Spanish company Exlabesa to modernize its casthouse operation in A Coruña with Hertwich continuous homogenizing furnace

With this investment, the plant, which produces extruded profiles for automotive, electrical and industrial applications, modernizes and optimizes its homogenization facilities. The new continuous furnace will replace several older batch furnaces.

Exlabesa will benefit from the new homogenization concept in several ways. Constant and optimum metallurgical properties are ensured by precise and uniform temperature control during heating, holding and cooling. The integration of all the working steps right up to the end product ready for dispatch in one continuous and fully automated sequence promises a major rationalizing effect. Ultimately, the tried and tested furnace design significantly reduces energy consumption and heat treatment time. Hertwich has supplied almost 130 continuous furnaces so far.

The gas-heated continuous furnace will be designed for an annual production of 32,000 tons of aluminium. The billets in a diameter range between 178 and 406 millimeters, at lengths of 6,500 millimeters, will be laid down in front of the furnace and fed evenly into it. The furnace operation can be flexibly controlled by means of heating, billet transport and the required holding time. The heating concept ensures that the billets are heated evenly over the entire length.

Once the material has passed through the heating and holding zone, it enters the air cooling station.
After the cooling station, the billet saw will be installed. The saw will cut off the head and butt ends and divide the billets into processing lengths. The 4,800 to 6,500 millimeter long billets will be automatically stacked, semi-automatically strapped and weighed. All these processes will be integrated into the automated process, along with the necessary transports.

Hertwich Engineering, a company of the SMS group is renowned for its future-oriented, energy saving technologies and outstanding service in aluminium casthouse. The company is active worldwide with design, supply, construction and commissioning of special machinery and equipment for the Aluminium industry. Hertwich is competent for supplying complete Al-casthouse on a turnkey basis (one-stop-shopping). The product range comprises melting equipment for aluminium scrap, conti and batch homogenizing plants, sawing plants, horizontal and vertical casting machines and quality inspection stations, etc. To stay ahead Hertwich relies on its own R&D and proprietary know-how. For 50 years, the advanced technology has revolutionized the industry and the company maintains its worldwide lead.