Thanks to its deployment of Emulate3D software, ECM Technologies, a world leader in the design and manufacture of innovative and modular low-pressure carburising industrial furnaces, has developed a solution that removes many of the installation and commissioning challenges relating to the development, testing and deployment of large-scale heat treatment plants.
Heat treatment at scale is no small undertaking, especially when we’re talking about automotive industry volumes. A modern heat treatment facility can take up an entire plant, which is why, coupled to its complexity, it is traditionally subcontracted to companies with established capabilities.
However, with lean operating principles, cost controls and just-in-time fabrication and supply in mind, some automotive plants are looking to bring heat treatment capabilities in house and on site. Thanks to this marriage of digitalised process control and digital twins, ECM Technologies has made this perfectly feasible, with many of the traditional risks designed out before installation.
The challenge
Heat treatment is a complex, multi-stage process with a raft of process variables all of which must be precisely controlled to maintain quality and consistency. ECM’s low-pressure carburising process involves infusing steel parts with carbon to make them more resistant to wear and fatigue. The vacuum process the company has developed allows operators to precisely control the amount of carbon diffused into the metal by controlling multiple variables including the length of each of the stages and the all-important vacuum pressure.
According to Christian Dugit-Pinat, automation expert at ECM Technologies, there are multiple stages involved. First the parts are washed before heat treatment and hardened in a vacuum thanks to carburising, which can take anything up to six hours. The parts are then rapidly cooled by gas or oil quenching before tempering and final treatment. All in all, this can equate to about 10 to 13 hours of treatment to create a typical automotive gearbox component.
“Our electrically powered heat-treatment plants have a muti-chamber design,” he adds, “so multiple parts with their respective and often unique heat treatment recipes can progress through the line in parallel, with between 50 and 80 loads transitioning at any one time. Each of these loads needs to be controlled and managed individually to ensure maximum quality levels.”
The solution
Modern automation is more than capable of managing these plants within optimised parameters, but the design, installation and commissioning is another matter, with many issues and enhancements only becoming obvious during the startup phases.
“We were commissioned to install one of our ICBP Jumbo vacuum carburising systems at a large automotive facility in Mexico,” explains Philippe Reymond, project manager at ECM Technologies. “We faced a number of additional challenges. Not only did we need to get production up and running as soon as possible, but the customer also instructed us to use their software standard, which would require a wholesale rewrite of our existing code. Couple this to the normal timeframes and complexities of an order of this magnitude, and we knew we had our work cut out. So we started to investigate ways to make the project more streamlined and faster to deploy.”
ECM had been looking at digital twin technology as a possible solution to these needs, and this project provided the impetus for the company to actively deploy Emulate3D software from Rockwell Automation.
“When we had this installation in Mexico in the pipeline, we decided to undertake some simulations using Emulate3D with the help of Rockwell Automation engineers,” Reymond explains. “This project was huge, and rewriting and testing the PLC code on a built project was completely unrealistic from a timescale perspective, so a virtualised model was the obvious solution.
“Virtualisation offered us some huge advantages,” he continues, “one of which was its connectivity with other software. Not only did we need to simulate the mechanical aspects of the design, but we also needed to consider thermodynamics, process physics and various flows, and for this we used MATLAB, which could send results directly back to the digital twin.”
The result
Through its use of Emulate3D, ECM Technologies was able to fully simulate, fine tune and finalise much of its PLC code prior to delivery of the line. The team estimates that by debugging code in parallel with production, as opposed to linearly after installation, it can save up to five months in its ICBP Jumbo project lead times.
“We undertook a similar installation seven years ago, without the Rockwell Automation control solutions or its Emulate3D software,” Reymond adds. “Even though we used our own software in that one, the project was still incredibly complex. Conversely, this new project was not only delivered on time, but commissioning time was cut by 50% too. Even with the customer’s own code, this second project was quicker. There were also fewer onsite meetings, which cut travel to and from North America.”
ECM Technologies has since won another order from the customer and is being asked about other opportunities. “The customer knew that we had written all of this project’s code from scratch.” Reymond explains, “They were suitably impressed with the speed of the installation and commissioning. We are now looking to use Emulate3D on other projects, with three currently under way, and we will definitely deploy digital twins as part of our internal procedures. “By virtualising our projects, we can also manage more projects concurrently due to the quality and speed of the outputs, and by simply spending less time at a customer’s plant. Many of the pressures are removed and the stress of having to fix issues lineside has abated, which is great for everyone involved. We are also far more confident in respecting deadlines. Now, when we say 1st of July, we really do mean 1st of July.”
Nicola Iovine, strategic business developer for EMEA, digital design and SaaS at Rockwell Automation, concludes: “Emulate3D is becoming a powerhouse in industrial design as more and more companies recognise the huge benefits from the deployment of digital twin technology. This application with ECM Technologies is a real showcase demonstration of what can be achieved and how streamlined design and commissioning can become. We are looking forward to supporting ECM Technologies as it evolves even further into the digital realm.”
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