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Reducing costs by briquetting

RUF briquetting presses raise the value of machining waste

Briquetting presses maximise the cost effectiveness of metal chip utilisation. Compressed to conveniently sized briquettes and practically free of adhering lubricant, this production residue can be easily stored, transported, and melted down – and also sells very well. Georg Fischer Automobilguss has been running a RUF press of this kind, and profitably since day one. How this is possible will be demonstrated by RUF GmbH on its briquetting presses at the International Foundry Trade Fair GIFA 2011 in Düsseldorf.

Briquetting systems help to save money. RUF of Zaisertshofen will be presenting corresponding solutions to trade visitors at its booth B04 in Hall 17 at GIFA 2011. Georg Fischer Automobilguss GmbH of Singen needed no further convincing. This company outputs annually about 200,000 tonnes of ductile iron components for passenger cars and commercial vehicles. About 40% pass through the plant’s finishing stages where they are made ready for installation or at least premachined.

 

About the company:

Based in Zaisertshofen, the company RUF was founded in 1969 by Hans Ruf, who is running the business today with his sons Roland and Wolfgang.

About 100 employees develop and produce highly innovative, modular briquetting systems for wood, metal, and other residuals. Fitted with a 4 kW motor, the smallest machine of the type RAP (RUF addon press) achieves a capacity of 20–150 kg/h (depending on the material and chip geometry). Delivering 90 kW, the largest system (RUF 90) can process up to 3000 kg/h.

The first RUF briquetting press was presented and sold to a timber processor as far back as 1985. And it is still running today, an additional confirmation of the company’s policy: the highest innovation and quality provide the basis for economic success and maximum and ecological benefits. This experience is now shared worldwide by over 2200 satisfied owners of RUF briquetting systems.

In order to reuse the chips accumulating from milling and drilling operations, the plant has been running for a good three years a briquetting unit made by RUF GmbH of Zaisertshofen – with considerable economic success, as Finishing Supervisor Rolf Peter Leuchtmann confirms. “Thanks to the RUF machine’s good price/performance ratio, a specially configured financing concept, and the savings achieved, the briquetting press has been working profitably since day one.” Hitherto, Georg Fischer had been selling the chips to a scrap merchant. However, bulk chips that also contain coolant residue have only little value, and the returns were correspondingly low. Attempts it made to melt down the bulk chips failed.

Now the RUF 30/3700/100 from the briquetting specialist is contributing towards cutting costs, as Rolf Peter Leuchtmann emphasised: “The presses run completely independently and without problems, if necessary around the clock and at weekends. Only every one and a half years is servicing necessary.” The chips at all machining centres are collected in 0.3 m3 containers. Forklifts transport them to the briquetting press. There, conveyors deposit them automatically in chip silos, from which they are compressed into cylindrical briquettes and transported over a conveyor belt to the briquette container. The briquettes are 100 mm in diameter and height and weigh just under 4 kg. Their density is a good 5.3 kg/dm3. They are therefore only about a twentieth of the original chip volume.

The unit can also manage automatically the separate processing of pearlitic and ferritic chips. These alloys with respectively high and low copper fractions are delivered by forklift to the respective hopper for the unit’s separate stations. The briquette system is fitted with sensors that detect how much pearlitic or ferritic chips are in their hoppers, allowing it to decide itself which of the two it is to compress. Afterwards, the chips are melted down in the foundry and processed into new parts.

Production Supervisor Leuchtmann appreciates the briquetting unit’s reliability and efficiency, which he puts down to the uncomplicated operating principle and its robust design. RUF presses are available in a range of performance classes and will be presented to trade visitors at GIFA.