If you know accurately the weight of liquid aluminium in holding or transfer furnaces in the production of aluminium alloys you can increase overall casthouse production by up to 15%. How? by installing an automated Batchpilot system from MQP.

Batchpilot, is a system with unique technology for accurate electronic measurement of furnace heel weights and transfer weights. It is based on the principle of measuring changes in the furnace hydraulic cylinder pressure with furnace tilt angle.

The Batchpilot system has the capability to measure furnace heel and transfer weights to an accuracy of 0.5% and 1.0%. This means measuring the weight of a 50 t full furnace to +/- 500 kg.

The benefits of accurate measurement of furnace heel and full furnace weights are well accepted in the casthouse industry in terms of:

  • Increasing the percentage of “right first time” batching which reduces/eliminates costly furnace waiting time.
  • Eliminating short casts.
  • Alloy changes easier to manage as heel weights in the furnace are accurately known.
  • Reduced energy costs by spending less time with burners on idle.

An important feature of the Batchpilot system is a fully automated weighing capability and down line integration of the output data into the casthouse management data network.

Overall the outstanding advantage of the Batchpilot system is that it brings a significant increase in production without the need to install new capacity.

This is particularly important in the current scenario where markets are recovering but billet production capacity is lagging behind and ingot and billet premiums have grown by more than 50% this year. 

Prevailing billet premiums, are now at an all-time high, and forecast to rise even further, which means that the present payback time for a 70MT Batchpilot system is less than one month in terms of the increased production it brings. 

The Batchpilot system is fully established in production usage with over fifty units installed in casthouses around the world. An automated unit is available with full automation of the measuring cycle and automatic integration of data generated into the plant batching calculation. The complete BatchPilot system can be tailored and customised to individual customer needs.

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