NDC Technologies Provides Aluminium Producers with Accurate, Reliable Measurement Systems

NDC Technologies Provides Aluminium Producers with Accurate, Reliable Measurement Systems to Produce Automotive-Grade Sheet

NDC Technologies, a leading global provider of precision measurement and control

solutions, reports that its metals gauging systems are helping leading aluminium makers worldwide accurately and reliably measure the thickness, profile, and speed of the newest automotive sheet. The benefits to producers include reduced start-up costs, production flexibility, better dimensional control, increased productivity and profitability.

“With the automotive industry shifting to new aluminium alloys to produce lower weight, more fuel-efficient vehicles, it’s important that rolling mills employ high-performance thickness and profile/shape measurement systems that can meet the new product standards. These systems must provide better dimensional measurement while adapting to the new composition and metallurgical variations associated with these automotive sheet products,” says Mike Ramsey, Director of Business Development, Metals for NDC. “Our non-contact X-ray and optical gauging systems enable new and existing plants to make these products without impacting production. NDC has installed many non-contact gauging systems on conventional cold and hot rolling mills around the world, as well as on some of the most technologically advanced and revolutionary mills recently built for aluminium automotive sheet.”

Thickness and Profile Measurement

NDC’s non-contact gauging systems measure a range of dimensional properties critical to the production of automotive-grade aluminium sheet. For thickness measurement, NDC’s AccuRay® TDi-700 X-Ray Measurement System provides highly accurate and reliable thickness gauging of aluminium sheet and other flat rolled products in all typical rolling mill and processing applications. The AccuRay TDi-700 can be configured with one of several sensors to cover the complete thickness range required in rolling mills and process lines regardless of mill size, metal type and existing conditions. The X-ray sensors and C-frames require minimal mill space for installation making them ideal for both new mills and replacement of older systems in existing mills.

All TDI-700 systems feature NDC’s unique distributed intelligence architecture that creates a more powerful, yet simpler system which not only provides industry leading measurement performance, but better uptime, maintainability and lower cost of ownership.

NDC Technologies also delivers a profile characterization method that provides the highest, dynamic profile measurement capability. The technique eliminates reproducibility errors common among sensor arrays by normalizing the profile measurement to critical centerline thickness in real time. This technique is being used on several hot mills producing profiles less than 0.5%.

Length and Speed Measurement

NDC’s Beta LaserMike LaserSpeed® non-contact gauge directly measures the length and speed of aluminium sheet with better than +/-0.05% accuracy, +/-0.02% repeatability. It is an ideal solution for replacing mechanical contact tachometers/encoders that are prone to a variety of measurement errors and high maintenance costs. The LaserSpeed gauge uses advanced, laser-based technology to perform these measurements. It projects a unique pattern on the product’s surface. As the product moves, light is scattered back to the gauge. This information is translated into product speed and pulses are produced to determine the product length. The LaserSpeed gauge has no moving parts and is factory calibrated, enabling manufacturers to realize the lowest cost of ownership.

NDC Technologies: The Merger of Measurement Leaders

NDC is part of Spectris plc, a leading supplier of productivity enhancing instrumentation and controls. The company traces its origin back to two companies: Infrared Engineering Ltd (acquired in 1992) and NDC Systems Inc. (acquired in 1997). These companies merged in 1998 to form NDC Infrared Engineering. Both companies had operated as private entities until their acquisition and the roots of both were to be found in the rapid advances in sensor technology in the 1960's and 70's. The IRM Group SA was then acquired in 2011 to spearhead the company's expansion into the metals industry. In 2014, NDC Infrared Engineering merged with Beta LaserMike (also a Spectris company and a leading provider of laser and ultrasonic measurement systems) to form NDC Technologies. The combination strengthened the new company’s position in the marketplace by offering a more comprehensive portfolio of gauging solutions. Spectris is listed on the London Stock Exchange with a total turnover in 2014 of approximately $1.8 billion, and owns a number of companies operating in four business sectors:

To learn more, please visit NDC websites: http://www.ndc.com/metals and www.laserspeedgauge.com.