core sector communique

Order from China for Fontaine Engineering

Yichang Three Gorges orders six air-knife systems for hot-dip galvanizing lines

 

Yichang Three Gorges (Yichang Three Gorges Quantong Colored and Galvanized Plate Co., Ltd.), China, has placed an order with FOEN (Fontaine Engineering und Maschinen GmbH), Germany, for the supply of six air-knife systems inclusive of the electrical and automation package. The systems are to be integrated into six hot-dip galvanizing lines and will allow easy and precise setting of the zinc coating thickness. All of the plants are virtually identical and will be erected in the immediate vicinity of Yichang, a city with over a million inhabitants, and the Three Gorges Dam.

 

All of the plants are scheduled for commissioning in the second half of 2010. This short delivery period is only possible due to the high degree of standardization of the FOEN systems.

 

The supply scope comprises the design, manufacture and com­missioning of the air-knife systems inclusive of the electrical and automation package. The systems include an automatic control facility which regulates the air-knife parameters with the aid of a product database. The coating qualities can thus be generated and reproduced in a reliable manner. To enable continuous testing of the coating quality, X-ray coating-thickness measuring devices from the firm of IMS will be included with each air-knife system supplied by FOEN.

 

The plants are designed for coating thicknesses between 40 and 275 g/m² (zinc) and between 30 and 200 g/m² (zinc-aluminum alloy) at a strip speed of 30 to 130 m/min. The strip widths are between 1,000 and 1,250 mm at strip gages between 0.5 and 2 mm. 450,000 t can be produced each year on each plant.