Cast Shop Technology: Safety / Furnace
Sponsored by: TMS Light Metals Division, TMS: Aluminum Committee
Program Organizers: Stephen Instone, Speira Gmbh; Mertol Gokelma, Izmir Institute of Technology; Samuel Wagstaff, Oculatus Consulting; Dmitry Eskin, Brunel University
Wednesday 8:30 AM
March 2, 2022
Room: 209A
Location: Anaheim Convention Center
Session Chair: Anne Kvithyld, SINTEF AS
8:30 AM
Dew Point Monitoring and Alarm System for Meltable Storage: John Zeh1; Keaton Davenport1; Cameron Crick1; 1Logan Aluminum Inc.
Meltables such as Remelt Secondary Ingot (RSI), primary aluminum sow, and other shapes must be dry before charging into a furnace containing a molten heel. Any moisture on a meltable, including condensation, may cause an explosion. Once a meltable has been dried, it may become wet again from condensation due to environmental changes in the indoor storage area. Condensation will occur when a meltable reaches or drops below the dew point temperature, thus detecting and monitoring real-time changes in the storage environment is vital to prevent molten metal explosions. The Dew Point Monitoring and Alarm System (DPMAS) concept was developed and finalized in early 2017 and shared within the aluminum industry. The design, operation, and periodic testing of a portable wireless DPMAS that monitors, alarms, and reports environmental conditions to plant employees in real-time is described in this paper.
8:55 AM
Evaluation of Breathability of Molten Metal PPE Fabrics: Robert Wagstaff1; Sarah Walker2; Samuel Wagstaff1; 1Oculatus Consulting; 2Rolling Boulder Design
Recent decades have seen significant advances in personal protective equipment (PPE), as well as machine and equipment safeguards, to increase casthouse operators’ safety. As we add more layers and equipment, the risk of heat-related illness increases. Unfortunately, this all too often leads to operators removing the clothing that was designed to protect them, thereby placing themselves more at risk for molten metal contact. In conjunction with this trend, experiments were performed on the dry and wet resistance to heat absorption and water permeability (breathability) of fabrics commonly used in PPE clothing. These results present the greatest ability today of increasing operator comfort.
9:20 AM
Aluminium Melting Process Pptimization with SmartMelt, a Digital Tool for Real-time Operational Guidance: Amin Rostamian1; Mario Salgado1; Marc Bertherat2; Jean-Luc Desbiolles1; Michel Rappaz3; 1Novamet Sarl; 2Constellium; 3MRC Consulting
Every year, about 70 million tonnes of Aluminium (Al) scrapes are melted worldwide, in gas fired reverberatory furnaces. The efficiency of the melting process in such furnaces is strongly influenced by human-driven decisions and some furnace issues. SmartMelt is a novel IoT based platform that combines real time collection of sensors data, loads data, operators input in a dedicated interface, and a very efficient physical model of the melting process to provide on-line guidance to execute operations at optimal timings while detecting furnace issues. Integrated into the daily operations of two furnaces of 30 and 70 tonnes capacity for periods of 16 and 6 months, respectively, the system has yielded a maximum increase of productivity of about 12% and a reduction of gas consumption of about 11%. SmartMelt successfully detects in real-time deviations of burners performance while also monitoring and recording delays influenced by external factors.
9:45 AM
Continuous Chemical Analysis of Molten Aluminum: Kristjan Leosson1; Rauan Meirbekova1; Sveinn Gudmundsson1; Georges Salloum-Abou-Jaoude2; 1DTE; 2Constellium C-TEC
We present a method of automatic, rapid, and frequent chemical analysis of liquid aluminum, suitable for real-time monitoring dissolution and evaporation of alloying elements, continuous monitoring of chemical composition during casting, and for similar situations where an instantaneous measurement of melt chemistry is required. The method utilizes liquid-phase laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy and is shown, for the investigated elements, to be comparable in accuracy to conventional off-line laboratory analysis of solid process samples cast from the melt. The automated analysis ensures repeatability and improves plant safety by avoiding manual casting of process samples.