In the world of aluminium production, every gram of metal, every minute of operation and every percentage of yield matters.
The pursuit of efficiency and precision has driven the development of technologies to maximise output while minimising waste and at the heart of casthouse operations lies a deceptively simple requirement – knowing exactly how much molten metal the furnace contains at any given point.
This is crucial for three key reasons:
- To ensure slabs are cast to the precise length ordered by customers
- To maximise the number of sale-able slabs per operation
- To preventing resource wastage from short casts, overfilling or underutilisation
Historically, casthouse operators have often had to rely on visual estimates to determine the weight of the metal remaining in the furnace – known as the ‘heel weight’.
These estimates are, by nature, highly subjective and prone to error. Even minor miscalculations can result in slabs that are too short (short casts), excessive overfilling or, conversely, restrict the number of slabs produced in a single cycle.
The costs of these inaccuracies are substantial, not only in terms of material waste but also in lost time, energy and, ultimately, profit.
These issues led us to develop the BatchPilot, an innovative furnace weighing system which has been transforming casthouse operations for over a decade now.
The system’s core function is simple, yet vital: to provide an accurate, real-time measure of the furnace’s liquid metal weight, eliminating the guesswork from both the start and end of the batch cycle.
The BatchPilot system is engineered to deliver:
- Full furnace charge weight measurement: up to 50,000 kg, with an accuracy of +/- 350 kg
- Heel weight measurement: typically 2,000 kg to 5,000 kg, with a remarkable +/- 100 kg accuracy
This level of precision enables casthouses to distinguish between wanted aluminium and unwanted dross with confidence – an advancement that removes the dependency on unreliable visual assessments and eradicates the cumulative losses associated with human error.
BatchPilot is also a fully integrated, automated device that can be retrofitted to existing furnaces with minimal disruption – no need for downtime or production halts.
The seamless integration into the batching process means that improvements in accuracy and throughput start accruing almost immediately after installation.
Ultimately, the introduction of BatchPilot, a precise, automated weighing system, directly addresses one of the most persistent operational bottlenecks in aluminium casting. The inefficiency of inaccurate batching.