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Tonindustrie Heisterholz Works 3 for accessory tilesParallel production of various formats

Hans Lingl Anlagenbau und VerfahrenstechnikGmbH & Co. KGA.-Berblinger-Straße 6 · D-89231 Neu-UlmPostfach 1629 · D-89206 Neu-UlmTelefon +49 (0)731 9751-0 · Telefax -210http://www.lingl.com · e-mail: lingl@lingl.com

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In February 1999 the second construction stage of thecompletely renewed Works 3 for accessory tiles at theTonindustrie Heisterholz Ernst Rauch GmbH & Co. KGin Minden went into operation. This increases the netannual output to 3.2 million accessory units.

The special feature of this works, which has been entirelyerected from the press to the packaging by Lingl, is itsparticularly high production flexibility. On the one hand, at this plant, which is equipped withtwo pressing lines, parallel production of two differentformats, also with varied surface finishes – natural red,engobed or glazed – is carried on throughout up to thepackaging station.On the other, the wet and dry sides can be operatedindependently of each other. Production is performedwith ten shifts per week.

Tonindustrie Heisterholz Parallel production of various formatsin the Works 3 for accessory tiles

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Drying, engobing, glazingThe freshly pressed green ware is dried in theLingl continuous dryer taken over (Line 1) orin the new chamber dryer (Line 2).

The ten single chambers and three doublechambers have the same capacity and havebeen constructed of insulated steelwork. Theyare equipped with travelling air recirculationappliances, specially developed for the dryingof accessory and special products, with whichthe drying air is blown out specifically at therack height.

Another feature is that the laden setters can beturned through 180 degrees before setting inthe drying cars, so that the hot air is blown ateither the head or eaves side of the green tiles.

The drying process for every individualchamber is performed according to format-related and correspondingly pre-programmedtemperature and moisture curves via a processcomputer, using the tunnel kiln waste heatand directly applied gas burners. The dryingtime is between 24 and 44 hours.

The dried green tiles of Line 2 are passed byrobot from the setters on a conveyor line tothe engobing and glazing stations (flat andinclined conveyors and centrifugal cabins).They then arrive via a switching point alter-nately with green tiles of Line 1 on a joint flatbelt conveyor line to the setting stations, whileverge tiles and special accessories are passedto a suspension conveyor.

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Setting with robotsSpecial accessory ware is removed by handfrom the suspension conveyor at a separatestation and transferred to the H-setters orremoved from the setters after firing andstacked on pallets for dispatch.

Verge tiles and other tiles on the suspensionconveyor are recorded with video cameras atthe automatic setting stations and transferredaccording to program control by robots intothe H-setters. The same robots can remove the green tiles,which are segregated by camera control fromtheir joint transport line and distributed via aswitchpoint onto two conveyor lines, from theflat lines and set them in the H-setters.

These are then grouped and stacked on thekiln cars by two transfer grippers.

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FiringThe kiln cars are then routed viastorage tracks, where the cars alsowith hand-set special accessories canbe locked in by a shunting unit, to ahot chamber and from there fed tothe preheater, which, as a lock beforethe tunnel kiln, can take up five cars.

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The 90 m long DrySeal® tunnel kiln with indirectundercar cooling has a steel casing and is equipped forside and top firing with natural gas. For firing with aflashing effect two reduction burner groups have beeninstalled on the kiln roof in the area of the last mainburner zones. The firing temperature is 1020 °C and thekiln cycle time about 50 hours. The firing is automati-cally controlled by computer via the preset firing curves,according to the product and kiln capacity, so that fullyefficient degassing and sintering are achieved.

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1 Continuous dryer Line 12 Shaping Line 23 Dryer car loading/unloading4 Turntable for dryer car load5 Chamber dryer6 Unloading of drying pallets by robot7 Tile transfer from the continuous dryer to

the engobing/glazing station

8 Engobing/glazing lines9 Transfer of tiles from Lines 1 and 2 to

joint suspension or flat belt conveyor10 Camera-controlled distribution switch11 Robots load the H-setters with green tiles from the

suspension and/or flat belt conveyors12 H-setter storage magazine for four different models13 Manual setting and unloading station with

H-setter storage magazine for special accessory tiles14 Automatic setting stations 1 and 215 Hot chamber16 Central control room17 DrySeal® tunnel kiln with steel cladding18 Fluorine filter unit19 Automatic unloading stations 1 and 220 H-setter unloading by robots

21 Sorting stations Lines 1 and 222 Grouping and bundling of small packs23 Grouping of rows on separate positioning

stations for Lines 1 and 224 Shipping pallet feed with testing station25 Pack-forming robot for Lines 1 and 226 Shrink-film hood packaging27 Shipping pack storage unit

Tonindustrie HeisterholzErnst Rauch GmbH & Co. KG, Minden

Works 3 for accessory tiles Roofing tiles made of shale1873

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Unloading, sortingThe fired ware is pre-sorted on three storage tracks andmade ready on two unloading tracks.

The setter stacks are unloaded layer by layer with transfergrippers and passed on two transport conveyors to thetwo robots which re-move the tiles from the setters andtransfer them to the sorting lines.

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Pack-forming, packagingAfter the ring test (i. e. sounding test) smallpacks are grouped by robots, strappedtransversely or lengthways, and fed on twoconveyor lines to another robot for forminginto rows at various prepared positionsallocated respectively to product lines 1 or 2.

Stacking of the shipping packs with inlays ofvertical and horizontal protective cardboard isperformed by a robot with multifunctionalgripper, with which the robot also picks up theprepared shipping pallets and deposits themin pack-forming position; defective pallets areidentified in a testing station and auto-matically discarded.

The tile packs are then passed on a jointconveyor line to the automatic shrink-hoodpackaging station. Here normal and half-sizepacks are recognized and provided with theappropriate film hoods. They are then placedready in a pack storage unit on the outer wallof the production building.

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Plant control with Lingl softwareThe control of the plant and machinery is by means ofa number of Simatic S5 automating appliances withDIMOS X5 visualization system in Windows technology.These are connected with a bus system and thus facilitaterapid access to and data exchange in the works combina-tion. Thus all important control data can be seen, checkedand if necessary corrected in the central control station.

The production and operating data are passed on to acentral data acquisition system and evaluated for theManager-Info-System. At the same time the producttracing throughout the entire production flow creates theessential precondition for a quality management systemaccording to the conditions specified in the ISO 9000,which Heisterholz has installed for itself.

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Technical dataProducts: Clay roofing tile accessories (around

30 formats), special accessories

Hours of work: 10 shifts per week

Capacity: Ridge tiles and semi-accessories:743 pieces/hVerge tiles left/right:495 pieces/h

Various formats can be manufactured in parallelthroughout up to the packaging

Lingl Chamber Dryer10 single chambers + 3 double chambers

Steelwork of prefabricated insulated construction

Air recirculation with travelling air recirculatingappliances

Drying time 24 to 44 hours.

Lingl DrySeal® Tunnel Kiln withSteel CladdingSide- and top-firing with natural gas, reduction burnergroups for flashing effect

Capacity: gross 385 t/week, net 3.2 million pieces/p.a.

Preheater: 5 cars in front of the kiln

Kiln length: 93.20 m (with exit lock)

Firing channel: 6.10 m wide, 1.60 m high

Kiln cycle time: 50 hours

Plant and machine control systemSimatic S5 Automating appliances with DIMOS X5visualization system in Windows technology and Linglsoftware. Bus system for the data exchange in theworks combination, central production dataacquisition and Manager-Info-System. Product-tracingthroughout as an essential precondition for thequality management system installed according toISO 9000.

Robot application♦ Removing the dry ware 1 robot

♦ Loading of H-setters 2 robots

♦ Unloading of H-setters 2 robots

♦ Turning over every second verge tile 1 robot

♦ Grouping of small packs 2 robots

♦ Transferring small packs into row units 1 robot

♦ Pack-forming of normal and half-size shipping packs 1 robot*

* with multifunctional gripper for inserting vertical and horizontal protectivecardboard and the positioning or discarding of the shipping pallets.

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