Visualization and control of the heat treatment of castings at KS Kolbenschmidt

KS Kolbenschmidt Czech Republic is an important producer of gasoline and diesel engine pistons and compressors. The history of the company dates back to the beginnings of the automobile age in 1916.

The complete production is carried out here from piston casting through heat treatment to surface machining and treatment. The entire production process is completed by the assembly and checking of finished products.

KS Kolbenschmidt Czech Republic is part of Kolbenschmidt Pierburg AG, whose six business divisions are engaged in the development and production of a wide range of engine components, modules, and systems.

Control system

To visualize the process of the heat treatment of castings, the Reliance 4 SCADA/HMI system is used.

The system is intended to visualize and archive data from chamber, shaft, and continuous furnaces at the heat treatment site. The data can be recorded, which has contributed significantly to the identification of defective castings when introducing new types of castings into production.

Authorized users can access all data through the intranet using a Web server, which allows them to optimize the heat treatment of castings and increase productivity.

The Reliance system is installed on a server located in the heat treatment shop's control room. The server communicates with the following peripherals:

• Chamber and continuous furnaces with a SIMATIC S7-300 Ethernet link and NetLink converters
• Shimaden SR94 controller (bath temperature control)
• Quido RS 4/4 I/O modules (remote outputs for controlling visual signaling)
• Comet measuring device (temperature, humidity, pressure)

Examples of visualization windows