Melting plant
On an industrial induction furnace or any other melting plant, IoT records temperature, pressure, gas flow and electrical values in real time. Operators detect deviations from the target process immediately, plan maintenance by condition and document every melt in full.
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Industrial induction furnace: know its condition, document every melt
At Aurubis, the azeti IoT platform uses protocol adapters to connect equipment from different generations, via OPC UA as well as Profinet, Ethernet/IP or Modbus. Some existing machines were also retrofitted with sensors. The azeti SiteController collects and analyses data at the edge and sends it to a cloud infrastructure, and thresholds trigger alarms by email or messenger. From 1,500 process parameters, the team selected the critical ones for a central dashboard and machine learning models. ALD Vacuum Technologies connects its melting and remelting plants to the ALD EXPERT platform, which shows temperature, pressure and gas flow live and communicates bidirectionally with ERP and MES.
The examples come from chemicals and raw materials and from metal and electronics, for early damage detection and complete documentation. Aurubis, one of the world's largest copper recyclers, monitors its copper melting furnace with its electric inductor, which has to run around the clock. If unplanned downtime occurs in melting, data analysis shortens the response time. At ALD, the software automatically completes melt review sheets at the end of each melt, showing whether all parameters stayed within their setpoints. In episode #68, Aurubis and azeti report on their project, and in episode #133 ALD presents its solutions.
Podcast episodes featuring Melting plant
Industrial induction furnaces: frequently asked questions
How does copper smelter monitoring of a furnace inductor work?
Copper smelter monitoring of a furnace inductor works through its electrical parameters, process temperatures and pressures. At Aurubis, the inductor of the copper melting furnace has to run around the clock for long periods, which makes downtime hard to plan. azeti implements condition monitoring for it. The system tracks the data over a longer period as the basis for predictive maintenance, so the application keeps improving over time.
How can a remelting furnace be connected to ERP and MES?
A remelting furnace, like any melting plant, is connected via a platform that records process data and exchanges it bidirectionally with ERP and MES. All ALD melting and remelting plants can be connected to the web-based ALD EXPERT platform. This lets users keep an eye on raw material consumption and safeguard the quality of results. At Aurubis, protocol adapters also connect older plants with their own interfaces.
What matters most in vacuum melting?
Vacuum melting depends on precise control of the entire melting process. This includes controlling the atmosphere to prevent oxidation, closely monitoring pressure and temperature and homogenising the melt by electromagnetic stirring. All process parameters must stay within their setpoints. For this, ALD EXPERT displays temperature, pressure and gas flow together with historical data on one platform.
How does a metal melting plant document every melt automatically?
A metal melting plant documents every melt automatically when the software monitors all process parameters and completes a record at the end. At ALD, these are the melt review sheets. They show whether there were deviations from the setpoints and document which parameters were achieved at any point in time. Through the connection to ERP and MES, the data flows directly into the systems that control production and raw material consumption.
More assets in “Machinery and Equipment”
Pump
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Compressor
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Electric motor
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Packaging machine
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Refrigeration system
A refrigeration monitoring system makes service plannable: temperatures, refrigerant circuit pressures, compressor status and energy consumption flow into a platform in real time. Operators and service partners detect faults early, avoid unnecessary site visits and reduce excess consumption.
Air conditioning system
Commercial air conditioning systems in offices, retail branches and data centres can be monitored remotely with IoT. Operators see energy consumption, temperatures and faults in one place, detect failing compressors or refrigerant shortages early and plan service visits precisely.
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