Semi-automatic monorail system at Atlantis Foundries eliminates the use of forklifts, reduces the risk of spillage, as well as ensuring a much safer work environment in the molten metal department [VIDEO]

ITACA LTS ladle transport system, designed and installed by ProService Srl.

“While many foundries are looking at processes in their foundry to reduce costs and increase productivity and quality, few realise that a fresh approach to their materials handling equipment could help to keep the company competitive.”

These are the words of Atlantis Foundries’ Engineering Manager Mike Hartung, who has been at the forefront of implementing the ambitions of the company to become a Smart Foundry by embracing the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The project, which is continuous, aims to combine various technologies available to gather and analyse process data, with the purpose of improving product quality and cost efficiency.

“The basic building blocks for such a concept are robotics, process instrumentation, and the tracking of components using RFID and other software applications. With all the data available and it being traceable to individual castings, the door has opened to enable the use of Artificial Intelligence for process control and inspection of components.”

“As our CEO Pieter du Plessis said and I quote: ‘The corner stone of the project is the programme of automation in the foundry. You can predict quality defects by looking at process variables and then you implement the corrective measures. But the key is innovation in foundry process.’”

“We have demonstrated in a number of areas in the foundry where the Fanuc robots have been installed by Robotic Innovations, that they have become the workhorses to carry instruments that acquire data while handling or performing their operations. All the data collected throughout the process by the robots and the variety of inline instruments will be linked to specific castings. At the end of the process, the entire set of process parameters, including operator information, will be available for each casting.”

“This data has given us the necessary information to make a process change, where necessary. Further, it allows the shift from reactive decision-making (focused on correctly addressing the situation that has already occurred) to proactive decision-making (based on expected future events). Additionally, the Fanuc robots have given us the reassurance of safety, efficiency and repeatability with lower human intervention and the possible risks associated.”

Installation of a safe liquid metal transport system
“High process reliability and occupational safety are two important pillars of optimum day-to-day foundry work. At the same time molten metal transport has always been one of the trickiest and most hazardous operations of the process.”

A semi-automatic monorail system at Atlantis Foundries eliminates the use of forklifts, reduces the risk of spillage, as well as ensures a much safer work environment in the molten metal department. The metal is collected from the four ABP Induction Furnaces and transported to the holding furnace department

A semi-automatic monorail system, designed and installed by ProService Srl, then collects metal from the three holding furnaces capable of holding 50 tons and delivers the metal to the pressure pour furnace at the rate of 6 tons every 10 minutes

“Despite this we had a vision to improve the operational aspects of our melt department. The main objective of the project was to eliminate the need of forklifts with rotating fixtures to transport molten metal, thus minimising the risk of spillage, as well as ensuring a much safer working environment.”

“There is a relatively large amount of metal that goes into each product that we manufacture – on average 430 kilograms per engine block. Amongst the heap of considerations to take into account in foundry safety is by far the most important thing to keep in mind and moving molten metal in the melting and pouring departments offers many chances for things to go wrong. Molten metal can drip from furnaces or ladles during pouring, and when these drips hit the floor, the splash (sparks) can travel some distance.”

ProService monorail system
“Traditionally forklifts or overhead cranes have been used to transport the ladle with the molten metal inside. These molten metal conveying systems will consist of manual loading and unloading from the melting area to the holding area and then onto the pouring area. All risk attracting operations.”

“However, there is a distinct movement towards a monorail system. An automatic or semi-automatic ladle transportation system not only offers an improvement of the traditional methods, but at the same time they are also a means to optimise the foundry logistics, as the overall process can be integrated into your process control systems.”

“Efficient, economical and safe, the monorail system is one of the best ways to ensure the transportation of people, material and other loads – molten metal in our case. Transporting molten metals between furnaces is a critical step in the casting process. Our products for molten metal transport are all specially designed to reduce the energy loss and maximise the efficiency, whilst minimising the maintenance cost.”

Before pouring into the pressure pour furnace the ladle is docked at a de-slag station where the slag is removed, inclusions added and normal temperature measurement is done

“The system uses two carriers, each equipped with a 3.4 ton ladle, which gives us great flexibility in terms of upscaling or downscaling according to our requirements.”

“We have four ABP Induction Furnaces melting metal continuously. The metal is transported to the holding furnace department. A semi-automatic monorail system then collects metal from the three holding furnaces capable of holding 50 tons and delivers the metal to our pressure pour furnace at the rate of 6 tons every 10 minutes. Before pouring into the pressure pour furnace the ladle is docked at a de-slag station where the slag is removed, inclusions added and normal temperature measurement is done.”

“The system uses two carriers, each equipped with a 3.4 ton ladle, which gives us great flexibility in terms of upscaling or downscaling according to our requirements.”

“We wanted a system that is capable of connecting all melting processes and moving equipment to synchronise operations and improve production efficiencies, toward autonomous operations.”

“Based on advanced digital algorithms, the new solution offers not only real-time ladle tracking but also automated scheduling and a predictive thermal modelling engine. The tracking engine follows ladle movement in real time. Radar and laser positioning technologies provide accurate visualisation while reducing the hardware footprint and maintenance needs. The automated scheduling includes job forecasting, route planning and automatic acknowledgement of jobs besides many other data requirements, all recoded on the SCADA system.”

“Previously we had an automated coating preparation plant that was designed and installed by Italian company ProService. They customise and manufacture automatic handling systems with unique solutions for customers. They supplied the initial concept designs and thereafter completed the design to our specs, manufactured the monorail, installed and commissioned the complete installation.”

ProService has installed their ITACA Hybrid software package for the complete metallurgical control of the molten metal from melting to the pouring area

Atlantis Foundries has a central control room where engineers can monitor all aspects of the plant. However, they also built a new control room, which is elevated, in the melting department. This allows engineers to monitor all the data electronically and the operational aspects physically

New melting area control room
“Although we have a central control room where engineers can monitor all aspects of the plant, we also built a new control room, which is elevated, in the melting department. This allows engineers to monitor all the data electronically and the operational aspects physically.”

Better metal quality and constant temperature
“The new monorail system ensures that the metal quality is preserved until the casting process begins, which is what all foundrymen want. The system is custom-designed and typically automation has been used to increase the speed of getting metal to pour, improve productivity and make the operation safer.”

ProService has installed their ITACA Hybrid software package for the complete metallurgical control of the molten metal from melting to the pouring area. ITACA was developed 20 years ago as a thermal analysis software and has evolved continuously over time. ITACA today is an open 4.0 project that brings together machines and systems, new sensors, management software, latest generation algorithms and, from 2021, also consumables.

For further details contact Atlantis Foundries on TEL: 021 573 7200 or visit www.atlantisfoundries.com