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SPECIAL
ALUMINIUM SMELTING INDUSTRY
© T.T. Tomorrow Technology
Two slots being cut simultaneously
maintenance, resulting in a healthy and safe
working environment for the operators.
The slots cutting machine is supplied with
a sound and dust proof cabin, complete with
complementary items as hydraulic power unit,
electrical panel / MCC with necessary controls
and HMI for the friendly operations. The ability
to access the machine control and software
at any time from anywhere via special programs
is a huge advantage that T. T. Tomorrow
Technology customers value highly.
The fact that both planned maintenance
and unplanned machine downtime costs are
expensive is well known to T. T., whose design
and construction criteria for this reason are:
• Simplicity of design
• Robust construction
• Reliable operation
• Easy and low cost operation and maintenance
• Safety operation and maintenance.
While the slots cut in the baked anodes have
proved to solve a lot of the problems suffered
when slots are formed by the conventional
way in the vibrocompactor (last but not least
the lack of homogeneity in the anode due to
the blades in the forming press preventing
uniform material distribution and forming
pressure) the slots cut with the technology
proposed by T. T. have reached the target of
depth required to ensure that the benefit of
the slots last for the full anode life. The economic
and production benefits that are so
achieved in the potroom management are
bigger than those achieved with the deeper of
the shorter slots that can be produced with
conventional methods in the green anodes.
With T. T.’s anodes slotting machines the
depth and the inclination of the slots can be
furthermore managed and adjusted at any
time during production: the slot configuration
and the slot shape are therefore flexible. Another
big and important advantage is the possibility
to cut interrupted
slots, which allow to control
the gas flow direction
toward the centre of the
pots.
Particularly the automatic
slots cutting machines
are manufactured
to perform three profiles
of slots:
• Straight slots (passing
thought the anode at the
same depth); the actual
slot depth is anyway adjustable
(pre-selectable)
from the operator panel
• Inclined slots: starting
from a pre-selectable slot
depth, ending to a smaller
one with a constant inclination;
the value of the inclination
angle is anyway
adjustable (pre-selectable)
from the operator panel
• Interrupted slots:
where while slots are cut
the blades are quickly
removed from the slots
before reaching the end
of the anode; position where the blades are
removed from the slot is selectable from operator
panel.
T. T. Tomorrow Technology has recently
been awarded of a new contract for a highly
customised automatic anodes slotting machine
by a major aluminium smelter in Australia.
Construction is in progress; and its commissioning
is scheduled for the beginning of the
second half of 2013.
Other projects for automatic anodes slotting
machines, says T. T., are under discussion
with smelters around the world, which
are positively evaluating the capability of the
slotting machine to cut one or two deep
longitudinal slots in the bottom surface of the
baked anodes even of different dimensions,
whether they are to be cut with straight slot/
slots or with (variable) slope or interrupted
before the end of the anode.
The carbon material recovery system and
the combined air filtration, developed by T. T.
and reaching almost 100% recovery and recycling
rate, is complementary to the anodes
slotting machine. Energy savings, increased
productivity, reduced greenhouse gas emissions,
money saving for raw material purchase
and prevention of pollution caused by
the recycling of process wastes are key factors
matching the short-term ROI of the anodes
slotting equipment.
View of an air filtration and carbon recycling system
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