Enhancing Efficiency in Aluminum Manufacturing with Digital Twin Technology
In the context of the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry, aluminum factories are actively exploring innovative ways to improve production efficiency and management levels. Digital twin technology, with its unique advantages, has constructed an accurate and efficient production management system for aluminum factories. This article takes the application of Hightopo Software’s low-code digital twin platform in an aluminum factory as an example to deeply analyze the practice and effectiveness of this technology in the entire aluminum production process.
System Construction and Visual Presentation The aluminum production process is complex, involving multiple key links such as desulfurization, denitrification, smelting, casting, dust removal, degassing, and wastewater treatment. Hightopo Software’s low-code digital twin platform realizes a comprehensive presentation of the aluminum production process flow through a 2D SCADA visualization system. By using the platform’s icon library and panel library and adopting a graphical, drag-and-drop configuration method, a visualization interface suitable for aluminum factories can be quickly built without writing a large amount of underlying code, greatly improving the system construction efficiency.
(I) Page Style Design Considering different usage scenarios, the 2D SCADA pages of the aluminum factory are designed with two style color schemes: a dark color system for night shift duty and a daily white minimalist style. The switch button adopts a fused new mimetic design style, adding a three-dimensional sense, and light blue accents increase visual vitality, enhancing the user operation experience.
(II) Data Monitoring and Maintenance Through the visualization system built on this platform, users can monitor and maintain the entire system according to the industrial operation process of aluminum production, achieving real-time visual management of the production process.
Technical Principles and Key Monitoring Points for Production Processes (I) Desulfurization Technical Principle: The desulfurization process is based on chemical reaction principles. Desulfurizers such as limestone slurry are sprayed into the flue gas to react with sulfur dioxide, generating harmless gypsum and thus reducing sulfur dioxide emissions. Limestone slurry is made by mixing limestone powder with water and is used to absorb sulfides in the flue gas. The absorption tower, as a key device, promotes full contact between the gas and the absorbent to achieve the removal of harmful components.
Monitoring Key Points: With the 2D SCADA visualization interface, key data such as the flow rate and concentration of the desulfurizer are monitored in real-time. Once the data is abnormal, the system quickly issues an alarm, and the staff can adjust it in a timely manner to ensure that the desulfurization reaction is in the best state, reducing pollutant emissions and practicing the concept of green production.
(II) Denitrification Technical Principle: The common selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology is adopted. Under the action of a catalyst, reducing agents such as ammonia react with nitrogen oxides to reduce them to nitrogen and water.
Monitoring Key Points: The 2D display closely monitors core indicators such as the temperature in the reactor and the ammonia injection volume, precisely controlling the reaction process to ensure that the denitrification efficiency is stably up to standard and helping to achieve environmental protection goals.
(III) Sintering Technical Principle: In a high-temperature environment, aluminum ore powder and appropriate additives undergo complex physical and chemical changes in the sintering machine, gradually fusing and consolidating to form sintered blocks, laying the foundation for subsequent processes.
Monitoring Key Points: The 2D page strictly controls key elements such as sintering temperature and atmosphere. It monitors subtle fluctuations in parameters such as temperature, pressure, flow rate, and concentration in real-time. Once factors that may affect the sintering quality are detected, it promptly feeds back to the operators to ensure the production quality of sintered blocks. Hightopo’s large-screen SCADA uses red-yellow gradients to represent temperature changes and fine particles to simulate the material transportation process, visually presenting the production status.
(IV) Casting Technical Principle: In the casting link, liquid aluminum cools and solidifies, transforming into aluminum products of various shapes and specifications.
Monitoring Key Points: Hightopo’s SCADA large screen monitors key parameters such as mold temperature and aluminum liquid flow rate in real-time and in detail, closely paying attention to the cooling process to ensure uniform and stable cooling and prevent quality problems such as cracks and deformations in aluminum products due to uneven stress, ensuring the quality of aluminum products.
(V) Dust Removal and Degassing Technical Principle: Technologies such as bag dust removal and electrostatic dust removal are used to remove dust in the production process, and special technologies are used to remove harmful gases such as hydrogen dissolved in the aluminum liquid to purify the production environment and protect equipment and product quality.
Monitoring Key Points: The page monitors the operating status and key parameters of purification equipment comprehensively and continuously. Once the equipment parameters are abnormal, it immediately issues a warning to remind the staff to maintain and adjust in a timely manner, ensuring a clean production environment and creating conditions for improving the quality of aluminum products.
(VI) Wastewater Treatment Technical Principle: The wastewater generated in the aluminum production process, if discharged directly without treatment, will cause serious harm to the environment. The wastewater treatment process makes the wastewater meet the discharge standards through a series of physical, chemical, and biological treatment methods, which is a key step for aluminum factories to achieve green and sustainable development.
Monitoring Key Points: Operators can master the details of the operation of each link and equipment in the wastewater treatment process in real-time through the screen, precisely adjust key parameters such as the dosage of chemicals and the water flow rate, and ensure that the wastewater treatment effect is stably up to standard.
Advantages Compared with Traditional SCADA Software Compared with traditional SCADA software such as InTouch/lFix/WinCC, Hightopo’s Web-based platform is more in line with the trend of the transformation from C/S to B/S. Its rich multi-element visualization components and fast data binding methods are convenient for quick creation and deployment, and can realize real-time data monitoring based on Web services and multi-user access on the server side. This platform has broad application prospects in many fields such as water systems, power systems, petroleum, and chemical engineering, and can provide 2D, 2.5D, and 3D clear and beautiful visualization services.
Conclusion The application of digital twin technology in aluminum factories, through Hightopo Software’s low-code digital twin platform, has achieved accurate presentation, real-time monitoring, and efficient management of the entire aluminum production process. From the technical principles and monitoring key points of each production link to the advantages compared with traditional SCADA software, this technology has demonstrated significant effects in improving the production efficiency of aluminum factories, ensuring product quality, and achieving green production. With the continuous development of digital technology, digital twin technology is expected to play a greater role in the aluminum industry and other industrial fields, promoting the continuous progress of the industry towards intelligence and greenness.