Smart aluminium temperature sensors

AMETEK Land will showcase its smart aluminium temperature sensors to achieve smart control and automatic alignment for autonomous operation and perfect aluminium production at Aluminium 2018, October 9th-11th, at Messe Düsseldorf, Germany.

Coupled with its latest innovation, a smart actuator for automatic alignment, the SPOT AL EQS can provide accurate temperature measurement for most current extrusion, quench and strip applications.



Designed in close collaboration with aluminium producers and plant control system engineers, the SPOT AL EQS pyrometer with actuator is helping to lead the way in improving aluminium extrusion and strip plant throughput, quality and energy efficiency.

The SPOT AL EQS can capture huge amounts of data, while offering smart interpretation from multiple instruments, with application appropriate logging of derived parameters.

AMETEK Land’s motorised actuator simplifies the process of taking accurate temperature measurement readings.

Traditionally, as die changes occur they would require an operator to verify the correct pyrometer alignment and then either physically re-position the pyrometer’s mounting bracket or manually manipulate it using a motorised actuator via a hand-held, remote-control keypad.

The SPOT actuator enables extremely accurate alignment, as it takes 900 measurement points over 90 degrees and aligns on the optimum measurement position on the profile.

This measurement combination can be very useful at the exit of the quench, as the extrusion may be liable to wander from side to side at this location.

Using the SPOT AL EQS pyrometer with actuator can rapidly and repeatedly locate, target and measure the laterally shifting profile, producing an accurate temperature reading.

Compact, quick and easy to configure, the SPOT actuator is designed for mounting the SPOT AL EQS pyrometer onto the press face or a suitable part of the press superstructure.

Another feature of the SPOT actuator is a hotspot ‘autoscan’, which when triggered causes the device to scan the entire range of movement and then align the SPOT AL EQS with the hottest part of the extrusion. This can be activated either locally by the operator or from an external command.

This functionality significantly simplifies the alignment of the pyrometer, allowing the operator to focus on more critical tasks.

SPOT AL EQS uses the latest temperature detector design, in combination with the most-advanced data processing algorithms, to provide extremely accurate and repeatable results with an industry-leading response time.

Specifically designed to work in low emissivity environments, in which regular pyrometers might struggle to provide accurate and reliable readings, the SPOT AL EQS is able to measure a wide temperature range from 200 to 700°C/392 to 1292°F.

In combination with the new SPOT actuator, SPOT AL EQS is an extremely flexible instrument with pre-configured algorithms that make it especially suitable for use at the extruder press exit and quench position, as well as at mill entry and exit positions in hot rolling mills.

In addition, the pyrometer’s algorithms can be customised and tuned for custom applications and specific aluminium grades.

The actuator, which was designed in response to customer request for automatic pyrometer alignment, is already delivering major efficiencies for aluminium plants across the world.

“Not only will SPOT AL EQS provide the most accurate temperature measurement for extrusion, quench and strip applications, but it can also operate effectively without human intervention,” explains Chris Leonard, Director of Development and Product Management at AMETEK Land.

“We are heavily focused on facilitating Industry 4.0 levels of data capture, interpretation, management and autonomy. Our Industry 4.0 vision for the future of aluminium extrusion is an interconnectivity of smart thermometers and actuators, handling big data by cognitive computing. They automatically scan to identify profile positions after a die change; alert the customer to uneven die cavity or quench conditions; provide temperature measurements for perfect press/quench control; and make slight positional adjustments to track wandering profiles,” adds Leonard.