A pioneering furnace weighing system from Aluminium Casthouse Technologies (ACT) is now ‘self-learning’ to achieve even higher production levels in casthouses.
Knowing the correct weight of metal in the furnace is crucial to ensure slabs are consistently cast to the precise length ordered by the customer and the BatchPilot is used in casthouses worldwide to accurately measure furnace liquid metal weight.
Determining exactly what is wanted aluminium and what is unwanted dross, it means casthouses don’t have to rely on visual estimates of furnace heel weight, which are notoriously unreliable. This often leads to short casts, overfilling of the furnace or potentially restricting the number of slabs cast, all hugely wasteful.
ACT Director John Courtenay said: “We installed a BatchPilot in a re-melt in Europe in 2023, with extensive performance testing in 2024, and during this, we taught it to self learn so it can adapt the pressure curve to the specific conditions of the customer’s hydraulic cylinder.
“Casthouses can weigh their metal in a full furnace, typically with a charge weight of 50,000 kg to +/- 350kg, and to measure the heel weight, the weight of metal remaining in the furnace at the end of casting of typically 2000 kg up to 5000 kg, to +/- 100kg.”
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The BatchPilot has transformed casthouse operations by increasing ‘right first time’ batching. In a typical casthouse, the furnace cycle time is four hours. However, you lose several hours making analysis corrections because of the inaccurate batching due to the inaccurate heel weight and this results in the loss on average of 15 to 20 hours a week, equivalent to two or three charges per week, bringing an increase of more than 17 per cent in production without needing to install new capacity.
Other benefits of installing a BatchPilot include increased number of ingots per cast, elimination of short casts, increase in yield due to reduction in overlength casting and energy savings due to reduced furnace waiting times.
Easily fitted to existing furnaces without interruption of production, it is a simple, fully automated, retro fitted device that is fully integrated into the batching process.
Crucially, the system – which has successfully been in production usage for over 10 years – can be tailored and customised to individual customer needs.
In terms of return on investment, with prevailing premiums, the payback time for a BatchPilot fitted on a 70MT furnace is less than 3 months due to the productivity gains it brings.
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Note: This article has been issued by ACT and has been published by AL Circle with its original information without any modifications or edits to the core subject/data.
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