Ready for the next 30 years

control system upgrade puts trusted Italpresse machine at digital cutting edge

IT Published

A control system upgrade by ItalPresseGauss, a Norican technology, has brought a legacy high-pressure die casting machine into the digital age for Ningbo Boli Automotive Components, a non-ferrous foundry based in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China.

Ningbo Boli, a subsidiary of Ningbo Heli Mould Technology Co., Ltd, specialises in the high-technology production of automotive parts using sand casting, high-pressure die-casting and gravity casting equipment. The company operates eleven Italpresse die-casting machines, including four IP750T, 750-tonne, high-pressure die-casting machines. Although over 30 years old, these four machines still perform extremely well.

The problem: an obsolete control system

Picking a single IP750T to upgrade first, Ningbo Boli knew exactly what the project’s priorities should be. Scrap castings had to be automatically separated from good castings while the new system had to support digital data collection, remote access and injection data analysis.

Any solution had to collect, store and display relevant process data like the injection curve in real time while making it possible to remotely access and export data so that managers could easily monitor die casting production.

At the same time, the system had to be simple and user-friendly so operators could easily supervise, monitor and control the tasks performed by the machine. This ease of use would also allow new technical personnel to learn how to operate it quickly.

ItalPresseGauss supplied a technical proposal and quotation in May 2019 for an EMP (Equipment Modernisation Programme). The EMP would install the IP LV (Light Version) supervisor control panel system. The IP LV had already featured in more than 40 successful upgrade projects but this would be its first deployment in China.