Large objects scanning: Machine building for ingot measurements

Initial situation:

Client is producing Aluminium/Steel Ingots which need to be scalped for planar surface. The raw block so far was measured by calipers to find out how much material has to be scalped away to achieve a flat surface. This can only be done by measuring the deepest point on the raw surface manually and adjust the scalping height of the machine accordingly.

Particular Challenges with this OEM Application:

Manual measurement of the deepest point on the raw surface of the Ingot is not very accurate. This results either in cutting away too much material or ending with a surface which still has holes. Also the number of scalping runs depends on the knowledge of the difference between the lowest and highest point of each surface to be scalped. The number of scalping cycles is estimated which could destroy the scalper in case too much material is scalped in one cycle, or it will be time consuming due to excessive scalping cycles. This means that productivity of machine is not optimal, and it may produce excessive material scrap due to estimated height of material layer.

QuellTech solution:

QuellTech made a Scanner array to cover the top surface as well as the side walls at a single pass over the ingot. The QuellTech Q4-1000 Laser scanners will cover about 600 mm in x and 1000 mm in z range. The scanners are mounted on an existing portal and are synchronized in such a way that the individual neighboring scanners will not see the Laser light from their next neighbors. Each of the QuellTech Laser Line scanners produce a 3D point cloud of the raw Ingot surface. These 3 pointclouds are merged to a single pointcloud using a calibration procedure. Now each of the 3 surfaces can be analyzed for the highest and lowest points and the width of the ingot. These data are then communicated via PLC tom the scalping machine. The scalping machine then optimizes its number of cycles and scalps each surface to a flat surface. At the end of the scalping process the ingot is scanned again for perfect surface and dimensions.

Benefits for constructors in machine building:

Thanks to QuellTech’s array of laser line scanners, the client can get the advantage of shorter cycle times in Ingot scalping thus improving productivity. Also the QuellTech scanners avoid excessive material scrap by scanning the exact data how height much to scalp. So efficiency and productivity could be improved.