The tin bath is where the quality of float glass is determined. Here, the thickness of the glass ribbon must be regulated constantly, glass defects must be avoided and, if a defect does occur, it must be corrected as quickly and completely as possible.

With SIGLAS^® Top Roller, inspection of the top roller camera images, which has been performed visually in the past, is part of the SIMATIC PCS 7 process control system. This frees up skilled operating personal from routine tasks and allows the glass ribbon to be tagged with the click of a mouse. In addition, all desired tolerance values can be specified directly from the control station, and the software does the rest. Every time a tolerance is exceeded, an error message is automatically generated in the control system, allowing the operator to intervene to make corrections in a timely manner.

In this way, potential glass defects can be detected early enough to be avoided. And if they’re not, then the integrated recording of the video sequences allows systematic analysis of sources of defects. SIGLAS Top Roller thus ensures greater quality, less waste and higher productivity.