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VERSION:2.0
METHOD:PUBLISH
BEGIN:VEVENT
ORGANIZER;CN=ESTAD 2023:mailto:info@metec-estad.com
LOCATION:Room 27
SUMMARY:Successful implementation of TST.1 online non-contact surface cleanliness monitoring system
DESCRIPTION:Reliable, continuous, non-contact, online monitoring of metal’s surface cleanliness is a reality after years of challenges with laser reliability within finishing lines.

Premium sheet finishing lines (e.g., CGL, CAL/CAPL, tinning) typically utilize cleaning sections to remove surface contamination early in their process to optimize finished product quality and operational reliability.  Until today there hasn't been a practical method to continuously monitor surface contamination.

Oftentimes, cleaning sections are complex, multi-stage systems with significant operating costs with little, to no, ability to verify results until a problem appears because of insufficient cleaning.  This leads to operation mentalities of wastefully operating all cleaning systems ‘flat-out’ no matter the cost or because of some other ‘process control plan’ based of legacy experience, intuition from archaic wipe tests, arbitrary hunches, or even running a ‘trouble-shooting’ scheme of ‘changing-this and adjusting-that’ until some level of satisfactory outcome is attained after generating tons of scrap.

The TST.1 systems utilize the elegantly simple technique of laser ablation (LA) to provide real-time evaluation of surface contamination levels along the entire length of the coil, generating high-resolution data as frequent as 10 Hz.  Operators can visualize cleanliness trends before they become a problem and even ‘throttle’ the cleaning section to clean the surface ‘sufficiently’ versus running flat-out. The system has ability to display fine changes: differences in electrolytic cleaner phase, individual brush performance, changes in spray sections, etc.  Realtime cleaning section optimization is now possible.

This practical presentation will provide details of the TST.1 systems being used within customers’ operations including actual results from interesting cases.  Other details: fundamentals of why cleanliness is important;  various cleanliness tests used over the decades; the difficult path of getting lasers to survive in process lines;  along with other technical details of the system. 
CLASS:PUBLIC
DTSTART:20230614T143000
DTEND:20230614T145000
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