Scale Car System

Getting accurate information from the scale car on materials charged, as well as accurate information to the scale car operator on what materials to gather next, is important for proper furnace operation yet presents real technical and operational challenges.  IPACT has years of experience in meeting these challenges, including: 

• Car location schemes. IPACT has designed on-car schemes such as pulse counters reading wheel revolutions, and more recently has designed a system based around off-car infrared laser reflectometers.  This system is more accurate than on-car position detection, and is more reliable as well.

• Car radio communications.  IPACT has worked with several different manufacturers of radio modems, and knows the strengths and weaknesses of each.

• Single scale, two-hopper car.  IPACT has worked with scale cars that have two hoppers and only one scale, and understands how to design a system which will function well in that operational environment.

• Car operator displays. The IPACT scale car system design includes displays to the car operator of the makeup values for all materials and the charging step(s) that the car is to gather next.  These displays can be placed either in the pit area, or on the car itself.

• Fault tolerant design. Perhaps the most important consequence to IPACT’s customers of our long experience with scale car systems is the fault tolerant design that is the result of that experience.  It is relatively easy to design a scale car system assuming that the car location scheme, the radio, and other equipment will operate flawlessly 100% of the time, and that the scale car operator will always follow a strict procedure for gathering materials.

However, real life in the stockhouse is not that simple.  Radio signals suffer intermittent interference, pulse generators fail or the infrared laser signal gets blocked occasionally, and bin gates stick closed or open and become blocked or empty, forcing operators to deviate from the planned gathering sequence.  IPACT understands this, and has designed its scale car system to be as tolerant as possible of these faults, while still providing accurate information to both the charging system and the car operator.

Integrated Process Automation & Control Technologies