Retrofit for more efficiency and safety

The aluminum company Constellium Valais SA in Sierre retrofitted a 40+ year-old straightening system for aluminum profiles "Made in West Germany." Now a programmable Simatic control system with technology objects and Siemens servo motors support the personnel in correcting the aluminum profiles.

The retrofit was due

After extrusion, the profile is cooled either with air or water, which can lead to deformations. To correct these irregularities, the profiles are mechanically processed using a straightening machine, also called a rotary straightening machine. The operator guides the profile to be adjusted between two rotating rollers with different diameters, applies force to the profile and thus corrects the geometry.

The Constellium site in Sierre has four such straightening systems. One of them, which exclusively processes profiles with hard alloys, had become outdated – the inscription "Made in West Germany" proves it. Since the mechanical part of the system was still in good condition, Constellium decided to primarily carry out an electrical retrofit. For this project, Constellium turned to the automation company GAP Engineering SA from the neighboring village of Chalais. "We have been working together for almost 20 years. A strength of GAP Engineering is that they can work on not only the electrical but also the mechanical part of a machine. This way we get a 'turnkey' project from one source," emphasizes Damien Barmaz, Head of Technical Office Electrical and Automation at Constellium.

Thanks to this retrofit and the many creative solutions from GAP Engineering, we now have a machine that meets the latest safety requirements.

Damien Barmaz, Head of Technical Office Electrical and Automation, at Constellium

Smart ideas increase safety

Good ideas were needed not only for automating the system in the TIA Portal, but also for the safety of the operators: Berner and his team developed a special steel block equipped with a sensor. It is used during maintenance or cleaning work or for setting up an assembly for a new profile. The roller table is raised to make the machine accessible. The steel block can be used to secure the position of the table so that it doesn't accidentally fold down and injure someone. If the safety block is forgotten, the sensor registers this. If someone now enters the danger zone monitored by a laser scanner, an alarm sounds and the motors are immediately stopped. "Communication via Profinet works very well," explains Berner, "and the laser scanners from a third-party supplier could be integrated without problems – we really appreciated that." So that certain parts of the machine can be cleaned, the rollers must rotate very slowly – a not insignificant dangerous process. The retrofit professionals from GAP Engineering have installed a special pedal for this purpose. It must be constantly operated during the cleaning process, otherwise the machine stops immediately.

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