Constellium
in Ravenswood, West Virginia maintains unique equipment for its specialty aluminum plate manufacturing. The facility supplies specialty grade finished rolled aluminum plates, much of which is used for aerospace.
The facility includes a pair of Gantry Plate Saws, in which plate material is loaded into a large gantry saw bed. The saw cuts to finish size in 2-axes and is mounted on a gantry crane.
Constellium’s plant in West Virginia is known as one of the world’s largest rolled product facilities, with over 1,000 employees. In addition to manufacturing rolled aluminum plate for aerospace, they produce sheet and coil products for industrial applications, including defense, transportation, and marine.
Several years ago, Laser-View Technologies provided the mill with Dimetix laser distance sensors to position the gantry saw for proper length and width cuts.
Prior to the installation of Dimetix lasers at the mill, the standard was to measure each cut with a tape measure. Conditions inside of the gantry saw are harsh. Dimetix lasers were selected for the robustness, accuracy, and measuring range.
The images below show the laser sensors mounted to the side of the gantry for length measurement. The laser actively measures through aluminum chips that fly through the air during the cutting cycle. Notice the pile of aluminum piled up on top of the enclosed laser shown below.
