CPT International 4/2019

MELTING SHOP
Figure 4: The 6 t/3500
kW induction furnace
tandem of type ABP FS
60.
Figure 5: Scanning a
bar code on a flask.
Process data
acquisition
Terminal Terminal Terminal
Charge
make-up
3-t tandem
6-t tandem
Virtual system
Charge make-up
Virtual system Control
of melting furnace
Virtual system Control
of melting furnace
Virtual system
Process data
Thermal
analysis
Scale
for ladle
treatment
Scale for
alloying
elements
Spectrometer
Figure 6:
Hardware concept of
the meltshop control
system.
metal needed for the respective casting
will be used, not more.
The specific energy consumption of
the melting furnaces of 611 kWh per t
of molten metal is another positive
result of the data management system.
This value has to be considered in relation
to the fact that the meltshop is run
as a one-shift operation and that the
production range is extremely diversified.
The fact that the furnaces have to
be heated up every day from room
temperature means that also the heat
stored in the refractory material has to
be input every day anew. A second
aspect to be considered is that whenever
the quantities of molten metal needed
for a production order are greater
than the furnace capacity, long holding
times are unavoidable. Against this
backdrop, an energy rate of slightly
above 600 kWh/t is a good value, achieved
thanks to the enhanced transparency
of the production process and of
the associated logistics.
In this context, the control of the
melting furnaces plays a key role. Here
the installation of the ABP control system
Prodapt Enterprise in connection
with an inhouse, virtual-system-based
server has made the meltshop ready
and fit to cope with the exacting requirements
placed on it by the new data
management system.
Control by means of
virtual systems
Foundries often use PC systems that
have larger capacities than actually needed.
This means resources remain unused.
In other words, the operating costs
are higher than necessary. A way out of
this unsatisfactory situation is the use of
virtual systems as implemented at Adam
Hönig. Here use has been made of a
dedicated software that simulates hardware
functions and generates virtual
computers, thus enabling several computers
with different operating systems
to be run on one server. This leads to
more efficient server utilization and to
a higher availability of the applications
because the risk of hardware failure
decreases. Figure 6 shows the hardware
concept for the meltshop operations at
Adam Hönig.
Virtual machines and the respective
control systems for the various meltshop
functions are installed on a central
server. Data exchange between the
applications on the virtual machines
and the field components is via TCP/
IP-based protocols. Should any of the
field components not be networkable,
they will be expanded by a device that
allows them to be connected with and
integrated into the data exchange system
via a connector software.
Thus it is possible to capture basically
all process-relevant data of the
various meltshop functions, store it in a
database where the data is available for
cross-functional analyses that make the
production process of each and every
casting traceable all the way back.
Monitoring these production data
enables the foundry to detect faults at
a very early stage so that efficient countermeasures
can be taken early on.
Modern plants and equipment
monitor themselves autonomously and
send out messages to the plant operator
as soon as the equipment leaves its
normal operating range. For this rea-
10