Together with our long-standing sales partner Efisio Carutti (Carutti S.r.l.), we have successfully installed and commissioned the fourth fully automated roller hearth furnace at a major Italian forging company. The system achieves a capacity of 4,000 kg/h and is used for the isothermal annealing of forged parts under a protective gas atmosphere. With state-of-the-art equipment and control technology, this project sets new benchmarks in efficiency, process reliability, and documentation.
The system stands out with a range of innovative components:
The seamless interaction between the customer’s warehouse system, the PLC, and the intelligent process control system FOCOS 4.0 enables fully automated and intelligent heat treatment – including complete and traceable heat treatment documentation.
Via PROFINET, order data, part numbers, and recipe numbers (reference values) are transmitted directly from the customer’s warehouse system to the PLC. At the same time, the target heat treatment parameters for the three process stages are defined in FOCOS 4.0:
The edited recipes are then transmitted to the PLC, after which the system automatically adjusts to the respective order.Throughout the entire heat treatment process, all process data and actual values are continuously transmitted to FOCOS 4.0 in real time.
THE RESULT is complete, transparent, and fully traceable heat treatment documentation – a key factor for quality assurance and process documentation.
The customer was particularly impressed by the high-performance rapid cooling chamber with integrated ratio pyrometer, which precisely and directly measures the current batch temperature. Based on these measurements, the cooling process is automatically controlled by the PLC.
Benefits:
The integrated vacuum lock significantly reduces protective gas consumption and minimizes the overall media demand of the system.
The result:
The new roller hearth furnace meets the latest state of the art in every respect. It combines maximum precision, intelligent system control, complete documentation, and energy-efficient process optimization throughout the entire heat treatment process.
OPTIONAL UPGRADES, such as the integration of a thermal imaging camera for millimeter-precise part monitoring, could further optimize the system and enable even more precise monitoring of the heat treatment process.
A modernization of the company’s three additional existing roller hearth furnaces to the latest state of the art is already planned.
We would like to thank our Italian customer for their trust and the long-standing partnership. This project is a strong example of successful cooperation and forward-looking heat treatment technology “Made by Aichelin.”