Novelis PAE Newsletter

June 2014
Novelis PAE
Newsletter
Supplier of casthouse technology
novelis.com/PAE
Leadership change
A new DC slab casting line
in operation at Carcano Antonio
SpA in Italy (page 2)
Marc Bosch, New Vice-President Novelis PAE,
and Philippe Charlier
Marc Bosch was appointed Vice-President
Novelis PAE on May 1, 2014, replacing Philippe Charlier,
who has retired after a successful 40-year career in the
metal industry.
Marc Bosch, who has over 20 years of leadership
experience in manufacturing, joined Novelis PAE in
2001 as General Manager of the Continuous Casting
activity. His role in developing this business has been a
key contribution to the success of Novelis PAE during
this period.
“I am honoured to accept this new role and look
forward to leading Novelis PAE on its current successful
path. I am confident we have an exciting future ahead
of us”, enthused Marc Bosch.
Two Jumbo 3CM® continuous
casters commissioned at ASAS
ALUMINIUM in Turkey (page 3)
Philippe Charlier has taken retirement after a
40-year career that started in steel, moved on to
copper, then finally to aluminium in 1990. He has held
various managerial positions in R&D, Quality, Sales, and
Plant management, and since 2001 has successfully led
Novelis PAE. We wish Philippe all the best in his new
life.
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Novelis PAE Newsletter - June 2014
Contact
After-sales services
team in China
Fargo Marketing Services (FMS),
based in
Shanghai, has
strengthened
its present team
responsible for
Novelis PAE
affairs in China
with the addition
of a new Sales
Assistant,
M. Gu Junior.
This team is already actively
involved in commercial business
and after-sales services.
A selection of spare parts is kept
permanently in stock at the FMS
Shanghai warehouse for rapid
delivery, and specific parts can be
added to the stock depending on
customer needs.
Requests can be sent to:
Jordan Wang,
Fargo Services Shanghai Co., Ltd
[email protected]
or Novelis PAE (France)
[email protected]
DC Casting
A new DC slab casting
line in operation at
Carcano Antonio SpA
Carcano Antonio SpA, the Italian
company based in Mandello del Lario
and Delebio, and specializing in
high-end top-quality aluminium foil
and packaging products, began
collaboration with Novelis PAE at the
end of 2010 to build a new casthouse.
After an engineering phase covering
every aspect of the project, such as
risk analysis, environmental impact
assessment, production cycle, building
lay-out (a challenge due to the limited
available space and the surrounding
city), review of utilities, energy
consumption and, of course,
equipment definition, the casting line
was delivered and installed mid 2013.
With a capacity of about 60 000 tons
of slabs per year, the new casthouse
replaces the old casthouse, which
produced about 30 000 tons per year.
It is thus able to match the plant’s
hot rolling, cold rolling and foil rolling
capacity.
The equipment supplied by Novelis PAE
includes a 5-strand casting machine,
an ALPUR® TS55 degasser and a 2x23”
ceramic foam filter.
The new DC slab casting line
incorporates advanced technology
developed by Novelis PAE and will
enable Carcano to continue meeting
the high quality requirements of foil
and packaging customers.
Considerable attention has been paid
to safety in the design of the casting
line. Light barriers around the casting
machine and a high level of
automation reduce operating risks
during production to a minimum.
The first slab was produced on «lucky
Friday» 13 September 2013 and the
casting line is now fully operational.
Commissioning a productivity casting line
Constellium Neuf-Brisach
(France) is a leading aluminium rolling
plant serving various demanding
markets, including beverage cans and
automotive components. Performance
requirements on such competitive
semi-products call for a reliable
supplier with an established reputation,
capable of meeting high demanding
specifications.
Novelis PAE was awarded the contract
for the extensive modernisation of a
high-volume casting line (7 strands)
dedicated to the can-stock market.
The system was already equipped with
ALPUR® and PDBF® in-line treatment
units and an in-furnace IRMA®
degassing unit, three key items that
ensure the success of such an
application.
This was achieved in particular thanks
to off-line checks on the adjustment
of sub-assemblies prior to shipment.
Customers are welcome to attend such
preliminary inspections.
The modernized line was
commissioned in March 2014. With full
automation and the latest technologies
in temperature control, repeatability
and safety, it meets the target of
enhanced productivity and regularity.
In-furnace IRMA® degassing unit operating
from the top of a holding furnace
Novelis PAE Newsletter - June 2014
In addition, the installation and start-up
schedule was fully respected, thereby
minimizing down time, which was a
key element in the calculation of the
return on modernization investment
costs.
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Testing the
equipment
pile-up off line
3CM Roll Casting
Two Jumbo 3CM® continuous
casters commissioned in Turkey
On 7 March and 11 April 2014, Novelis PAE started two
Jumbo 3CM® 960x1800 continuous casters installed in a
new ASAS ALUMINIUM rolling plant in Akyazi Adapazari,
150km east of Istanbul.
Operation and maintenance training of ASAS staff was
carried out first in the classroom, then in the casthouse for
an implementation phase.
Production has now begun on the first two continuous
casting lines, launching the hot commissioning period that
features soft and hard alloys under high productivity
conditions.
Rasim Erdoğan (on the right), casthouse manager, and his team for
the first coil production of the Jumbo 3CM® casting line
ASAS ALUMINIUM is currently the leading Turkish company
for the production of aluminium-extruded products
(70,000 tons/year production capacity), aluminium
composite panels (8,000,000 sq m./year production capacity),
aluminium rolling shutters (4,000 tons/year production
capacity) and PVC profiles (25,000 tons/year).
• Travelling X-ray gauge for thickness and profile
measurements
• Edge miller
• Updated version of Supervision system and Data Manager
for process and quality control.
This first investment is part of a new, green-field rolling plant
project dedicated to the production of high-end products,
such as thin gauge foil, painted products and composite
panels.
Novelis PAE supplied 4 continuous casting lines:
two Jumbo 3CM® 960 casters with a maximum casting
width of 1800mm and two Jumbo 3CM® 1150x2250mm
casters. Each casting line incorporates Novelis PAE’s most
advanced technology in continuous casting:
• ALPUR® degasser and CFF/PDBF® filter
• New generation digital capacitive metal-level sensor
and actuator
The two Jumbo 3CM® 960 casters have now been
commissioned and the other two Jumbo 3CM® casters
(1150x2250mm) will be commissioned in the coming weeks.
Metal treatment
Trend towards bigger sizes
ALPUR® TS 90
vessel with its
4 compartments,
each of which
will house
1 rotor + 1 heater
There is an increasing market demand for large lines
(furnaces of 75t or more) for volume products such as
can-stock, foil stock and extrusion billets. Increased size
allows for greater cast ingots (slabs and billets) and greater
productivity (7-strand lines with large unit slabs).
Correspondingly, higher metal flow rates are called for, so
that equipment now provides for flow rates that range from
a few tons/hour (continuous strip casting, rod casting, hard
alloy wide billet casting) to 80 tons/hour or more. This is
illustrated by the ALPUR® family of equipment with its 6 units
of varied sizes.
The TS-90, a recent addition to the ALPUR® family, is an
impressive in-line degasser with 4 rotors and 4 heaters, and
complies with all the safety and environmental standards of
a modern casthouse. It was started recently on the SIG Project
now being commissioned at Novelis Nachterstedt, the
largest recycling casthouse in the world.
Hydraulic lid
lifting device
and platform
providing
operator access
for maintenance
of lid
components
With such comprehensive families of equipment, due
attention has been paid to designing common spare parts
and consumables (e.g. only two sizes for complete rotor
assembly units to cover TS-15 up to TS-90 components)
with a view to minimizing on-site inventories and enhancing
the reactivity of suppliers in the event of urgent need.
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Novelis PAE Newsletter - June 2014
Next
Meeting
Join our seminar at
ALUMINIUM CHINA
We will be happy to
meet you at the
ALUMINIUM CHINA
Fair, 9-11 July 2014,
Stand 1F20, at the
Shanghai International
Expo Center, and to
invite you to our seminar for a detailed
presentation of ALPUR® TS2,
July 10, 11:30-12:00,
Venue: Room in Hall N3
ALPUR® TS2:
an innovative in-line
degasser
Product Development
Modern solutions for preheating
distribution launders and spouts
Precise preheating of the distribution
launder, plugs and spouts is an
important factor in the success of
the cast, especially in the case of
deep (US-type) spouts, which are
more prone to metal freezing. It is
also important to meet customers’
preferences, which may favour
heating devices that are electrical or
gas-powered, external or in-situ.
By focusing on such preferences
and the various performance
requirements, Novelis PAE has
perfected a wide choice of solutions,
some of which combine
technologies. Among the different
solutions, the (external) electrical air
blower and (in-situ) plug heating are
worth mentioning.
Widely known for its degassing efficiency
and robustness, the famous ALPUR®TS
(Totally Sealed) in-line degasser has
proven to be one of the most efficient
on the market. Since ALPUR® was
launched, more than 400 units have
been delivered over a period of 33 years,
and many improvements have been
developed and tested by our
experienced engineers.
ALPUR® TS2 has been re-engineered
from the TS base, launched in 1996,
to meet the increasing demand in the
market for quality and to offer the
operators a safe and easy degasser,
combining user-friendly maintenance
and lower costs.
The ALPUR® TS2 vessel now features a
reinforced thermal insulation. It offers a
wider range of proven solutions to make
operation and maintenance easier, such
as a gas-powered immersed heater for
very fast heating of the melt and a new
hydraulic lifting system.
The motorization and rotor shaft
have been completely modernized.
Thanks to the innovative dynamic seal
and screw-less design of the injector,
the lifetime of the main consumables
has been significantly increased. The
rotation speed and the gas injection can
now be fully controlled automatically to
guarantee the very high degassing
efficiency required by our customers.
once the launder lid system and the
overall design are able to provide a
sufficient air seal.
Since the electrical blowers ensure
homogeneous preheating, the
refractory linings need not be heated
directly, which extends their lifetime.
In-situ plug heating
Electrical air blower
The electrical blower has long been
used in a variety of cases for
preheating transfer launders or
in-line metal treatment units
(particularly filters). Such equipment
is usually mobile so that it is able to
serve various parts of the casting line.
In the case of distribution launders,
it is preferably fixed, with one unit
at the cold end for short launders
(1 to 3 strands) and two units, one
at each end, for long launders (4 to
7 strands). They replace the more
standard gas burners (1 per strand)
with adequate unit power (13kW) to
provide an air temperature of 650°C
and ensure a good circulation of air
throughout (pre-heating each spout),
This clean and proven preheating
technology can be combined with
an in-situ plug preheating device
(2kW), making it practically 100%
efficient in achieving the necessary
local preheating temperature in the
required time: 400°C in 45 minutes
at the bottom of each spout. Heating
can also be maintained during the
cast, a must at low metal flow rates.
In the above drawing, the plug (in
red) is a vertically positioned
mini-heater, with a Sialon sheath for
safe immersion in the liquid metal.
The heating section is adapted to
the geometry of the spout, an inner
thermocouple is used for temperature
control and a quick connection is
provided. The set of self-heating
plugs also keeps the distribution
launder warm between casts.
Both devices, global and local, are
PLC-controlled and are included in
the casting line automation package,
with a display of local temperatures
on supervision screens. They can
be part of the casting recipe and
integrated into the casting report.
Novelis PAE Newsletter is published by Novelis PAE SAS, Centr’Alp BP24, 38341 Voreppe Cedex, France • Tel +33 4 76 57 87 00 • Fax +33 4 76 56 65 39 •
Email [email protected] • www.novelis.com/PAE • Publication Director Marc Bosch • Realisation Céline Reynas •
Translations Brian Keogh • Special contributors to this issue Frédéric Basson, Jérémie Bornel, Ghislain Le Roy, Antoine Le Tullier, Hervé Senillou.
Novelis PAE Newsletter - June 2014
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