Situation

Prebaked anodes, suspended with metallic rods, are immersed in aluminium pots for the electrolytic reduction of alumina.  The anodes are consumed over a period of approximately one month.  It is necessary to withdraw these stubs from the cells and clean the rods ready for reuse.

Problem

Once cleaned, the stubs are measured manually to calculate the distortion before deciding whether they can be reused.  Manual methods are notoriously slow and can be inaccurate and varying: operators do not always interpret the results in a consistent manner.

Solution

STAS, in conjunction with Alcoa, has developed an automated system which measures specific parameters based on artificial vision.  The system can be varied according to the number of rods, shape of anode, etc.

Advantages

• Automated system; no operator required.
• Stubs are measured after the cleaning station and before a new carbon is attached.
• There is a proven connection between performance of the rebuilt anodes and the inspection method adopted.
• Made-to-measure systems are available.
• Updates available using open architecture of software.