Smart Carbon Reduction for Foundries: 22% Energy Savings, 28% Less Material Use
This case study explores a traditional foundry specializing in casting cylinders for automobiles and motorcycles, as well as metal components for elevators. Typically, such foundries pursue energy efficiency improvements by replacing motors or outdated equipment as primary solutions. However, these approaches involve high costs and production downtime during implementation.
This project adopts a tailor-made measurement solution that precisely monitors raw material weight, power consumption, and finished product weight. Through integrated data analysis, the system optimizes heating control without halting production, resulting in annual electricity savings of 22% (approximately USD 30,000) and a 28% reduction in raw material waste.
Key Challenges
- The weight of raw materials used, melting duration, and furnace power consumption during production were mostly recorded manually. The data was scattered and incomplete, making subsequent analysis and management difficult.
- The feeding amount during the melting process was hard to control precisely, and heating temperatures still relied on the experience of seasoned operators. The lack of standardized, quantitative indicators resulted in extra energy consumption. In addition, new staff could not be trained in a scientific way to inherit such expertise.
- Power consumption data could only be obtained from electricity bills, lacking real-time monitoring and detailed analysis. As a result, it was impossible to implement precise energy-saving measures.
ICP DAS Smart Retrofit Solution
1. Raw Material and Casting Treatment Area: Intelligent Monitoring of Raw Material and Finished Product Weight
The I-7188XBD controller inside the enclosure reads data from the electronic scale via the RS-232 interface. Together with the X107 I/O expansion board and a customized program, the controller detects signals from the physical buttons on the scale.
The enclosure is equipped with buttons corresponding to different raw materials.
When the foundry staff presses the appropriate button during weighing, the I-7188XBD controller records the weight value, unit, timestamp, and raw material serial number, and transmits the data via RS-485 to the RFU-433 wireless modem.
Since the electronic scale uses a proprietary communication protocol, ICP DAS provided a customized service by developing dedicated gateway firmware
for the I-7188XBD Serial MiniOS7 Controller. This firmware converts the measurement data from the proprietary protocol into the standard Modbus RTU protocol, facilitating data integration.
2. Melting Area: Furnace Power Consumption Monitoring and Temperature-Holding Reminder
The foundry uses an induction furnace to control the melting temperature, heating to 1450°C and then lowering to 1380°C for casting, based on past experience. However, during the melting process, the temperature often exceeds the 1450°C target, resulting in additional energy consumption.
To achieve precise energy management, this solution uses the PM-3133-RCT2000P three-phase smart power meter (W measurement accuracy better than 2%, PF=1; input current > 200A). Paired with a Rogowski coil mounted on the busbar beneath the induction furnace, the meter measures and records energy consumption in real time during the melting process.
A Rogowski coil current transformer, capable of measuring up to 2000 A, was selected to meet the output requirements of the induction furnace. This series is suitable for high-current measurements from 500 A to 4000 A, large-diameter conductors (such as busbars), and installation in confined spaces, providing a flexible solution for power measurement.
The melting area is also equipped with a VPD-173N-64 HMI device, which connects via RS-485 to the PM-3133-RCT2000P three-phase smart power meter,
the DL-100TM485S temperature and humidity data logger, and two RFU-433 wireless modems—one receives data from the raw material area, and the other transmits the collected field data to the central control office.
The VPD-173N-64 HMI device displays various real-time monitoring data on site, including weight readings from the electronic scale, melting start time, trend charts,
furnace power information, a temperature-holding reminder icon, and environmental temperature and humidity measured by the DL-100TM485S. This allows on-site staff to monitor all information conveniently at a glance.
The induction furnace operates as a standalone unit without communication capabilities. On-site personnel must manually configure parameters, such as the steel weight’s Gain and Offset values in the formula, using the VPD-173N-64 to adjust the melting curve, after which the recommended temperature-holding time is updated.
When the melting process reaches a specific point in time, the temperature-holding reminder icon on the VPD-173N-64 lights up, alerting operators to switch to holding mode. This helps prevent unnecessary energy consumption from continued heating.
3. Office Area: Centralized Data Management and Visualization
The central control computer receives data from the melting area via the RFU-433 wireless modem and uses AVEVA Edge to visualize and manage carbon emissions.
The iKAN-124-IP65 industrial LED display connects to the central computer via Ethernet, dynamically showing key data such as raw material usage, energy consumption, carbon emissions, and production output.
Users can view real-time data, including power consumption, ambient temperature and humidity, and the raw material weight and processing time of the most recent melting batch. The system also includes an error alert function, enabling managers to quickly identify anomalies, such as excessive raw material weight, facilitating troubleshooting and ensuring smooth melting operations.
In addition, the SCADA system integrates factory-wide production and carbon emission data, including cumulative finished product and scrap weights, as well as yield rates. It also calculates carbon emissions on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis, providing an intuitive and comprehensive interface for melting and carbon emission management.
Benefits
• Wireless Transmission Overcomes Cabling Constraints
Because the foundry environment makes physical cabling difficult, this project uses the RFU-433 wireless modem. Data is transmitted over the 433 MHz ISM band, reducing wiring effort and construction costs while significantly improving deployment efficiency.
• Saving Time and Manpower
The data acquisition system automates data recording, eliminating manual transcription and human errors. It also supports data visualization and database storage, improving data analysis efficiency.
• 22% Savings in Energy and Carbon Emissions
The system collects data on raw material weight, energy consumption, ambient temperature, and melting duration. Using regression analysis, it identifies the correlation between raw material weight and energy consumption.
Considering factors such as room temperature and processing time, the system calculates recommended energy demand values or generates reference tables,
helping the foundry implement a more precise furnace heating strategy.
As a result, the molten iron tapping temperature is reduced from 1509 °C to 1444 °C, effectively lowering energy consumption and carbon emissions. This achieves annual electricity savings of 22%, approximately USD 30,000.
• 28% Material Savings
A complete raw material weight management system helps operators feed materials accurately, reducing casting material waste by 28%.
• Improved Production Efficiency
A precise furnace heating strategy shortens heating time, significantly improving production efficiency.
• Comprehensive Tracking of Carbon Emissions
Some materials, such as hardeners, furan resins, and coating agents, still need to be manually weighed by staff. The SCADA system provides input fields for entering weight values and CO₂ emission factors, enabling precise calculation of carbon emissions.
Conclusion
ICP DAS provides customized data acquisition and monitoring solutions tailored to site conditions and foundry requirements. This enables traditional metal foundries to achieve digital transformation and move toward low-carbon, sustainable operations.
Through precise material feeding and heating control, the foundry can save substantial annual electricity and material costs while improving production efficiency, creating long-term competitive advantages and benefits.
By using SCADA to comprehensively integrate carbon emission data, the foundry not only achieves smart manufacturing and digital transformation but also establishes a complete raw material and carbon emission management system, greatly improving the efficiency of net-zero carbon audits and carbon footprint management.
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ICP DAS was established in 1993 and strongly focuses on innovation and the enhancement of industrial automation technology. ICP DAS continuously endeavors to develop a comprehensive selection of products ranging from remote I/O controllers, distributed I/O modules, I/O data acquisition boards, programmable automation controllers, industrial communication modules, web-related products, motion control systems, SCADA/HMI software to automation solutions for applications critical to energy management, motion automation, smart factories, intelligent buildings, and smart cities. Our ambition is to provide a wide range of high-quality products and versatile applications, together with prompt and efficient services, that can be implemented to assist in the continued success of our clients worldwide.