting bath of the furnaces. Furthermore, the waste gas pollution is reduced, since the oil-covered chips are cleaned before melting.

Similar installations of ARP are already in use in existing plants of the Ronal Group in Germany, Spain, Czech Republic, Poland and Mexico.