Molten Metal, Coming Up

The robotic system performs all of the potentially hazardous melt deck tasks—slagging off, temperature and composition checks—that were previously performed manually.

Deere Waterloo’s melt shop revitalization, completed just last month, was performed in two stages. First, the new furnace was commissioned and installed. The coreless melter is the most advanced of the four that now are operated at Deere and the only one on the deck that truly increased the ease of maintenance that was desired. Designed with an “open shell,” the hardware can be tweaked in certain areas by removing certain panels, rather than having to dismantle the whole furnace.

According to Austin, the new design also offers easier electrical troubleshooting, shortened power leads, no need for back tilt or back slagging, improved shunt cooling and ground isolation, and a 25% tonnage increase for the melt deck on the whole. The increased capacity has allowed Deere to utilize off-peak hours for melting and perform furnace repair throughout the day.

What’s more, the new equipment became the guinea pig for the new robotic melt deck operation system. While the three other furnaces were still operated manually, the new unit went in alongside a robot that today performs slag off, alloy additions, and temperature and composition checks. The furnace operator never has to break a sweat performing these operations, as he or she controls the entire operation from an enclosed operating room. Robotic performance of the tasks also leads to enhanced repeatability, according to Ulfers, as it allows a standardized alloy addition, smooth transition from one iron grade to another and chemistry verification at the furnace.

Since that configuration was installed and optimized, Deere has added the robotic capabilities to its other three furnaces, meaning that no employee ever has to drag the slag off the back of the melters while they are in operation.

“Today, we think we are the safest metalcasting facility in the world,” Ulfers said. “We’re not at an injury rate of zero, but someday we will be.”