Isoclima (B.H.T.) – High performance glass
B.H.T. required an efficient application to manage a furnace with 520 temperature zones for a flat glass production plant.
Introduction
World’s leading producer of high-performance glass
ISOCLIMA, the world’s leading producer of high-performance glass thanks to the technologies it has developed and applied, is committed to the constant pursuit of perfection, quality, and products designed to protect people on the ground, in the air, and at sea.
ISOCLIMA is a reference point for its markets and is always ready to accept new challenges and to invest in R&D.
B.H.T. srl builds furnaces to temper curved and flat glass, and required an efficient application to manage a furnace with 520 temperature zones for a flat glass production plant.
The customer
ISOCLIMA was founded in 1977 as a processor of glass products for the building industry.
Over the years, it developed new technologies and products, such as transparent composite panels with high ballistic resistance, made with glass and polycarbonate. These two materials were laminated and used to design bullet-proof and spall-proof panels that have become progressively thinner and lighter, but equally as efficient.
ISOCLIMA is a member of the Finind Group, which has gradually expanded by acquiring other large Italian and foreign glass companies such as Isoclima de Mexico S.A. de C.V. in Mexico and Lipik Glas d.o.o. in Croatia.
Today, ISOCLIMA stands out from its competitors because of the high quality of its products and because of its co-engineering activity, as a result of which it is a supplier to the world’s largest automotive groups (FCA, Daimler, BMW, VW-Audi, etc.).
The process
The tempered glass market for the automotive industry is the very sophisticated and has the strictest rules: ISOCLIMA is the world’s leading producer of bullet-proof and spall-proof glass with polycarbonate for armored vehicles for military and civilian use.
In recent years, ISOCLIMA has worked closely with the world’s largest car manufacturers on the design and creation of special, state-of-the-art composites, which also include the use of integrated ballistic steel systems.
BHT is one of the few plants producers worldwide that supplies solutions for the production of tempered car glass for the OEM (Original Equipment Market), compatible with all international safety standards (such as ECE R443) and with all inspection tests (such as, for example, Volkswagen optical testing), satisfying all of the principal car manufacturers.
BHT has received prestigious acknowledgements from OEM suppliers for car manufacturers such as Ferrari, Audi, VW, Fiat, Peugeot, Renault, Suzuki, Hyundai, Kia and others.
The problem
Production plants for tempered car glass are extremely complex: the furnace built with Gefran’s solution had to manage a high number of PID settings with zones distributed along the plant and connected to a centralized control room.
It was also essential to integrate devices to monitor energy consumption, given the high level of energy consumed by the plant.
The solution
Gefran proposed a solution consisting of the ePCLogic400 + ePanel 104: a 10” color TFT operator panel connected to the ePCLogic400 local I/Os and GDnet (Gefran’s proprietary high-speed and high-efficiency network) connected to GILOGIK II distributed I/Os and to ADV Drives.
Another Ethernet backbone connected the energy monitor and the control room PC in Modbus TCP (open network).
- 6 GILOGIK II remote I/O nodes
- 720 GTS
- 1 Energy Monitor
The ability to offer a complete solution and Isoclima’s trust in Gefran’s expertise were important factors in its choice of an automation supplier.