Century Aluminum Upgrades South Carolina Plant with Advanced Casting Equipment from Siemens

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Century Aluminum, a global primary aluminium producer with operations in the United States and Iceland, has upgraded its aluminium casting equipment at its smelting plant in South Carolina. The plant boasts casting equipment capable of processing approximately 230,000 tonnes of aluminium annually, delivering standard-grade ingot, extrusion billet, and other products.

However, as per reports, the two cooling tunnels were experiencing increased downtime due to outdated controls that had reached their functional limits. As a result, to tackle this challenge Sam Wilson, casthosue technician at Century Aluminum reached out to Miguel Ortiz, product manager at Electrical Equipment Company, a local Siemens distributor and technology solutions provider. Ortiz and his team at Outreach Resources assessed the situation and developed a tailored solution.

In its casting operations, the company uses cooling tunnels to lower the temperature of aluminium billets after homogenisation. These tunnels are designed to reduce billet temperatures from around 1,000°F to 90°F. The cooling unit features drives that regulate the main fans, ensuring a steady flow of cool air that circulates efficiently around the aluminium bundles.

"We were faced with an increase in downtime on our two cooling tunnels due to legacy controls that were getting beyond their functional limits," said Sam Wilson, casthosue technician at Century Aluminum. "The older drives would have required major rebuilding as they were able to track only speed, delivering the data to the PLC. We required more data and faster processing of it."

The upgrade involved retrofitting a competitor's drive with a Siemens SINAMICS G120 an Intelligent Operator Panel (IOP-2), and a specialised Remote I/O (RIO) to EtherNet/IP™ gateway, co-designed by Siemens and SoftPLC. This gateway was specifically created to facilitate a seamless transition from the legacy drives to the new system. Additionally, the upgraded setup now transmits valuable data, including current and torque, providing the customer with enhanced operational insights.

Courtesy: www.alcircle.com