Rinsing fluid need determination for chemical treatment lines

Abstract

The disclosure relates to determining quantities such as a rinse water need of a chemical treatment line, the treatment line comprising i) a first zone (10) in which treatment fluid is used for treating objects and ii) a second zone (20) in which rinsing fluid is used for rinsing the objects after they have been treated in the first zone, by providing (1001) a treatment line configuration indicative of how the second zone is configured to receive rinse water, providing (1002) a carryover amount indicative of an amount of treatment fluid which is carried by the objects from the first zone to the second zone such that it mixes into the rinsing fluid, and determining (1003) the rinse water need based on the treatment line configuration and the carryover amount Knowing quantities like a rinse water need can assist in planning and optimising chemical treatment lines.

Description

[0001] Chemetall GmbH

[0002] Trakehner StraBe 3, 60487 Frankfurt am Main

[0003] Germany

[0004] Rinsing fluid need determination for chemical treatment lines

[0005] FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0006] The invention relates to a method for determining a rinse water need of a chemical treatment line. Furthermore, the invention relates to an apparatus and a computer program for determining a rinse water need of a chemical treatment line, and to a use of the apparatus or the programme for configuring or reconfiguring the chemical treatment line.

[0007] BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0008] Planning and optimizing chemical treatment lines can be complex tasks. There do exist software tools assisting technicians in these tasks to some degree. However, these tools often only allow for an analysis of particular types of treatment lines. And even for the par-ticular types of treatments lines they are built for, their functionality is often substantially restricted to the analysis of a respective treatment line, providing limited support in treatment line optimization. There is therefore a need for further assistance in planning and optimizing chemical treatment lines.

[0009] SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0010] One object addressed in the present disclosure is to provide further assistance in planning and optimising chemical treatment lines.

[0011] According to a first aspect, a computer-implemented method for determining a rinse water need of a chemical treatment line is presented. The treatment line comprises i) a first zoneBASF SE

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[0015] in which treatment fluid is used for treating objects and ii) a second zone in which rinsing fluid is used for rinsing the objects after they have been treated in the first zone, wherein the rinsing fluid includes rinse water. The method includes:

[0016] providing a treatment line configuration, the treatment line configuration being indicative of how the second zone is configured to receive rinse water,

[0017] providing a carryover amount, the carryover amount being indicative of an amount of treatment fluid which is carried by the objects from the first zone to the second zone such that it mixes into the rinsing fluid, and

[0018] - determining the rinse water need based on the treatment line configuration and the carryover amount.

[0019] There is a large class of chemical treatment lines which involve a rinsing of objects with rinse water after the objects have been treated with some treatment fluid. A significant factor in planning treatment lines of this kind, particularly for optimizing them in view of resource efficiency, is their need for rinse water. Knowing the rinse water need accurately can therefore be a significant aid for technicians. It has been found that the rinse water need can be determined accurately by taking into account configuration differences between treatment lines regarding a) how rinse water is received and b) carryover amounts of treatment fluid as indicated above. Hence, with the above method, technicians are provided with further assistance in planning and optimizing chemical treatment lines. In particular, a respective chemical treatment line can have any of a plurality of configurations.

[0020] The treatment line is preferably a pretreatment line, wherein the first zone may correspond to an active bath and the second zone may correspond to a rinse bath. The term “bath” is understood as including “showers”, i.e. , the case where objects are not treated or rinsed by, for instance, being plunged into a respective fluid, but instead the fluid is sprayed on them. In that case, there is preferentially still a fluid reservoir in the respective zone, from which the fluid is supplied for the spraying and into which the sprayed fluid flows back. The fluid reservoir may correspond to a container filled with the respective fluid.

[0021] Where the treatment line comprises a sequence of more than two zones through which the objects are transported, the first zone and the second zone are not necessarily the initial two zones passed by a respective object. The words “first” and “second” thus do not imply a spatial relation of the respective zone to other zones of the treatment line. However, theBASF SE

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[0025] second zone preferentially succeeds the first zone in a transport direction of the objects. There is preferentially no zone of the treatment line between the first and the second zone.

[0026] The treatment fluid can be a solution of treatment concentrate in water. In that case, the carryover amount may also be indicative of an amount of the treatment concentrate, which is carried by the objects from the first zone to the second zone such that it mixes into the rinsing fluid in the second zone. By this mixing, the rinsing fluid, which initially is preferentially rinse water, becomes a mixture of rinse water and treatment fluid. The treatment line may be configured such that a concentration of the treatment fluid is constant. The concentration of the treatment fluid may refer to a relative amount of an active treatment constituent in the treatment fluid. In that case, knowing the amount of treatment fluid being carried over from the first zone to the second zone by objects may be equivalent to knowing the amount of the active treatment constituent being carried over from the first zone to the second zone by the objects. The concentration of the treatment fluid may be measured in terms of a pH or an electrical resistance of the treatment fluid. Fluid parameters like a pH or electrical resistance of a fluid in a respective zone of the treatment line may be measured by known measurement instruments in a respective fluid container of the respective zone.

[0027] The carryover amount can be provided based on an indication of a speed at which objects pass through the treatment line and a surface area of the objects. Furthermore, an amount of objects passing through the treatment time in a predefined time period may be provided as a basis for determining the carryover amount.

[0028] Determining the rinse water need based on the treatment line configuration and the carryover amount may refer to determining an amount of rinse water required by the chemical treatment line for rinsing the objects, wherein the determination is made as a function of, i.e. , in dependence on, the treatment line configuration and the carryover amount. For instance, for a given treatment line configuration, the rinse water need may be determined to be higher if the carryover amount increases due to, for instance, an increased speed of forwarding the objects from the first zone to the second zone, and vice versa. Furthermore, the rinse water need may depend on details of the treatment line, such as how the second zone receives rinse water. By taking into account the carryover amount and such details of the treatment line, the rinse water need may be determined more accurately. The determination of the rinse water need may also be made in consideration of one or more predefined rinsing criteria, such as a maximum concentration allowed for rinsing fluid used to rinse the objects in the treatment line, e.g. in a final rinsing zone thereof.BASF SE

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[0032] In an embodiment, the treatment line may be configured such that an initial amount of rinsing fluid in the second zone is an amount of rinse water which is selected based on a fluid capacity of the second zone, wherein rinsing fluid that would exceed the fluid capacity of the second zone flows out of the second zone. This way, a substantially constant fluid volume in the second zone may be achieved, which facilitates the rinse water determination.

[0033] For instance, the second zone may comprise a container or reservoir which initially is filled with rinse water such that a predefined addition of further liquid into the container or reservoir would lead to an overflow and would hence not change the amount of liquid in the container or reservoir. If, apart from the initial amount of rinse water, the container or reservoir receives no additional rinse water until the container or reservoir is emptied and refilled with rinse water, the second zone may be understood as a steady rinse bath. A steady rinse bath will subsequently also be referred to as static rinse.

[0034] In case objects are rinsed in the second zone by plunging, the second zone may comprise a container that is open on its top, wherein a respective object, after having been treated in the first zone, may be plunged into the container for being rinsed. The initial amount of rinse water in the container may then be chosen such that the overflow occurs if a respective object, which may carry treatment liquid from the first zone, is plunged into the container. Thus, the container may be filled with rinse water up to a margin below an amount which would lead to the overflow, wherein the margin may be chosen based on the objects being treated, particularly a volume of the objects.

[0035] In case objects are rinsed in the second zone by being sprayed upon, a margin as indicated above may not be necessary. A liquid reservoir of the second zone may instead initially be filled with rinse water up to its capacity.

[0036] Thus, it will be understood that a rinsing zone such as particularly the second zone may have a fluid capacity, wherein if the zone is filled with an amount of fluid equal to its fluid capacity any further inflow of fluid into the zone may not increase the amount of fluid in the zone but instead will lead to an outflow equal to the further inflow. The outflow balancing the further inflow may be realized via an overflow outlet of the zone. Generally, it will be understood that the rinse water need may preferentially be determined in consideration of the fluid capacity in the second zone and / or based on an initial amount of rinsing fluid in the second zone. The larger the fluid amount in the second zone, the less may a carryover from the first zone influence a composition of the fluid in the second zone and vice versa.| BASF SE

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[0040] In an embodiment, if the treatment line configuration indicates that the second zone only receives rinse water via an external supply and only after active removal of rinsing fluid from the second zone, the method may include determining an evolution of a rinsing fluid parameter based on the carryover amount, wherein the rinsing fluid parameter is indicative of a pH or an electrical resistance of the rinsing fluid in the second zone. The rinse water need may then be determined based on the evolution of the rinsing fluid parameter. This way, a rinse water need of any treatment line comprising one or more static rinses can be determined.

[0041] In an embodiment, the method may further include providing a predefined upper limit for the rinsing fluid parameter, wherein determining the rinse water need refers to determining a time of a required exchange of at least part of the rinsing fluid in the second zone by fresh rinse water, wherein the time is determined based on the evolution of the rinsing fluid parameter and the upper limit. The upper limit can be used as a constraint for the rinse water need determination, allowing for a more flexible optimization of treatment lines comprising static rinses.

[0042] For instance, the rinsing fluid parameter may refer to a time-dependent concentration c(t) of the rinsing fluid, wherein t indicates time. The concentration may refer to a relative amount of an active treatment constituent ofthe treatment fluid in the rinsing fluid. The timedependent concentration c(t) may be determined based on a concentration c0ofthe treatment fluid, an initial amount VBathof the rinsing fluid and an amount V of treatment fluid carried by the objects from the first zone to the second zone and mixing into the rinsing fluid, wherein V and t may be measured in units such that V indicates an amount of treatment fluid carried by the objects from the first zone to the second zone in one unit of t. In particular, the time-dependent concentration c(t) may be determined such that

[0043]

[0044] <Eq-i)

[0045] However, it is considered sufficient to use as rinsing fluid parameter an approximated version c(t) of c(t), wherein

[0046]

[0047] When setting an upper limit cmaxon the concentration of the rinsing fluid in the second zone, a dwell time T may then be determined such that| BASF SE

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[0052] The term c0V may be understood as an amount m0of an active constituent of the treatment fluid which is carried over by a respective object from the first zone to the second zone.

[0053] In an embodiment, if the treatment line configuration indicates that the second zone is configured to continuously or repeatedly receive rinse water from an external supply, the method may include determining as rinse water need a required continuous or repeated addition of rinse water to the second zone from the external supply, by requiring a rinsing fluid parameter to be constant or stay within a predefined margin, wherein the rinsing fluid parameter may be indicative of a pH or an electrical resistance of the rinsing fluid. In this way, also more resource-efficient configurations for treatment lines comprising flow rinses can be found.

[0054] The requirement of the rinsing fluid parameter being constant or staying within a predetermined margin may be applied in a time period between two points in time where the second zone only contains rinse water, such as due to a respective previous active removal of rinsing fluid and its replacement with fresh rinsing water. In particular, the time period may last from a point P in time after a first time T1 where the second zone is cleaned from treatment fluid and filled with rinse water only, until a second time T2 where the second zone is cleaned from treatment fluid and filled with rinsing water only. The difference between P and T1 , and with it the constant value or margin required for the rinsing fluid parameter, may be adjusted by setting accordingly an overflow criterion of the second zone and / or a difference between the fluid capacity of the second zone and the amount of rinsing fluid with which the second zone is filled at time T1 , which is preferably fresh rinse water. P may be the time when the continuous or repeated addition of rinse water is started.

[0055] If the rinsing fluid parameter refers to a concentration c of the rinsing fluid as indicated above, for instance, its constancy may be achieved by requiring the amount m0of the active constituent of the treatment fluid which is carried over by a respective object from the first zone to the second zone to be balanced by an amount m of the active constituent of the treatment fluid which leaves the second zone. Indicating an amount of fluid leaving the second zone as Q, and assuming V < Q, this translates to

[0056] m0= c0V = cQ = m . (Eq. 4)BASF SE

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[0060] The quantity may be referred to as rinsing criterion R. Hence, the rinsing water need may be determined by requiring the rinsing criterion R to be constant, i.e. ,

[0061]

[0062] As indicated above, already c0may be constant, such that the above may also be viewed as requiring c to be constant.

[0063] The amount of rinse water added to the second zone may balance the amount of fluid leaving the second zone, i.e., may be equal to Q. A required continuous addition A of rinsing fluid to the second zone may then be expressed as

[0064]

[0065] It is also possible that the second zone is part of a cascade of rinsing zones following a treatment zone, wherein rinse water is only added to a last zone in the cascade and fluid leaves the cascade only via an initial zone in the cascade, wherein each zone in the cascade except the last receives overflow fluid from the respective subsequent zone in the cascade. The rinse water need may then be determined yet differently.

[0066] In an embodiment, if the treatment line configuration indicates that the second zone is part of a cascade of rinsing zones, the method may include determining as rinse water need a required continuous or repeated addition of rinse water to the cascade, wherein the required addition is determined by requiring a rinsing fluid parameter to be constant or stay within a predefined margin, wherein the rinsing fluid parameter may be indicative of a pH or an electrical resistance of a rinsing fluid in a last of the rinsing zones in the cascade. By allowing the treatment line to comprise rinsing zone cascades, a potential to save rinse water is significantly further increased.

[0067] If, for instance, the second zone is the initial zone in a cascade of n rinsing zones, wherein rinsing fluid leaves the cascade via the initial zone, the amount of rinsing fluid leaving the cascade may be equal to the amount of rinsing fluid leaving the second zone, which was referred to above by Q. If the cascade receives rinse water via the last zone in the cascade, the amount of rinse water added to the cascade may be equal to the amount A of rinse water added to the last zone in the cascade, wherein now additionally or alternatively this amount s may balance Q. In such a case of a cascade,| BASF SE

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[0072] may be used as rinsing criterion, wherein cnrefers to the concentration of the active constituent of the treatment fluid in the rinsing fluid in the last zone in the cascade. Hence, now cnor Rninstead of c or R may be used as rinsing fluid parameter. The rinse water need may then be determined in accordance with

[0073] A =nRn~V . (Eq. 8)

[0074] The carryover amount V may be assumed to be equal to an amount of rinsing fluid carried over by objects from one rinsing zone in the cascade to the next.

[0075] More generally, a rinse water need may be determined for a treatment line that comprises a plurality of treatment and / or rinsing zones in which at least one zone receives a fluid flow from and / or provides a fluid flow to one or more other zones. Thus, fluid flows between the zones are not limited to cascades between rinsing zones, and not to a linear and direct backflow from zone to zone. Hence, more general “cascades”, or “multi-cascades” may be considered, in which any zone may receive fluid from any other zone. Providing the treatment line configuration may therefore include indicating a plurality fluid inflows from other zones per zone, i.e., for at least one zone. Equivalently, the provided treatment line configuration may indicate a plurality of fluid outflows to other zones per zone, i.e., for at least one zone. In other words, for each of one or more zones in the treatment line, one or more fluid inflows from respective one or more other zones and / or one or more fluid outflows to respective one or more other zones may be indicated, thereby potentially indicating a matrix of fluid flows between the plurality of zones. Regarding this aspect of generalized cascades, or multi-cascades, any carryover or “inadvertent” fluid transfer between the zones is preferentially not understood as a fluid flow. Rather, the fluid flows are considered part of, or indicated by, the treatment line configuration.

[0076] In an embodiment, the provided treatment line configuration may further be indicative of how the objects are being treated in the first zone and / or how the objects are being rinsed in the second zone. Thus, not only different types of how fluids in respective zones of the treatment line are handled may be considered in determining the rinse water need, but also different types of object treatment. In other words, the rinse water need may be determined based on a fluid handling type and an object handling types, both of which may be indicatedBASF SE

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[0080] by the treatment line configuration. This allows for a very broad applicability of the method presented herein, allowing to save rinse water in various industrial production contexts.

[0081] The treatment line configuration being indicative of how a zone like particularly the second zone is configured to receive rinse water may be understood such that the treatment line configuration indicates one or more of the following: one or more sources of rinse water supplying the respective zone, one or more times at which the respective zone receives or is filled with rinse water, such as one or more time intervals, flow rates or conditions for supplying the rinse water. The treatment line configuration may indicate that the respective zone continuously or repeatedly receives rinse water from an external supply (as, for instance, in a flow rinse), or that it only receives rinse water after active removal of rinsing fluid from, such as via an external supply (as, for instance, in a steady or static rinse).

[0082] Similarly, the treatment line configuration being indicative of how the objects are being treated in a zone like particularly the first zone, and / or of how the objects are being rinsed in a zone like particularly the second zone may, without limitation, be understood such that the treatment line configuration indicates whether, and particularly by which means, the objects are being treated by plunging or spraying, and / or whether, and particularly by which means, the objects are being rinsed by plunging or spraying.

[0083] In an embodiment, if the treatment line configuration indicates that the objects are treated in the first zone by spraying the treatment fluid on them, the method may further include providing an overspray parameter, wherein the overspray parameter may be indicative of an amount of treatment fluid sprayed from the first zone into the second zone, thereby contributing to the mixing of treatment fluid into the rinsing fluid in the second zone. The rinse water need may then further be determined based on the overspray parameter. Such “oversprays” of fluid across zones have been observed to significantly influence the rinse water need of treatment lines like continuous spray lines. Taking them into account in the rinse water need determination thus allows to substantially increase an efficiency of treatment lines of this kind.

[0084] In an embodiment, if the treatment line configuration indicates that the objects are treated in the first zone by spraying the treatment fluid on them, wherein a fluid barrier is established between the first and the second zone during treatment of objects in the first zone, the fluid barrier preventing treatment fluid being sprayed from the first zone into the second zone, the method may further include providing a barrier carriage parameter. The barrier carriage parameter may be indicative of an amount of treatment fluid sprayed on the fluid barrier and reaching the second zone from the fluid barrier upon withdrawal of the fluidBASF SE

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[0088] barrier, thereby contributing to the mixing of treatment fluid into the rinsing fluid. The rinse water need may then further be determined based on the barrier carriage parameter. This way, also treatment lines like transverse spray lines can be configured with a considerably increased rinse water efficiency. It has been found that in these treatment lines, relatively high amounts of fluid can remain on the fluid barriers and, upon withdrawal thereof, splash into or otherwise reach adjacent zones.

[0089] In an embodiment, if the treatment line configuration indicates that the treatment line comprises a third zone, wherein the objects are treated or rinsed in the third zone with a third fluid, the method may further include providing a back-mixing parameter, wherein the back-mixing parameter may be indicative of an amount of the third fluid mixing into the rinsing fluid in the second zone. The rinse water need may then further be determined based on the back-mixing parameter. Thus, not only a receipt fluid, in a respective zone, from preceding zones can be taken into account, but also a receipt of fluid from subsequent zones. This further broadens the applicability of the method presented herein.

[0090] If the third zone is a rinsing zone, the second and the third zone may be regarded as forming a cascade of rinsing zone as indicated above. The amount of the third fluid mixing into the rinsing fluid in the second zone may be a part of the third fluid exceeding a fluid capacity of the third zone, which may be regarded as an overflow of the third zone.

[0091] In an embodiment, if the treatment line configuration indicates that the objects are rinsed in the third zone with the third fluid, wherein the second and the third zone are arranged in a same rinsing chamber during rinsing, wherein rinsing in the second zone is carried out at different times than rinsing in the third zone, but using a same set of pumping and / or fluid guiding means, the method may further include providing a remaining fluid parameter, wherein the remaining fluid parameter may be indicative of a fluid remainder remaining, after rinsing in the second zone or the third zone, a) in the pumping and / or fluid guiding means and / or b) on walls of the rinsing chamber. The rinse water need may then further be determined based on the remaining fluid parameter. In fact, the back-mixing parameter can be determined based on the remaining fluid parameter. Thus, also treatment lines like chamber lines can be considered via a back-mixing parameter. It has been realized that in treatment lines of this type a rather high degree of mixing of different fluids used in a same chamber can occur.

[0092] In an embodiment, the method may further include providing a fluid loss parameter, wherein the fluid loss parameter may be indicative of an amount of rinsing fluid leaving the treatment line by evaporation and / or suction, wherein the rinse water need may further be determinedBASF SE

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[0096] based on the fluid loss parameter. A fluid loss as indicated by the fluid loss parameters may often be relatively small. Nevertheless, taking also this into account may be desired for a very high accuracy in determining the rinse water need.

[0097] In a further aspect, the present disclosure relates to a data processing apparatus for determining a rinse water need of a chemical treatment line, the treatment line comprising i) a first zone in which treatment fluid is used for treating objects and ii) a second zone in which rinsing fluid is used for rinsing the objects after they have been treated in the first zone, the rinsing fluid including rinse water, wherein the apparatus comprises data processing means for carrying out the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

[0098] Furthermore, an aspect of the present disclosure relates to a computer program for determining a rinse water need of a chemical treatment line, the treatment line comprising i) a first zone in which treatment fluid is used for treating objects and ii) a second zone in which rinsing fluid is used for rinsing the objects after they have been treated in the first zone, the rinsing fluid including rinse water, wherein the program comprises instructions which, when the program is executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the method according to the first aspect.

[0099] Yet a further aspect of the present disclosure relates to a use of the apparatus or the program according to the above indicated further aspects for configuring or reconfiguring the chemical treatment line based on the determined rinse water need.

[0100] It will be understood that the configuring or reconfiguring preferentially refers to an initial design of the treatment line, or a subsequent adaptation of the design, wherein the design or adaptation of the design may include physically installing the treatment line accordingly, and / or setting up control parameters accordingly, such as by storing the control parameters in a memory of a controller of the treatment line, for instance.

[0101] In fact, the present disclosure includes yet further aspects. These further aspects may be implemented in embodiments of the method, apparatus, computer program and / or use of the previous aspects, or may be implemented independently, i.e. , for instance, in an independent method, apparatus, computer program and / or use. The further aspects will be described in the following.

[0102] One further aspect relates to a method for determining a wastewater amount of a chemical treatment line, the treatment line comprising one or more zones in which treatment fluid is used for treating objects and / or in which rinsing fluid is used for rinsing objects, the rinsingBASF SE

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[0106] fluid including rinse water. Also knowing the wastewater amount of a chemical treatment line can support the planning and optimising of chemical treatment lines. In particular, an environmental impact of treatment lines can be reduced in this way.

[0107] The wastewater amount may refer to a flow and / or volume of wastewater generated by or otherwise associated with the treatment line. Wastewater may be continuously or discontinuously discharged from a treatment line, such as in order to keep fluid parameters within predefined margins. Exemplary fluid parameters have been described above. A continuous discharge of wastewater from a treatment line may be realised passively and / or via an overflow, or it may be realised actively and / or via a pumping mechanism. A discontinuous discharge of wastewater from a treatment line may also be realised actively and / or via a pump mechanism. Moreover, however, a discontinuous discharge of wastewater from a treatment line may refer to a partial or complete removal of fluid from one or more zones of the treatment line. Such a partial or complete removal of fluid from one or more zones of the treatment line may be followed by refilling the one or more zones with respective fluid, such as with fresh rinse water in the case of a rinsing zone. The removal and subsequent refilling of fluid may also be referred to as an exchange of fluid in the respective zone. Also a time may be determined at which the determined wastewater amount needs to be discharged or otherwise taken out of the treatment line.

[0108] An amount of fluid received by the treatment line may be balanced with an amount of fluid discharged from the treatment line. In that case, a determined rinse water need may correspond to the determined amount of wastewater.

[0109] The amount of wastewater may refer to an amount of wastewater generated in one or more selectable zones of the treatment line. A user may have indicated that wastewater should be discharged in one or more selectable zones of the treatment line, wherein the amount of wastewater may be determined for one or more of these zones The amount of wastewater generated in a zone of the treatment may be determined based on an indication of where the zone receives fluid from and / or where the zone provides fluid to within the treatment line. For instance, a zone whose wastewater amount is determined may be a rinsing zone being part of a cascade of rinsing zones, in which case the wastewater amount may be determined based on a) fluid received by the zone from one or more other zones in the treatment line and b) fluid provided by the zone to other zones in the treatment line, such as by taking the difference between respective fluid volumes or flows. A wastewater amount may thus refer to an amount of fluid leaving a respective zone out of the treatment line. A respective wastewater amount may refer to an amount of alkaline wastewater and / or an amount of acidic wastewater. For instance, in the graphical user interface of a computerBASF SE

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[0113] program implementing the method, a user may indicate for each zone of the treatment line whether it generates wastewater, and if so, whether the wastewater is alkaline wastewater or acidic wastewater. This can be relevant for a determination of process costs generated by operating the treatment line.

[0114] According to another aspect, a method for determining a pH value of a fluid is presented. In particular, a pH value of a treatment fluid, specifically treatment liquid, may be determined. This way, the planning and optimising of chemical treatment lines can be further supported. For instance, various treatment fluids can be considered for use in a treatment line, without having to know their pH values in advance.

[0115] For instance, the pH value of a treatment liquid, which may be used in one or more treatment zones of the treatment line, may be determined based on the Henderson Hasselbalch formula and a stored value of or associated with the acid constant for a treatment concentrate dissolved in the treatment liquid. The treatment concentrate may refer to an active constituent of the treatment liquid. The acid constant Ksof a substance, and particularly the negative logarithm thereof which is usually written as pKs, provides information about an extent to which the substance reacts with water under protolysis in an equilibrium reaction. pKsvalues for a plurality of substances, particularly treatment concentrates, may be stored in a database as a basis for calculating pH values of raw materials or material mixtures, which is understood herein as including treatment fluids. A plurality of pKsvalues may be stored for each substance, wherein the values may depend on a source, for instance. The substances for which respective one or more pKsvalues are stored may include, for instance, acetic acid, ammonia, carbonic acid, citric acid, EDTA, HCI, NaOH and phosphoric acid.

[0116] In order to determine the pH value for a fluid containing a substance for which a value indicative for the acid constant of the substance (e.g., the pKsvalue) is stored, a virtual titration may be carried out. For doing so, one or more of the following may be provided, such as based on a user input, for instance: a titrant, a concentration of the substance in the fluid whose pH value is to be determined (the fluid thus acting as titrand in the virtual titration), an amount of the fluid which is used in the titration, an amount of the titrant which is used in the titration. Also a number of titrations (values) may be provided, which may refer to a number of times a predefined amount of the titrant is added to the fluid acting as titrand. If, for instance, the user does not indicate a titrant, water may be assumed as titrant. The virtual titration may be displayed via a graphical user interface in terms of a diagram indicating an evolution of a pH value depending on an amount of the titrant which has been consumed, i.e. , added to the fluid. The titration may be carried out in a volume incrementBASF SE

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[0120] mode or in a pH increment mode. In the volume increment mode, a constant volume may be set at titration. This may refer to repeatedly adding a same amount of the titrant to the fluid acting as titrand, particularly throughout the titration. In the pH increment mode, the volume at titration may be varied so that the pH change remains constant. This may refer to varying the respective amounts of the titrant which are added to the titrand throughout the titration such that a pH change of the generated mixture of titrant and titrand remains constant throughout the titration. The pH increment mode can have the advantage that, when there are large pH changes, the resolution with which the pH changes can be recorded is higher, particularly at a neutralisation point of the titration. Therefore, if, for instance, the method is implemented in terms of a computer program, the pH increment mode may be active by default.

[0121] A further aspect disclosed herein relates to a method for determining a conductivity of a fluid in a zone of a chemical treatment line. The fluid may refer to a treatment fluid or a rinsing fluid. Based on the determined conductivity of respective fluids in one or more zones of a chemical treatment line, and optionally one or more threshold values defined for the respective conductivities, a configuration of the treatment line can be adapted to, for instance, decrease a rinse water need or a wastewater amount of the treatment line, and / or to increase a treatment quality achieved with the chemical treatment line by allowing to have the conductivities of the respective fluids in the one or more zones of the treatment line meet predefined target values more accurately.

[0122] In particular, the conductivity of a rinse may be determined. Determining the conductivity of a rinse may also be referred to as determining the conductivity of the fluid in a rinsing zone of the treatment line. The conductivity of a rinse may be determined based on a combination of conductivities of all zones from which the rinse receives fluid. The combination may particularly refer to a weighted combination. The weights in the weighted combination may be determined based on respective fluid amounts received from the respective other zones. Generally, a conductivity of a rinse may be influenced by the rinsing water used for the rinse, a carryover amount into the rinse, a fluid inflow into the rinse via a cascade of rinses of which the rinse is part, a throughput of the treatment line (e.g., a speed at which objects being treated in the treatment line pass through it), and line-specific factors such as nozzle overspray of fluid across zones, a zone or treatment chamber surface area, et cetera.

[0123] It may be preferred to not only calculate individual conductivities per zone, such as on the basis of formulas as provided in above Eqs. 1 , 2 and / or 7, but to combine the individual conductivities iteratively to arrive at a time-dependent conductivity for each of the one orBASF SE

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[0127] zones of the treatment line. For instance, at each step of the iteration, the conductivity c of a respective zone may be determined by

[0128] (Eq. 9)

[0129]

[0130] wherein mnmay refer to an amount (e.g., an inflow) of fluid received by the zone from another zone n and cnmay refer to a conductivity of the zone n, such as a conductivity of the zone n as determined in a previous step of the iteration.

[0131] Hence, a conductivity in a zone of a treatment line may be determined based on the following: a current condition of a bath in the zone (e.g., its conductivity), a carryover from a respective proceeding zone, an inflow of freshwater and a cascade inflow. Depending on a configuration of the treatment line, further quantities may be considered. In particular, in continuous spraying systems, an overspray may additionally be taken into account. In chamber lines, a carryover via chamber surfaces and residual fluid volumes in pumps may additionally be considered. And in cross-transfer systems, which are also referred to herein as transverse spray lines, a carryover amount via curtains may be used in addition. These additional manners in which a zone can receive fluid from other zones in a treatment line have already been outlined above, and will also be described in more detail further below.

[0132] Determining a conductivity iteratively allows for a higher flexibility in the composition of the individual substreams of fluid across zones. Determining a final conductivity or pH value of a rinsing bath, which is created by adding arbitrary cascade currents, different conductivities (e.g., city water, demineralised water) or by adding additional products, can be difficult using static analytic formulas. In fact, it has been observed that, the longer a bath journey is carried out, i.e., the longer a time period which the iteration covers, the more accurate a final conductivity determined for a bath can be. The final conductivity can refer to a stationary state of the bath. For small bath volumes, a steady-state can be reached more quickly than with large bath volumes. Furthermore, it has been observed that, the more calculations are performed in a row, the more accurate a final result can become. If the method is implemented in terms of a computer program, for instance, the number of iterations to be carried out may be provided by a user via a corresponding user interface. A default value may be set to 3 iterations.

[0133] In fact, not only the conductivity of a fluid in a zone of a chemical treatment line may be determined iteratively as indicated above, but also other fluid parameters, including in par-BASF SE

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[0137] ticular the pH value of the fluid. Thus, according to a related aspect, a method for determining a pH value of a fluid in a zone of a chemical treatment line is presented, wherein the zone may again particularly correspond to a rinse and the pH value may be determined based on a combination of pH values of all zones from which the zone whose pH value is determined receives fluid. The combination may be a combination as described above with reference to the conductivity determination, wherein c and cnmay now refer to respective pH values. The determination, i.e., in this case of the pH value, may again be carried out iteratively. Generally, the iterative determination of a fluid parameter such as a conductivity or a pH value may refer to determining the fluid parameter for several or all zones of the treatment line successively for each of several points in time, wherein the determination for a given point in time uses the fluid parameters determined for a respective previous point in time. This may also be understood as determining a bath journey for the several zones, wherein in the course of the bath journey the determined fluid parameters become successively more accurate due to the iteration.

[0138] Based on the conductivity or pH value determined for a zone, and further based on a threshold conductivity or threshold pH value defined for the zone, a need for fresh treatment or rinsing fluid in the form of a time of a required exchange of the fluid in the zone may be determined. This may also be viewed as determining a service life of a respective bath. By, for instance, visualising an evolution of the conductivity or the pH value, such as in terms of a corresponding plot over time, an input of oil in a degreasing plant, or an input of aluminum or iron in a stain can be illustrated. It may also be illustrated how different manners of discharging fluid from the zone, such as different fluid exchange intervals or different discharge rates, influence the evolution of the conductivity or the pH value. The same applies to other fluid parameters. Further parameters that may be considered for determining a fluid parameter evolution in a zone and hence a service life of a respective bath may include one or more of the following: a substance accumulating in the zone (e.g., aluminium, iron, oil, etc.), an input amount of the substance (e.g., per object being treated), a conductivity of the substance, an initial fluid parameter value of the zone, a throughput of the treatment line (e.g., an indication of a number of objects or their combined surface area being treated per unit time), a production capacity utilisation (e.g., an indication of a time per day and the days per week in which the treatment line is operated), a bath volume, a carryover amount a fluid discharge amount, and special treatment breaks such as due to public holidays.

[0139] In a visualisation of an evolution of a fluid parameter such as a conductivity or pH value, it may be seen that the fluid parameter approaches a steady-state over time. The value of the fluid parameter in the steady-state may be controlled by setting a manner in which fluid is discharged from the respective zone. For instance, fluid may be discharged continuouslyBASF SE

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[0143] via an overflow, semi-continuously in regular intervals, or in the course of regular fluid exchanges, which may also be referred to as make-ups. An hourly discharge of a defined volume of fluid may still be viewed as a semi-continuous manner of discharging fluid from a respective zone, and a corresponding fluid parameter evolution may still be smooth. For longer exchange intervals and greater fluid volumes discharged, the fluid parameter evolution may assume a sawtooth shape. The sawtooth shape may be further pronounced for regular complete fluid exchanges.

[0144] Another aspect of the present disclosure relates to a method for determining sludge formation in zones of a chemical treatment line. In particular, the sludge formation may refer to a formation of calcium phosphate in cleaner baths or rinses. The determination may be carried out based on a provided indication of a water hardness of city water and / or service water used in the zone. Further parameters which may be taken into account in determining an amount of sludge formed in the zone in a predefined time period may include an amount of water received by the zone.

[0145] A further aspect disclosed herein relates to a method for determining a concentration or a weight of a layer on an object surface. The concentration or layer weight may be determined based on calibration data, which may be stored in a database. The concentration may be a concentration of a substance by which the object is treated. Similarly, the layer may be a layer of the substance. Single-standard or multi-standard calibration data may be used. The single-standard calibration data may refer to a standard (e.g., 90 mg / l Zr), wherein a calibration series is created. For creating the calibration series, a predefined amount of the substance (e.g., 1 , 2, 3, 4, 5 ml) is taken and a series is created. Calibration standards may already be available for multi-standard calibration data. A number of standards to be measured may be determined. As a further input in case of a layer weight determination, dimensions of an object surface on which the layer is to be deposited may be provided. The object may refer, for instance, to a sheet of metal.

[0146] The standards may be measured in a photometer, wherein the standards may be provided as input to the method as absorbance values. The measured standards, or absorbance values, may be visualised as measurement points, such as depending on a respective amount of the substance deposited or a respective concentration. Once a sample is given a lower and an upper limit of a reading, a calibration can be saved to the database.

[0147] A further aspect relates to a method for determining an effect of bath maintenance measures. For instance, an effect of oil separators, ultrafiltrations and simultaneous fluid discharges on one or more zones of a chemical treatment line may be determined. TheBASF SE

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[0151] effect of degreasing, for instance, may be determined based on a number of consecutive degreasings carried out. For degreasings carried out in two consecutive zones, for instance, a degreasing effect on a first of the two zones may be 70%, and on the second of the two zones 30%. For three consecutive degreasings, the effect may be 65%, 25% and 10%, respectively. And for four consecutive degreasings, the effect may be 65%, 20%, 10% and 5%, respectively. The effect of a degreasing may be further determined based on a provided amount of oil on a respective object being treated, which may be 1 g / m2. Further input parameters may include a throughput, an object surface area or other configuration parameters of a respective treatment line. For determining an effect of using a separator, a respective flow rate and efficiency may further be used as input. Guideline values are as follows: 30% for conventional gravity separator, 50% for gravity separators with internals, 70% for a centrifuge and 90% for UF.

[0152] Another aspect of the present disclosure relates to a method for determining a required time, a required energy and / or temperature of a zone of a chemical treatment line in which objects are anodised, and / or in which objects are being treated by electrolytic oxidation of aluminium. The zone may be referred to as anodising, anodised or “eloxal” bath. The determined information about zones of this kind, particularly about the energy required by zones of this kind, can be used for determining costs associated with operating a chemical treatment line.

[0153] For determining the required time, the required energy and the temperature, a desired thickness of an anodised or “eloxal” layer to be generated in the zone, an electric current density, a voltage, a surface area of one or more objects to be treated and a fluid volume of the zone may be provided as basis. The fluid volume of the zone may also be referred to as bath volume. The object to be treated may be, for instance, a product carrier which is to be provided with an anodised surface layer. The determined temperature may be associated with a temperature increase which is due to an energy released during anodization. If, for instance, the method is implemented in terms of a computer program, the electric current density, the voltage, the surface area of the one or more objects to be treated and the fluid volume of the zone may be provided based on a user input. The determined time, energy and temperature may be displayed to the user as a result.

[0154] Also an energy required for hot-dip galvanising steel may be determined. For that reason, a desired coating material such as zinc may be specified, a melting point thereof and an operating temperature of a bath used for the galvanising. Furthermore, a fluid volume of the bath may be provided as well as an object surface throughput. Based on a density of the deposited material and social coating, as well as the throughput, a required amount ofBASF SE

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[0158] material that needs to be supplemented may be calculated. To determine a heating energy for the galvanising bath, it may be selected whether the heating energy is gas-based or electric-based. This may be relevant for determining process costs. Furthermore, an operating temperature of the bath and a minimum bath temperature after production breaks may be provided. Galvanising baths are preferentially never completely cooled down. It may also be indicated whether the bath is insulated by a bath cover.

[0159] A further aspect disclosed herein relates to determining a required amount of an NaOH solution to reduce free acid in a phosphate bath. For doing so, actual and target values of the measured free acid may be provided as input, and a selection of which type of data is available for caustic soda (e.g., a relative indication in terms of percent, or a density of NaOH, such as in g / l). Upon entering the respective known value, a required amount of caustic soda may be determined. When reducing zinc phosphating, it can be recommended to add caustic soda gradually and diluted.

[0160] Another aspect disclosed relates to measuring a fluoride value in baths such as zinc phosphating baths with the help of fluoride electrodes. The measurement may be carried out as follows: From a first standard (e.g. 20 mg / l fluoride), enter a first measured voltage, and from a second standard (e.g. 200 mg / l fluoride) enter a second measured voltage. Optionally, a resulting slope of a calibration curve may be checked against a predefined check value, wherein if a too large deviation is determined, problems relating to the calibration solution or the fluoride electrodes may be investigated. When further entering a measured voltage of a sample, a fluoride value of the sample may be determined based on the calibration (e.g., the first and the second measured voltage) and the voltage measured for the sample. The determined, or measured, fluoride value may refer to a fluoride content.

[0161] A further aspect relates to a method for determining costs associated with a chemical treatment line. The costs may be referred to as process costs, and may particularly correspond to costs incurred by operating the chemical treatment line. The costs may be determined based on an indication of one or more of the following, which may be provided based on a user input to a computer program implementing the method, for instance: a fluid volume of each of one or more, preferably all, zones of the treatment line, a respective type of rinse water used in one or more, preferably all, rinsing zones of the treatment line, a time interval in which a respective rinsing fluid in one or more, preferably all, rinsing zones of the treatment line is exchanged for fresh rinse water, energy related requirements such as a fluid temperature and a respective power of one or more, preferably all, pumps of the treatment line, costs for acquiring any treatment constituents which are used as part of the treatment and / or rinsing fluids in the treatment line, such as a respective price, a respective requiredBASF SE

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[0165] amount and / or a consumption, cleaning costs such as costs for cleaning any of the zones of the treatment line after, for instance, an exchange of the fluid therein, disposal costs such as costs for disposing of any fluid discharged from the treatment line or any fluid removed from any of the zones of the treatment line in an exchange for respective fresh fluid.

[0166] The costs associated with the chemical treatment line may be determined based further on a result of a determination as carried out according to any of the other aspects disclosed herein. Thus, in particular, the costs may be determined based on a treatment line configuration as outlined further above. Moreover, the costs may refer to partial costs as opposed to total costs. Partial costs may refer, for instance, to costs associated with treatment constituents which are used as part of the treatment and / or rinsing fluids (these costs may also be referred to as product costs), to costs associated with water used as part of the treatment and / or rinsing fluids (these costs may also be referred to as water costs), to costs associated with a maintenance of the treatment line (which may be referred to as maintenance costs), to costs associated with an energy need of the treatment line (which may be referred to as energy costs), to costs associated with heating requirements of the treatment line (which may be referred to as heating costs), and / or to costs associated with an electric power need of the treatment line (which may be referred to as electricity costs). Thus, a detailed and differentiated assessment of the costs incurred by the treatment line becomes possible.

[0167] The present disclosure also relates to respective data processing apparatuses comprising data processing means for carrying out the methods according to any of the proceeding further aspects. Similarly, computer programs are disclosed which, when executed by a respective computer, cause the computer to carry out the methods according to any of the proceeding further aspects. Furthermore, uses of these further apparatuses and computer programs for configuring or reconfiguring a chemical treatment line are enclosed. A use of an apparatus or computer program may particularly refer to using a result of a determination of a respective quantity determined by the apparatus or computer program, respectively. As outlined above, the quantity is not necessarily a rinse water need, but may additionally or alternatively be any of a wastewater amount, a fluid property value, a required time and / or energy and / or a temperature of an anodising zone, an indicator of costs associated with a chemical treatment line, et cetera.

[0168] It shall be understood that the methods, the apparatuses and the uses have similar and / or identical preferred embodiments as defined in the dependent claims.BASF SE

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[0172] It shall be understood that a preferred embodiment can also be any combination of the dependent claims with the respective independent claim.

[0173] These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.

[0174] In the following, the present disclosure is further described with reference to the enclosed figures. The same reference numbers in the drawings and this disclosure are intended to refer to the same or like elements, components, and / or parts.

[0175] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0176] Fig. 1 illustrates schematically and exemplarily aspects relating to object handling in a chemical pretreatment line, wherein the object handling is of a first object handling type,

[0177] Fig. 2 illustrates schematically and exemplarily aspects relating to object handling in a chemical treatment line, wherein the object handling is of a second object handling type,

[0178] Fig. 3 illustrates schematically and exemplarily aspects relating to object handling in a chemical treatment line, wherein the object handling is of a third object handling type,

[0179] Fig. 4 illustrates schematically and exemplarily aspects relating to object handling in a chemical treatment line, wherein the object handling is of a fourth object handling type,

[0180] Fig. 5 illustrates schematically and exemplarily aspects relating to object handling in a chemical treatment line, wherein the object handling is of a fifth object handling type,

[0181] Fig. 6 illustrates schematically and exemplarily aspects relating to object handling in a chemical treatment line, wherein the object handling is of a sixth object handling type,

[0182] Fig. 7 illustrates schematically and exemplarily a first fluid handling type which may be realised in chemical treatment lines,

[0183] Fig. 8 illustrates schematically and exemplarily a second fluid handling type which may be realised in chemical treatment lines,BASF SE

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[0186]

[0187] Fig. 9 illustrates schematically and exemplarily a third fluid handling type which may be realised chemical treatment lines,

[0188] Fig. 10 illustrates schematically and exemplarily a method for determining a rinse water need of a chemical treatment line,

[0189] Fig. 11 A illustrates schematically and exemplarily a user interface for providing a treatment line configuration according to an embodiment,

[0190] Fig. 11 B illustrates schematically and exemplarily a way of determining a rinse water need based on the treatment line configuration provided according to Fig. 11 A, and

[0191] Fig. 12 illustrates schematically and exemplarily a method for determining a quantity associated with a chemical treatment line, wherein the quantity may also be different from the rinse water need.

[0192] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0193] The following embodiments are mere examples for implementing the method, apparatus, computer program and use disclosed herein and shall not be considered limiting.

[0194] Fig. 1 shows schematically and exemplarily how objects to be treated are handled in a chemical treatment line which may be referred to as an immersion system or dip line. In other words, Fig. 1 schematically and exemplarily illustrates a first manner in which objects to be treated may be handled in a chemical treatment line, i.e., a first object handling type. In the illustrated case, the treatment line comprises a sequence of four zones, wherein objects to be treated are being transported in a treatment direction 101 along the sequence of zones, thereby being treated initially in a first zone 10, subsequently in a second zone 20, etc. In a treatment line of the immersion system or dip line type, treatment of an object in a zone includes plunging the object into a liquid-filled container 102. As seen in Fig. 1 , each zone may comprise such a container, wherein the containers are open at the top such that the objects can be plunged into the liquid therein from the top by, for instance, a crane. After being plunged into a respective container 102, the objects are transported to a respective subsequent zone and plunged into the container of that zone. This is indicated by arrows 103, which may also be regarded as indicating an object flow. The process step of plunging an object into a liquid-filled container 102, i.e., of plunging the object into the liquid in the container 102, may also be referred to as a dipping or an immersion of the objectBASF SE

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[0198] into the liquid. The transfer of an object from one zone to the next goes along with a carryover of liquid. This will usually be the case irrespective of a shape of the objects, due to liquid adhering to a surface of the objects. Larger carryovers would be generated by objects having a “scooping” shape, which is may dip lines are usually not used for treating such objects.

[0199] In a treatment line like the one shown in Fig. 1 (and in fact also the ones shown in subsequent Figs. 2 to 6), all zones are of the same object handling type, irrespective of whether they are zones in which the objects are treated with a treatment liquid in a more narrow sense, which may contain a chemically active treatment concentrate, or whether they are rinsed with water to clean the objects from remnants of, for instance, the chemically active concentrate. Thus, the object handling type indicates how objects are being treated in respective active treatment zones, and how objects are being rinsed in respective rinsing zones.

[0200] Fig. 2 illustrates schematically and exemplarily a second object handling type in a treatment line which may be referred to as a continuous spraying system or continuous injection moulding system. A treatment line of this type is often used for treating objects with a simple surface geometry which need to be transported through the treatment line continuously. The objects are again transported in a transport direction 101 along a sequence of zones, wherein the treatment or rinsing in the respective zones is carried out by spraying the respective liquid on them. In particular, the zones correspond to respective sections of a treatment tunnel 202, wherein at the side walls of the tunnel 202 (not shown in Fig. 2) spray nozzles 203 are mounted. The spray nozzles 203 in the different zones receive treatment or rinsing liquid from different containers 201. In the illustrated case, each zone receives liquid from a different container 201. Liquid guiding means guiding liquid from the respective containers 201 to the spray nozzles 203, i.e., respective pumps, pipes and hoses, for instance, are not shown in Fig. 2.

[0201] Liquid which left the nozzles 203 in a respective zone substantially flows back into the container 201 of this zone. For instance, as shown in Fig. 2, the containers 201 may be arranged below a floor of the tunnel 202, and the liquid may flow into the containers 201 through respective openings in the floor. To help liquid from nozzles 203 in one zone flow back into the container 201 of that one zone and not into a container 201 of an adjacent zone, the floor of the tunnel 202 may be elevated by respective elevation elements 204 which effectively divide the tunnel 202 into its zones, although providing a physical boundary only on the floor of the tunnel 202, thereby still allowing objects to be continuously transported through the tunnel 202.BASF SE

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[0205] That said, as in the case of Fig. 1 , liquid may still be exchanged between the zones. While, in treatment lines of the type shown in Fig. 1 , this may mainly be due to objects carrying liquid from one container 101 to the next, in the treatment lines of the type shown in Fig. 2 the liquid exchange may additionally or alternatively occur due to nozzles in a respective zone spraying liquid into adjacent zones. This may also be referred to as overspray, and is indicated in Fig. 2 between the first zone 10 and the second zone 20. A similar overspray may also occur in the reverse direction, i.e., from the second zone 20 into the first zone 10.

[0206] Fig. 3 illustrates schematically and exemplarily a third object handling type in a treatment line which may be referred to as a vertical line. Treatment lines of this type, which are often used for pretreating long profiles having a length of, e.g., 7 to 8 meters, correspond to treatment lines of the type shown in Fig. 2, except that the treatment and / or rinsing liquids in the zones of the treatment line are poured over the objects. Hence, waterfall-like liquid streams 205 are generated. Again, it cannot be avoided that an overspray across zones occurs. The overspray may in this include splashes of liquid.

[0207] Fig. 4 illustrates schematically and exemplarily a fourth object handling type. This fourth type of handling the objects to be treated is realised in treatment lines of the coil-line type, in which the objects are coils 50 and wherein a respective coil is uncoiled and guided by a series of guide rollers through liquid-filled containers 201 of respective treatment or rinsing zones 10, 20. A characteristic of coil lines is that a carryover amount can be controlled via a defined thickness of a fluid film on the coil when exiting a respective zone. The coils treated in a coil line are usually made of aluminium and / or steel, particularly galvanized steel, wherein the treatment refers to a cleaning, a pickling and / or a passivation.

[0208] Fig. 5 illustrates schematically and exemplarily a fifth object handling type realised in a treatment line which may be referred to as a transverse spray line. Treatment lines of this type are similar to the ones illustrated by Fig. 2 in that the objects are treated or rinsed in respective zones of a tunnel 202 by spraying liquid upon them with nozzles. However, to prevent the overspray occurring in treatment lines of the type illustrated by Fig. 2, a fluid barrier in the form of a curtain 12 is established between each of the zones during treatment of objects therein. Thus, the curtain 12 is rolled down for treatment or rinsing, and rolled up again for transporting the objects. The transport in treatment lines of the type shown in Fig. 5 differs from the transport in treatment lines of the type shown in Fig. 2 in that the objects can generally not be carried by a crane holding the objects from the top, since such a crane would collide with mounting mechanisms 13 of the curtains 12. Instead, the objects are suspended by suspension means extending horizontally and transversely to the direction of travel (not shown in Fig. 5). Accordingly, a spraying direction in a transverse sprayBASF SE

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[0212] line is different from a spraying direction in a continuous spraying system. In particular, the nozzles 503 may, as shown, be mounted on the curtains 12 and spray liquid upon the objects from behind and from the front, i.e., substantially in and against the transporting direction 101. As compared to the nozzles 203 of a continuous spray line, which often create a fog-like spray pattern, the nozzles 503 usually operate at a relatively low pressure. They are often mounted on the curtains 12 in a ring shape, thereby creating spray rings, and move up and down in along lifts. While the curtains 12 avoid an overspray of liquid from one zone into another, it has been realised that rolling up the curtains 12 can lead to liquid from zone dripping into or otherwise reaching another zone.

[0213] Fig. 6 illustrates schematically and exemplarily a sixth object handling type of a further type of treatment line. Treatment lines of this further type, which are also referred to as chamber lines or chamber cycle systems, comprise a sequence of chambers 23, wherein each chamber may comprise more than one treatment or rinsing zone. The chambers comprise walls which constitute fixed fluid barriers. Thus, a liquid mixing across zones due to a removal of non-fixed fluid barriers such as the curtains 12 of a transverse spray line is avoided. However, a mixing of liquids from different zones in a same chamber arises. Such a mixing of liquid across zones in chamber lines is substantially caused by the fact that a treatment or rinsing by different zones in a same chamber is carried out using a same set of spray nozzles 203 and also a same set of liquid guiding means for guiding the respective liquid to the spray nozzles 203, such as a same pump, for instance.

[0214] In the example of Fig. 6, the chamber line comprises a sequence of four chambers 23, wherein the first chamber and the sequence corresponds to a single treatment zone 10, and the second chamber in the sequence comprises two rinsing zones 20, 30. An object to be treated would initially be treated with a treatment liquid comprising an active chemical concentrate in zone 10. The treatment liquid is sprayed onto the object using spray nozzles 203, which in this embodiment correspond to the spray nozzles 203 used in a continuous spraying system as illustrated by Fig. 2. Also as in the case of the first zone 10 of the continuous spraying system, the treatment liquid is received from a container 201 associated with zone 10, and also flows back into this container 201. After treatment in zone 10, the object is transported into the second chamber of the chamber line, where it is first rinsed with water from a container 601 , and subsequently with water from a container 602. The same set of spray nozzles 203 and pumping and / or fluid guiding means (not shown) may be used for spraying the respective water onto the object, such that the second chamber could also be viewed as realising a combined rinsing zone 20, 30. The two zones 20, 30 may thus substantially be distinguished from each other by the respective container 601 , 602 from which water is drawn to carry out a respective rinsing step, wherein rinsing of aBASF SE

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[0218] respective object using water from container 601 is carried out at a different time, particularly before, rinsing the object using water from container 602.

[0219] It should be noted that the treatment line types illustrated by Figs. 2, 3, 5 and 6 exemplify that a mixing of liquid across zones cannot only occur in transport direction 101 as is the case with carryover by objects, but also in a reverse direction, i.e., against transport direction 101. This is because the mixing is not only caused by objects carrying over liquid from one zone into the next, but can also be affected by how the liquids from the respective zones are used to treat or rinse the objects. In fact, such a back-mixing of liquids into previous zones is even intended in some treatment lines irrespective of how objects are treated with the liquids. This and further aspects of how the liquids from the different zones of a treatment line are handled will be described in more detail in the following. This will particularly elucidate how the liquid containers 102, 201 , 601 , 602 are supplied with liquid and how liquid leaves them, including how liquid is exchanged between them.

[0220] Fig. 7 illustrates schematically and exemplarily a first fluid handling type which may be realised in any of the treatment lines described above with reference to the previous figures.

[0221] As in the case of Figs. 8 and 9, the rectangles in Fig. 7 represent zones of a respective treatment line, or more specifically the treatment or rinsing liquid present in the respective zone. Hence, the rectangles could also be viewed as representing respective treatment or rinsing baths. In treatment lines operating according to the first object handling type illustrated in Fig. 1 , the bath of a zone is entirely contained in a respective container 102 of that zone, such that the rectangles in Figs. 7 to 9 may be identified with the respective container 102. In treatment lines operating according to other object handling types, as schematically and exemplarily illustrated in Figs. 2 to 6, the bath liquid of a respective zone may still at least to a main part be contained in a respective container 201 , 601 , 602 of that zone, but is also present in the respective section of the treatment line where the actual treatment or rinsing takes place, and in fluid guiding means guiding the liquid from the respective container to that section. For instance, the bath of the first zone 10 in the treatment line shown in Fig. 2 is distributed across the container 201 of the zone 10, the initial section of the tunnel 202 where objects are being treated with liquid from this container, and conduits or hoses guiding the fluid from the container to the initial section of the tunnel 202.

[0222] Moreover, as in the case of Figs. 8 and 9, the arrows in Fig. 7 represent fluid connections between the baths of the different zones. Apart from fluid connections corresponding to a transfer of liquid across zones as described above with reference to the previous figures,BASF SE

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[0226] which may be referred to as “inadvertent” fluid connections and may include carryovers by objects and further effects such as overspray, liquid spillage from temporary fluid barriers and a liquid mixing due to a sharing of spray nozzles or other fluid handling means among zones, the fluid connections represented by the arrows also include fluid connections realised by dedicated fluid guiding means such as pipes, hoses or conduits. These further fluid connections, which have not been described with reference to the previous figures, may be referred to as “non-inadvertent” fluid connections.

[0227] In other words, the rectangles representing the respective baths do not necessarily correspond to respective single containers, but rather indicate respective fluid volumes of the baths, thereby not limiting the way the fluid in a respective bath is handled to treat objects. Examples for the latter are illustrated in the previous figures. As will be understood from the above description of the previous figures, the fluid of a respective bath can also circulate between a respective bath container and a further container or chamber where objects are being treated with it. Figs. 7 to 9 indicate how, according to a respective fluid handling type, the baths receive fluid and how fluid leaves them, while allowing for all kinds of implementations regarding how the baths are used to treat objects.

[0228] Fig. 7 relates to a treatment line comprising a sequence of three zones, wherein the treatment line comprises an active bath in a first zone 10 of the sequence, a static rinse in a second zone 20 of the sequence and a flow rinse in a third zone of the sequence. The static rinse and the flow rinse could also be referred to as static rinse bath and flow rinse bath, respectively, such that the sequence of zones can also be referred to as a sequence of baths.

[0229] The active bath corresponds to a solution of a chemically active treatment concentrate in water. After having been treated with the active bath in the first zone 10, objects are carried onwards into the second zone 20, where they are rinsed in the static rinse. The static rinse is realised by a rinsing fluid which is different from the treatment fluid. In particular, an initial amount of rinsing fluid in the second zone 20 is an amount of rinse water which is selected based on a fluid capacity of second zone 20, particularly a fluid container 102, 201 , 601 of the second zone 20, wherein rinsing fluid that would exceed the fluid capacity of the second zone 20 flows out of the second zone 20. Thus, the second zone 20 initially just contains rinse water. But, since the objects being treated are first treated with the active bath and then by the static rinse, treatment fluid will successively be carried over from the first zone 10 into the second zone 20, thereby successively adding treatment concentrate into the rinse water in the second zone 20. A fluid overflow occurring in the static rinse of second zone 20 due to the successive addition of treatment fluid and / or, in case of the first objectBASF SE

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[0233] handling type, an increase in fluid level caused by objects being plunged into the static rinse, is flown away from the second zone 20, as indicated by arrow 71. Thus, there is a successive fluid flow out of the second zone 20. This successive fluid flow out of the second zone 20 is not immediately matched by a corresponding fluid flow into the second zone 20. However, in order to maintain a good rinsing quality in the second zone 20, the second zone 20, particularly its container 102, 201 , 601 , is emptied from time to time, and filled again with fresh rinse water. Thus, the second zone 20 only receives rinse water via an external supply and only after the active removal of rinsing liquid from the second zone. For a treatment line with a second zone 20 configured in this way, a rinse water need may particularly refer to a time of a required exchange of the rinsing liquid in the second zone 20 by fresh rinse water.

[0234] The time of the required exchange of the rinse water in the second zone 20 may particularly be determined based on a carryover amount, the carryover amount being indicative of an amount of treatment fluid which is carried by the objects from the first zone 10 to the second zone 20 such that it mixes into the rinsing fluid. Based on the carryover amount, an evolution of a rinsing fluid parameter such as a treatment concentrate concentration as measurable via a pH or electrical resistance of the rinsing fluid may be determined, wherein the evolution of the rinsing fluid parameter may be taken as a basis to determine the rinse water need, i.e., the time of the required exchange of the rinse water in the second zone 20. In particular, the time of the required exchange of the rinse water may be determined based further on a predefined upper limit for the rinsing fluid parameter. The predefined upper limit as well as the carryover amount may be provided based on a user input. For example, the time of the required exchange of the rinse water in the second zone 20 may be determined according to Eqs. 1 to 3 from further above, with carryover V and upper limit cmuxfor the rinsing fluid parameter.

[0235] A further carryover of treatment concentrate will occur from the second zone 20 into the third zone, although this carryover will generally be smaller than the carryover of treatment concentrate from the first zone 10 into the second zone 20, since a concentration c(t) of treatment concentrate in the static rinse will generally be substantially smaller than a concentration c0of treatment concentrate in the active bath. Thus, if the third zone did contain a further static rinse, a concentration of treatment concentrate therein might also increase over time, although slower than in the second zone 20. In order to avoid this and thereby achieve a rinsing effect in the third zone which is sufficiently high to end the treatment line in the third zone, the first fluid handling type illustrated by Fig. 7 requires that the third zone corresponds to a flow rinse instead of a static rinse. The flow rinse differs from the staticBASF SE

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[0239] rinse in that fresh rinse water is continuously received by the third container from an external supply, as indicated by arrow 72. Thus, for instance, a continuous fluid overflow leaving the third zone might occur, as indicated by arrow 73. To tune a final rinsing effect of the treatment line shown in Fig. 7, an amount or rate of fresh rinse water which is fed into the third zone may be set accordingly. Also this may be understood as a rinse water need, and may be determined based on the carryover from the second zone 20 into the third zone. Determining a rinse water need of a flow rinse will subsequently be described with reference to Fig. 8.

[0240] Fig. 8 illustrates schematically and exemplarily a second type of handling fluids in a chemical treatment line. According to this second fluid handling type, the treatment line comprises a flow rinse already in the second zone 20. The second fluid handling type may be viewed as corresponding to the first fluid handling type, up to the steady rinse being replaced by a flow rinse.

[0241] Thus, in a treatment line operating according to the second fluid handling type, the second zone 20 is configured to continuously receive rinse water from an external supply. In this case, the rinse water need by the second zone 20 refers to a required continuous addition of rinse water to the second zone 20 from the external supply, and is determined by requiring a rinsing fluid parameter of the flow rinse in the second zone to be constant. The rinsing fluid parameter may be the same as for a static rinse, i.e. a treatment concentrate concentration as measurable in terms of a pH or electrical resistance of the rinsing fluid. In addition to requiring the rinsing fluid parameter to be constant, the carryover V from the first zone 10 to the second zone 20 may again be taken into account. For example, denoting the amount of rinsing fluid leaving the second zone 20 by Q and the treatment concentrate concentration in the second zone 20 by c, a necessary continuous addition A of fresh rinse water to the second zone may be determined as explained further above with reference to Eqs. 4 to 6.

[0242] As also explained further above, it will be understood that the requirement of a constant rinsing fluid parameter will generally only be applied to particular timeframes. In particular, upon initial setup of the flow rinse or after any time where the flow rinse has been emptied completely and refilled with fresh rinse water, such as for cleaning, the constant rinsing fluid parameter criterion may not be applied immediately, but instead only once a maximum tolerable concentration of treatment concentrate in the flow rinse is reached. The upper limit may effectively be set by the rinsing criterion R defined in the above Eq. 5.BASF SE

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[0246] Fig. 9 illustrates schematically and exemplarily a third fluid handling type. According to this further manner of handling fluids in a treatment line, the treatment line comprises the same active bath in the first zone 10 as according to the first and the second fluid handling types. However, the second zone 20 is configured yet differently. In particular, the second zone 20 now is a first of three rinsing zones forming a cascade of rinsing zones. In this cascade, fresh rinse water from an external supply is only received via the third rinse, and rinsing fluid only leaves the cascade via the first rinse. Furthermore, while a carryover of treatment fluid, or a less concentrated form thereof, still occurs from zone to zone with each object being treated in the treatment line, a flow of rinsing fluid in the reverse direction is realised by feeding an overflow of the third rinse into the second rinse, and an overflow of the second rinse into the first rinse.

[0247] For a treatment line configuration as indicated in Fig. 9, the rinse water need may refer to a required continuous addition of rinse water to the cascade, which is in this case the amount A of fresh rinse water entering the third rinse in the fourth zone. This rinse water need may be determined based on the carryover amount and by requiring a rinsing fluid parameter of a rinsing fluid mixture in the third rinse to be constant. The rinsing fluid parameter may again be a treatment concentrate concentration as measurable in terms of a pH or an electrical resistance, for instance. In particular, the rinse water need, i.e., the amount A, may be determined as explained above with reference to Eqs. 7 and 8.

[0248] Furthermore, variants of the third fluid handling type illustrated by Fig. 9 may be considered, in which there is not a strictly sequential back-cascade as shown in Fig. 9. Instead, one or more flows, such as one or more overflows, of rinsing fluid from any rinsing zone to any preceding rinsing zone may be considered, i.e., not just the directly preceding one. Yet more generally, the treatment line may be configured by freely choosing, for each of a plurality of treatment zones and / or rinsing zones, an inflow from any other treatment zone and / or rinsing zone, which is not necessarily a subsequent one. Thus, “cascade” inflows can be chosen freely without being bound to a strict sequence, wherein also multiple “cascade” inflows may be considered. For instance, in Fig. 9, a flow of rinsing fluid from the third rinse into the first rinse 20 may be added. Also, in principle, a flow of treatment fluid from the treatment zone 10 into the second zone 20 may be considered.

[0249] In the presence of more general fluid “cascades”, or “multi-cascades”, as indicated in the preceding paragraph, the rinse water need may still refer to a required continuous addition of rinse water to the cascade, and may still be determined similarly as for cascades such as the one shown in Fig. 9. Cascades like those shown in Fig. 9 may also be referred to as unidirectional linear cascades (or, more specifically, linear back-cascades), wherein theBASF SE

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[0253] generalisation to variants thereof may be referred to as a generalisation to potentially bidirectional and / or non-linear fluid cascades, wherein a non-linear fluid cascade may be understood as comprising branching points with more than one inflow or outflow for at least one zone. For a treatment line with N zones, an N x / V-matrix of fluid flows between zones may be used to indicate the fluid flows between the zones, wherein the matrix may only be limited in that no entries on its diagonal are allowed, accounting for the fact that preferentially no zone comprises a fluid flow from itself into itself. Based on the indicated fluid flows and furthermore any indicated carryover amounts, the rinse water need may be determined. Moreover, the determination may again be carried out by requiring a rinsing fluid parameter of a rinsing fluid mixture in a zone to which fresh rinse water is supplied to be constant, wherein the rinsing fluid parameter may again be a treatment concentrate concentration as indicated above. As in Fig. 9, for instance, fresh rinse water may again be supplied only to one of the zones, particularly a last of the zones in the treatment line or cascade.

[0254] While the previous figures illustrate how liquids may be exchanged between different zones of a chemical treatment line, the options for which are preferably considered determining a respective rinse water need, a further aspect which may be considered in determining the rinse water need, which is not illustrated in the figures, is that liquids can also be lost from the one or more zones. In particular, liquid from a respective bath can evaporate passively or actively, wherein an active evaporation may be caused by a suction mechanism which may be provided for a respective bath.

[0255] Fig. 10 illustrates schematically and exemplarily a method for determining a rinse water need of a chemical treatment line, assuming that, as illustrated in the previous figures, the treatment line comprises a first zone 10 in which treatment fluid is used for treating objects and a second zone 20 in which rinsing fluid including rinse water is used for rinsing the objects after they have been treated in the first zone 10. In a step 1001 of the method, a fluid handling type is provided, which indicates how fluids in the treatment line are handled. In particular, the provided fluid handling type indicates how the second zone 20 is configured to receive rinse water. The provided fluid handling type may be one of the three types illustrated by Figs. 7 to 9. Thus, it may be indicated in step 1001 , for instance, that the second zone 20 is a static rinse, a flow rinse or part of a rinsing cascade. Step 1001 may be regarded as providing a fluid handling aspect of a treatment line configuration.

[0256] Furthermore, in a step 1002 of the method, one or more input parameters including a carryover amount are provided, wherein the carryover amount indicates an amount of fluid carried over by objects treated in the treatment line from any one zone of the treatment lineBASF SE

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[0260] to a respective subsequent zone. In particular, the provided carryover amount is indicative of an amount of treatment fluid which is carried by the objects from the first zone 10 to the second zone 20 such that it mixes into the rinsing fluid.

[0261] In a further step 1003 of the method, a rinse water need of the treatment line is determined based on the treatment line configuration, i.e., at least based on the fluid handling type provided in step 1001 and based on the one or more parameters provided in step 1002.

[0262] Besides the carryover amount, one or more further parameters may be provided in step 1002 as a basis for determining the rinse water need. The one or more further parameters are particularly provided depending on an object handling type of the treatment line configuration. Thus, for instance, initially the object handling type may be provided, and subsequently one or more parameters relating to the object handling type may be provided. The object handling type may particularly be any of the object handling types illustrated by Figs. 1 to 6.

[0263] If, for instance, the treatment line configuration indicates that the objects are treated in the first zone 10 by spraying the treatment fluid on them, which would be the case for an object handling type as shown in Fig. 2, an overspray parameter is provided in step 1002, which indicates an amount of treatment fluid sprayed from the first zone 10 into the second zone 20, thereby contributing to the mixing of treatment fluid into the rinsing fluid in the second zone 20. Moreover, if the objects are treated in the first zone 10 by spraying the treatment fluid on them, wherein a fluid barrier 12 is established between the first zone 10 and the second zone 10 during treatment of objects in the first zone 10 to prevent treatment fluid being sprayed from the first zone 10 into the second zone 20 as in the case of a continuous spray line as shown in Fig. 6, then a barrier carriage parameter is provided in step 1002. The barrier carriage parameter indicates an amount of treatment fluid sprayed on the fluid barrier 12 and reaching the second zone 20 from the fluid barrier 12 upon withdrawal of the fluid barrier 12, thereby contributing to the mixing of treatment fluid into the rinsing fluid. If, furthermore, the object handling type of the treatment line configuration indicates that the second zone 20 shares a same treatment chamber 23 with a third zone 30 of a chamber line as illustrated Fig. 6, such that the second zone 20 and the third zone 30 use a same set of pumping and / or fluid guiding means, a remaining fluid parameter is provided in step 1002. The remaining fluid parameter indicates a fluid remainder remaining, after rinsing in the second zone 20 or the third zone 30, in the shared chamber 23. Also a fluid loss parameter may be provided in step 1002, to indicate an amount of rinsing fluid leaving the treatment line or particularly the second zone 20 by evaporation and / or suction.BASF SE

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[0267] Also step 1003 depends on the treatment line configuration, and specifically depending on a fluid handling type of the treatment line. In particular, if the second zone 20 is a steady rinse as shown in Fig. 7, such that it only receives rinse water via an external supply and only after active removal of rinsing fluid from it, a required time for this active removal in exchange for fresh rinse water may be determined in step 1003. In order to determine this time, an evolution of a rinsing fluid parameter as explained with reference to Fig. 7 is determined in step 1003. In step 1002, then, preferably a predefined upper limit for the rinsing fluid parameter is additionally provided, wherein the evolution is determined based on the carryover amount and the upper limit of the rinsing fluid parameter. If, on the other hand, the second zone 20 is a flow rinse as shown in Fig. 8, and is hence configured to continuously or repeatedly receive rinse water from an external supply, step 1003 may include determining a required amount or speed for the continuous or repeated addition of rinse water to the second zone 20, such as by requiring the rinsing fluid parameter the second zone 20 to be constant as explained in more detail with reference to Fig. 8. If the second zone 20 is part of a cascade of rinsing zones as indicated in Fig. 9, not the rinsing fluid parameter of the second zone 20 is required to be constant, but instead the last zone in the cascade.

[0268] The method illustrated by Fig. 10 may be a computer-implemented method in which steps 1001 and 1002 correspond to receiving a user input, or are based on a user input. The respective user input may be provided by a user via a graphical user interface which assists the user in designing and assessing treatment lines of various types. A result of step 1003 may be displayed to the user via the graphical user interface. Depending on the displayed result, the user may decide to build a respective treatment line or reconfigure an existing treatment line.

[0269] For instance, the carryover amount may be provided by prompting the user to input a surface area of the objects to be treated in the treatment line, a number of objects passing through the treatment line in a predefined time period, and an amount of liquid carried per object when the object passes from one zone of the treatment line to the next. Based on these inputs, a carryover amount per predefined time period may be automatically calculated by multiplying the three input quantities with each other. Since in treatment lines of the coil line type there are not a plurality of individual and distinct objects that are being treated, but instead a continuous coil, the carryover amount is, in the case of coil line type treatment lines, determined based on further user inputs. These further user inputs correspond to a speed at which the coil is uncoiled, a width of the coil, a thickness of the coil and a coil material. A carryover amount per "virtual unit" of coil material may still be provided as input by the user, wherein an extent of the "virtual unit" may be derived from the speed,BASF SE

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[0273] the width and the thickness of the coil. The further user inputs used to determine the carryover amount in the case of a coil line are prompted to be input by the user only if the user has previously provided an input indicating that the treatment line he or she intends to assess is of a coil line type. Similarly, also user inputs associated with the overspray parameter, the barrier carriage parameter and the remaining fluid parameter may only be prompted in case the user has previously indicated that a treatment line of the applicable type is to be designed, i.e., a vertical line, a transverse line or a chamber line, respectively. The overspray parameter may be input by the user as a volume of liquid per predefined time period, such that no further conversion may be necessary. The barrier carriage parameter may be provided based on a user input indicating an area of the respective fluid barrier, such as an area of a curtain 12 in its rolled-out state. For treatment lines with temporary fluid barriers whose removal does not lead to a liquid mixing across zones, such as in the case of curtains 12 which are not rolled but folded, the barrier carriage parameter may be equal to zero. The remaining fluid parameter may be provided based on a user input corresponding to one or more dimensions of the chambers 23 of the treatment line. Based on these dimensions, a wall surface area of a respective chamber 23 may be automatically determined, and based thereon an amount of liquid remaining on the chamber walls after rinsing in a respective zone.

[0274] After the above inputs regarding the object handling type of the treatment line, the carryover amount and applicable further parameters depending on the object handling type have been provided, the user may be prompted to provide further inputs indicating the fluid handling type of the treatment line. In particular, the user may then choose a number of zones of the treatment line, a fluid capacity for each of the zones, whether a respective zone should be an active treatment zone or a rinse, a chemically active concentrate to be used in the active treatment zones, an upper limit on concentration, a pH or conductivity, where the rinsing zones receive rinsing fluid from (i.e., which other rinsing zones of a cascade and / or whether they receive fresh rinse water from an external supply), and where an overflow of the rinsing zones is guided to (i.e., to which other rinsing zones of a cascade and / or whether it leaves the treatment line).

[0275] For the purpose of further illustration, Fig. 11A shows a particular example of a user interface for providing a treatment line configuration according to an embodiment, and Fig. 11 B shows a display of a result of determining a corresponding rinse water need. For formal reasons, the user interface and display shown in Figs. 11A and 11 B have each been split into a respective left part (Part 1) and a respective right part (Part 2), wherein it will be understood that in reality the respective left part and right part would be combined in a single view, with the left part on the left and the right part on the right.BASF SE

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[0279] In particular, Figs. 11 A and 11B relate to an example in which the treatment line comprises a “multi-cascade” of zones. In a lower, “cascade matrix” section CM of the user interface shown in Fig. 11 A, the user is given the option to indicate, for each of the in total twelve zones (also referred to as “stages” in this embodiment) of the treatment line, a respective inflow from each of the other zones as well as a respective outflow to each of the other zones.

[0280] For instance, in this case a “forward” fluid flow F1-4 of 20 L / h is indicated from the first stage to the fourth stage, wherein the fourth stage additionally receives a backflow B5-1 of 8000 L / h from the fifth stage, and a backflow B12-1 of 500 L / h from the twelfth stage. That the fourth stage receives not only a fluid inflow from the directly following fifth stage as would be common for ordinary cascades, but additionally from the first stage and the twelfth stage, is highlighted by a “plus” symbol in a part P of the user interface further above, where for each zone it is indicated from which one or more other zones it receives fluid (the line “cascade from stage”).

[0281] Similarly, while the fourth stage in Fig. 11 B receives inflows from more than one other stage, the twelfth stage provides outflows to more than one other stage. In particular, besides a backflow B12-11 towards the directly preceding eleventh stage and the above indicated backflow B12-4 to the fourth stage, additionally a fluid outflow B12-6 to the sixth stage is indicated by the treatment line configuration shown in Fig. 11 B.

[0282] It should be noted that the one or more inflows and / or the one or more outflows indicated for a respective zone do not refer to respective carryover amounts or other “inadvertent” transfers of fluid. Rather, being part of, or indicated by, the treatment line configuration, they preferentially correspond to structural features of the treatment line, such as fluid inlets and / or outlets of the respective zones, to fluid guiding conduits between the respective zones and / or to pumps for effecting the respective fluid flows between the respective zones. Thus, for instance, the flow of 20 L / h from the first stage to the fourth stage indicated in Fig. 11A is not a carryover amount. A carryover amount is preferentially determined based on a separate user input, such as an input provided by the user in relation to another part of the user interface.

[0283] After a) the treatment line configuration including the generalised cascade of flows between the plurality of treatment and / or rinsing zones, and b) the carryover amount have been determined based on respective user inputs, an overview may be displayed to the user as indicated in Fig. 11 B, wherein the overview includes analysis results such as a determined rinse water need. In the illustrated case, the rinse water need includes 14.000 L / h of cityBASF SE

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[0287] water and 12.600 L / h of deionized (DI) water. The “multi-cascade” realised by the treatment line configuration is visualised in a right part of the display, where the fluid flows F1-4, B5-4, B12-4 into the fourth stage have been marked for the sake of exemplary illustration.

[0288] With a cascade matrix CM as indicated in Fig. 11 A, a wide variety of cascade circuits can be simulated, and hence corresponding rinse water needs can be determined. Multiple inlets can be configured per zone, i.e. , stage. This means that in a treatment line with N zones, up to N-1 inlets can be configured for each zone. This allows to flexibly determine from which other one or more zones each individual zone is supplied.

[0289] In the cascade matrix CM of Fig. 11 A, the entries below the diagonal indicate fluid flows from back to front in the treatment line, which is also known as the “normal flow”. “Normal flow” refers to the flow of fluid from the rear to the front through the stages, or zones. The cascade matrix entries above the diagonal indicate a respective “reverse inlet”, i.e., a fluid flow in the opposite direction. On the diagonal of the cascade matrix, no entries can be made, indicating that a respective inlet is not possible. In other words, a fluid flow from one stage into itself is excluded. Whether an entry in the cascade matrix refers to a normal flow, a reverse inlet, or is excluded, may be indicated to a user by a respective colour scheme, as exemplarily shown in Fig. 11 A.

[0290] Generally, a “cascade” may refer to an activation of several stages, or zones, in sequence. If more than one cascade is activated (as in the fourth stage in the example of Figs. 11A and 11 B), also this may be indicated to the user by graphical means such as the exemplary “plus” symbol in Fig. 11 A. A graphical indicator like this preferentially only appears when several zones are activated simultaneously.

[0291] From the individual inlets, or inflows, the conductivity and / or pH value of each zone can be calculated. Preferably, a rinse water need may then be determined based on the calculated conductivities and / or pH values for the different zones.

[0292] In a displayed report as exemplarily shown in Fig. 11 B, the cascade routing indicated by the cascade matrix CM may be traced by the user in terms of arrows between stages or zones. In the embodiment of Fig. 11A and 11 B, the fourth stage has three inlets as explained above: two are used for rinsing and one for cleaning the bath. Each of these inlets fulfils a specific function in the process to ensure optimal water quality and cleaning within this stage.BASF SE

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[0296] The present disclosure has been described in conjunction with preferred embodiments and examples as well. However, other variations can be understood and effected by those persons skilled in the art and practicing the claimed invention, from a study of the present disclosure, including the drawings, the above description and the claims.

[0297] In particular, it will be understood that the present disclosure relates to pretreatment lines and other kinds of treatment lines alike. The fluids in the respective zones will usually be liquids, but could in principle also be gases, for instance. Preferentially, however, the treatment fluids are liquid solutions of a chemically active ingredient (“concentrate”) in water, and the rinsing fluids will be water - i.e., initially, wherein the water is successively mixed with rinsing fluid and hence with the chemically active ingredient. Generally, the word “treatment” should be understood as including “rinsing”. However, in the above, the two words have mainly be used to distinguish respective zones from each other based on their main purpose.

[0298] While several parameters have been mentioned above based on which the rinse water need may be determined, further parameters may be provided as a basis for the rinse water determination. For instance, one or more rinse water supply characteristics may be input by the user, which indicate a conductivity, a pH and / or a temperature of the water supplied to one or more of the rinse zones in the respective treatment line. Similarly, for each active treatment zone, a respective treatment concentrate used in the zone may be provided, and a concentration at which it is held in the zone.

[0299] Moreover, while the above embodiments have been described with an emphasis on a first, a second and a third zone of a respective treatment line, the same or similar considerations would apply to other zones.

[0300] Furthermore, while the above embodiments mainly related to the aspect of rinse water need determination, other aspects of the present disclosure relate to a determination of further quantities associated with a chemical treatment line, wherein also these further quantities can assist in planning and / or optimizing a treatment line configuration. The further quantities may particularly include a wastewater amount, a fluid property value such as a pH or conductivity, a required time and / or energy and / or a temperature of an anodising zone, and costs associated with a chemical treatment line. Accordingly, Fig. 12 illustrates schematically and exemplarily a method for determining a quantity of interest associated with a chemical treatment line, wherein the quantity may also be different from the rinse water need. Nevertheless, in a step 2001 of the method, a treatment line configuration may be provided, wherein the treatment line configuration may include a fluid handling type andBASF SE

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[0304] an object handling type as explained above with reference to the rinse water need determination. In a step 2002 of the method, one or more input parameters relating to the quantity of interest are provided. As in the case of steps 1001 and 1002 for the rinse water need determination, steps 2001 and 2002 may involve an interaction of a user with a graphical user interface of a computer program implementing the method. For instance, the user may provide inputs indicating the treatment line configuration and the one or more input parameters. In a step 2003 of the method, the quantity of interest is determined based on the treatment line configuration and the one or more input parameters. The determined quantity of interest may then be displayed to the user, whereupon the user may decide whether or not to change the treatment line configuration.

[0305] In fact, for some quantities of interest associated with chemical treatment lines, providing a treatment line configuration may not be necessary. For determining quantities of this kind, step 2001 may be omitted, and in step 2003 the quantity may be determined just based on the one or more parameters provided in step 2002. This may be the case, for instance, for determining a pH value of a treatment fluid or a rinsing fluid to be used in one or more zones of the treatment line. This determination is preferably carried out based on a virtual titration of the respective fluid. Besides, just the value of an acid constant of a constituent other than water which is contained in the fluid may be required. For instance, for determining the pH value of some product which is to be used as treatment liquid in an active bath of a treatment line, an acid constant (or its negative logarithm) of a raw material to be used as concentrate dissolved in the treatment liquid may be provided.

[0306] In the following, exemplary details of a method as illustrated by Fig. 12 will be described.

[0307] To indicate the treatment line configuration, a user may indicate one or more dimensions for each of the zones. For instance, a length, a width and a depth of a respective zone may be provided as dimensions, and a respective bath volume may be determined automatically. If only a bath volume is provided, but no dimensions, cubic dimensions may be assumed for a respective zone. Based on the dimensions, a surface area may be calculated for the respective zones, wherein the surface areas may be taken into account for determining an energy need of the treatment line. Furthermore, the user may indicate for each of the zones a choice of make up water, wherein the make up water may be chosen to be demineralised water, city water or process water. This information may be used to determine process costs of the treatment line. A number of bath make-ups per year, i.e., a number of times a respective bath is emptied and filled with fresh rinse water, may be indicated for determining rinse water needs, wastewater amounts and process costs. A treatment time may be indicated for clocked processes, such as chamber cycle systems or injectionBASF SE

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[0311] zones. The treatment time is used to calculate the energy costs. A tact frequency may be indicated per zone for calculating an effective treatment time.

[0312] A plurality of products used in a respective zones as, or as part of, treatment or rinsing fluid may be indicated to calculate the process costs. The products may be indicated in terms of their name, their price, a required amount, such as an amount needed per make-up, and a consumption. The consumption may refer, for instance, to a required amount per unit surface area of an object to be treated. Costs incurred per product may be automatically determined based on the respective required amount per make-up and the number of make-ups per year (see above).

[0313] Energy-related inputs may be provided as a basis for determining process costs as well as a carbon emissions balance, particularly a CO2 balance, of a treatment line. For pumps of the treatment lines, a pump power may be specified. The pumps may include spray pumps and circulation pumps. An energy consumption can be specified for chemical processes (e.g. anodising) and / or paint deposition (e.g. cathodic dip coating), both of which may be realized in a same treatment line. An electrical consumption by extractors such as fans may also be provided. Furthermore, a flow rate (e.g., in volume per time) of extractors may be indicated. This value can have a major impact on the energy consumption of heated baths. Also, an indication of the average bath temperature for heated baths may be made as a basis for determining an energy need. An indication of the temperature of the baths after the weekend and / or an end of production may be provided. This information can be used to determine the heating costs. A bath cover, which may reduce heating costs through insulation, can be specified by, e.g., entering its energy conversion efficiency. Good insulation can be achieved with, e.g., 85 %, as in the case of a hot sealing “heissealing” bath, for instance, using a lid. It may further be indicated whether a bath is heated, cooled or none of the two. This may be used to determining heating costs. If a bath is heated, a target bath temperature is preferably also provided. In fact, it is preferred that also for a bath (e.g., a rinse) preceding a heated bath in the treatment lines a target temperature is provided. The temperature of the preceding bath, and therefore of the objects, will be transferred to the next, heated bath. Also the temperature of fresh water and the temperature input of cascades can be considered.

[0314] To calculate the cleaning and maintenance costs, as well as the disposal costs for sludge, further input parameters may be provided, such as a chemical cleaning interval and a required time per cleaning.BASF SE

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[0318] Basic cost information may be provided for determining therefrom all process costs. The basic cost information may be indicative of costs for the water used, costs for the treatment substances used, treatment and / or rinsing fluid disposal costs, electricity costs, heating costs, labour costs, oil disposal costs, and sludge disposal costs. The treatment substances may be used in active treatment zones and / or in rinsing zones, in the latter case for conditioning the rinse water, for instance. The electricity costs are preferentially used for the energy calculation for pumps, processes or parts cooling. Heating costs can be prices for gas, oil, pellets, etc.

[0319] Also more general input parameters may be provided, which are relevant for energy calculations. For instance, a weight of parts on a respective object carrier, such as of a car body, for instance, may be indicated. Also, a weight of a respective object carrier may be indicated. An amount of fluid returned from a suction mechanism such as a plume refeed or steam recovery may further be indicated, as well as an efficiency of any heated bath covers. An evaporation coefficient or similar indicator may be provided as a basis for determining evaporation quantities of a bath. The evaporation coefficient may be as follows: covered bath: 0.5, resting evaporation: 5, low bath movement: 15, medium bath movement: 20, strong bath movement: 28, turbulent bath: 35. Besides, a humidity and a temperature in a room, such as a production hall in which the treatment line is installed may be indicated. Further, an indication of a heat capacity of object carriers may be made. Typical values may be as follows: in KJ / °C: steel: 0.490, aluminum: 0.896, zinc: 0.385, magnesium: 1 ,046. Also a heat transfer coefficient may be indicated to characterize an insulation of respective zones, particularly respective baths or bath walls. Exemplary values are as follows in W / m*K: reinforced concrete wall: 9, steel wall: 50, mineral wool (7cm): 0.04, polystyrene 0.045. A safety margin may be indicated to account for deviations in any of the other inputs, wherein the safety margin may be, e.g., 15%. An amount of CO2 emitted per amount of heating energy (e.g., gas, oil, electricity, pellets, etc.) and / or electrical energy (coal, nuclear power, combined heat and power plant, solar, water or a mix of these) used may be indicated. Furthermore, a thermal energy output of pumps may be indicated. The use of a pump also transfers energy in the form of heat to the bath medium. This energy is counted as negative energy (supply) in determining the process costs.

[0320] The object treatment in a treatment line may be split into a pretreatment and a subsequent treatment. For determining energy needs of the subsequent treatment indications regarding drying, baking and / or cooling may be provided as basis. In particular, for determining an energy required for a subsequent drying using an adhesion water dryer and (e.g. before powder coating), the adhesive water dryer (HWT) temperature may be specified, the amount of exhaust air and the surface of the walls. An insulation of 15 cm may be assumed.BASF SE

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[0323]

[0324] For determining the energy for a subsequent baking of a paint using a curing furnace (e.g. powder coating or cathodic dip coating), the baking temperature and the amount of exhaust air may be specified. Again, an insulation of 15 cm may be assumed. For determining the energy for a subsequent cooling of a paint (e.g. powder coating or cathodic dip coating), a fan power may be indicated. The energy determination may be carried out based further on a provided indication for an active production time, such as a number of production hours / year.

[0325] The above input parameters may be provided via respective separate, user-selectable views of a computer program, or via a combined view showing, for instance, an overview of the treatment line configuration. To make entries easier for a user, it is possible to synchronize or delete data from several zones, i.e., at once as opposed to individually.

[0326] To display process cost changes, a cost comparison may be carried out and visualized to a user. Reference costs may be represented side by side together with costs determined for a candidate treatment line configuration assuming previously provided input parameters used in the cost determination. Partial costs may be displayed, i.e., the costs may be differentiated regarding their origin, such as whether they are material costs, fresh water costs, water discharge costs, cleaning costs, electricity costs or heating costs. When the treatment line configuration or other parameters are changed, a corresponding cost change caused thereby may be determined and presented to the user. For instance, if a fluid temperature in a zone is lowered from 60°C to 50°C, a cost saving caused by this may be shown relative to the previous state with 60°C in the zone, which may serve as the reference. Also whole treatment lines may be compared regarding their costs. That is to say, not only cost changes caused by a change in features of a current treatment line being planned, configured and / or reconfigured may be displayed, but also cost differences to previously planned, and / or configured treatment lines, which may be retrieved from a database. Furthermore, cost developments may be visualized. Defined treatment line parameters may be changed and an effect of such changes on a development of the process costs may be determined, such as by simulation. The determined cost development may also be restricted to selected zones and / or to selected partial costs. The determined cost development may refer to a determined evolution of costs incurred by a respective treatment line or one or more zones depending on time or depending on one or more of the parameters on which it depends. If the dependence is time, the cost development may be viewed as a future outlook. If the dependence is on another parameter, such as a heating price, for instance, the cost development may be regarded as a scenario assuming an evolution of that parameter.BASF SE

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[0330] It should be noted that any steps presented herein can be performed in any order, i.e. the present disclosure is not limited to a specific order of these steps. Moreover, it is also not required that the different steps are performed at a certain place or at one node of a distributed system, i.e. each of the steps may be performed at different nodes using different equipment / data processing.

[0331] In particular, procedures like the providing of a treatment line configuration, particularly an object handling type or fluid handling type of the treatment line, the providing of a carryover amount or other parameters, the determining of rinse water need, etc., performed by one or several units or devices, can be performed by any other number of units or devices. These procedures can be implemented as program code means of a computer program and / or as dedicated hardware.

[0332] Accordingly, for instance, the treatment line configuration and the carryover amount are preferentially to be understood herein as inputs to a processing logic followed by a computer, wherein the inputs may be based on user inputs. The rinse water need is then preferentially to be understood as corresponding to an output of the processing logic, based on which a display output to a user may be generated. In this regard, it will also be understood that any method steps described herein “if some condition is met, such as a particular type of second zone being indicated by the treatment line configuration, for instance, shall be understood as being preferentially carried out if a preceding step of evaluating whether the condition is met results in a positive evaluation. In other words, terms like “If A, then step B” shall preferentially be understood as “Evaluating if A is met, and if so, step B”, or as “Evaluating if A is met, and a) if so, step B, and b) if not so, do not step B”.

[0333] A computer program product may be stored / distributed on a suitable medium, such as an optical storage medium or a solid-state medium, supplied together with or as part of other hardware, but may also be distributed in other forms, such as via the Internet or other wired or wireless telecommunication systems.

[0334] As used herein, ..determining" also includes ..initiating or causing to determine", “generating" also includes ..initiating and / or causing to generate" and “providing” also includes “initiating or causing to determine, generate, select, send and / or receive”. “Initiating or causing to perform an action” includes any processing signal that triggers a computing node or device to perform the respective action.

[0335] In the claims as well as in the description the word “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps. The indefinite article “a” or “an” and the definite article “the” does notBASF SE

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[0339] exclude a plurality. In particular, the indefinite article “a” or “an” may be replaced with “one or more” and the definite article “the” may be replaced with “one or more”. A single element or other unit may fulfill the functions of several entities or items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in the mutual different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used in an advantageous implementation.

[0340] Any disclosure and embodiments described herein relate to the methods, the systems, devices, any computer program element lined out above and vice versa. Advantageously, the benefits provided by any of the embodiments and examples equally apply to all other embodiments and examples and vice versa.

[0341] Any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope.

[0342] The disclosure relates to determining quantities such as a rinse water need of a chemical treatment line, the treatment line comprising i) a first zone in which treatment fluid is used for treating objects and ii) a second zone in which rinsing fluid is used for rinsing the objects after they have been treated in the first zone, by providing a treatment line configuration indicative of how the second zone is configured to receive rinse water, providing a carryover amount indicative of an amount of treatment fluid which is carried by the objects from the first zone to the second zone such that it mixes into the rinsing fluid, and determining the rinse water need based on the treatment line configuration and the carryover amount. Knowing quantities like a rinse water need can assist in planning and optimising chemical treatment lines.

Claims

- 44 - BASF SE231397Claims:

1. A computer-implemented method for determining a rinse water need of a chemical treatment line, the treatment line comprising i) a first zone (10) in which treatment fluid is used for treating objects and ii) a second zone (20) in which rinsing fluid is used for rinsing the objects after they have been treated in the first zone (10), the rinsing fluid including rinse water, wherein the method includes:providing (1001) a treatment line configuration, the treatment line configuration being indicative of how the second zone (20) is configured to receive rinse water, wherein the provided treatment line configuration is further indicative of how the objects are being treated in the first zone (10) and how the objects are being rinsed in the second zone (20),providing (1002) a carryover amount, the carryover amount being indicative of an amount of treatment fluid which is carried by the objects from the first zone (10) to the second zone (20) such that it mixes into the rinsing fluid, anddetermining (1003) the rinse water need based on the treatment line configuration and the carryover amount.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the treatment line is configured such that an initial amount of rinsing fluid in the second zone (20) is an amount of rinse water which is selected based on a fluid capacity of the second zone (20), wherein rinsing fluid that would exceed the fluid capacity of the second zone (20) flows out of the second zone (20).

3. The method according to any of claims 1 and 2, wherein if the treatment line configuration indicates that the second zone (20) only receives rinse water via an external supply and only after active removal of rinsing fluid from the second zone (20), the method includes:determining an evolution of a rinsing fluid parameter based on the carryover amount, wherein the rinsing fluid parameter is indicative of a pH or an electrical resistance of the rinsing fluid in the second zone (20),wherein the rinse water need is determined based on the evolution of the rinsing fluid parameter.- 45 - BASF SE2313974. The method according to claim 3, further including:providing a predefined upper limit for the rinsing fluid parameter,wherein determining the rinse water need refers to determining a time of a required exchange of at least part of the rinsing fluid in the second zone (20) by fresh rinse water, wherein the time is determined based on the evolution of the rinsing fluid parameter and the upper limit.

5. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein if the treatment line configuration indicates that the second zone (20) is configured to continuously or repeatedly receive rinse water from an external supply, the method includes:determining as rinse water need a required continuous or repeated addition of rinse water to the second zone (20) from the external supply, by requiring a rinsing fluid parameter to be constant or stay within a predefined margin, wherein the rinsing fluid parameter is indicative of a pH or an electrical resistance of the rinsing fluid.

6. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein if the treatment line configuration indicates that the second zone (20) is part of a cascade of rinsing zones, the method includes:determining as rinse water need a required continuous or repeated addition of rinse water to the cascade, wherein the required addition is determined by requiring a rinsing fluid parameter to be constant or stay within a predefined margin, wherein the rinsing fluid parameter is indicative of a pH or an electrical resistance of a rinsing fluid in a last of the rinsing zones in the cascade.

7. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the treatment line configuration indicates that the treatment line comprises a plurality of treatment zones and / or rinsing zones in which at least one zone receives a fluid flow (F1-4, B5-4, B12-4) from and / or provides a fluid flow (B12-4, B12-6, B12-11) to more than one other zone.

8. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein if the treatment line configuration indicates that the objects are treated in the first zone (10) by spraying the treatment fluid on them, the method further includes:- 46 - BASF SE231397providing an overspray parameter, wherein the overspray parameter is indicative of an amount of treatment fluid sprayed from the first zone (10) into the second zone (20), thereby contributing to the mixing of treatment fluid into the rinsing fluid in the second zone (20),wherein the rinse water need is further determined based on the overspray parameter.

9. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein if the treatment line configuration indicates that the objects are treated in the first zone (10) by spraying the treatment fluid on them, wherein a fluid barrier (12) is established between the first and the second zone (20) during treatment of objects in the first zone (10), the fluid barrier (12) preventing treatment fluid being sprayed from the first zone (10) into the second zone (20), the method further includes:providing a barrier carriage parameter, wherein the barrier carriage parameter is indicative of an amount of treatment fluid sprayed on the fluid barrier (12) and reaching the second zone (20) from the fluid barrier (12) upon withdrawal of the fluid barrier (12), thereby contributing to the mixing of treatment fluid into the rinsing fluid,wherein the rinse water need is further determined based on the barrier carriage parameter.

10. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein if the treatment line configuration indicates that the treatment line comprises a third zone, wherein the objects are treated or rinsed in the third zone with a third fluid, the method further includes:providing a back-mixing parameter, wherein the back-mixing parameter is indicative of an amount of the third fluid mixing into the rinsing fluid in the second zone (20),wherein the rinse water need is further determined based on the back-mixing parameter.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein if the treatment line configuration indicates that the objects are rinsed in the third zone (30) with the third fluid, wherein the second and the third zone are arranged in a same rinsing chamber (23) during rinsing, wherein rinsing in the second zone (20) is carried out at different times than-M - BASF SE231397rinsing in the third zone, but using a same set of pumping and / or fluid guiding means, the method further includes:providing a remaining fluid parameter, wherein the remaining fluid parameter is indicative of a fluid remainder remaining, after rinsing in the second zone (20) or the third zone (30), a) in the pumping and / or fluid guiding means and / or b) on walls of the rinsing chamber (23),wherein the rinse water need is further determined based on the remaining fluid parameter.

12. The method according to any of the preceding claims, further including:providing a fluid loss parameter, wherein the fluid loss parameter is indicative of an amount of rinsing fluid leaving the treatment line by evaporation and / or suction,wherein the rinse water need is further determined based on the fluid loss parameter.

13. Data processing apparatus for determining a rinse water need of a chemical treatment line, the treatment line comprising i) a first zone (10) in which treatment fluid is used for treating objects and ii) a second zone (20) in which rinsing fluid is used for rinsing the objects after they have been treated in the first zone (10), the rinsing fluid including rinse water, wherein the apparatus comprises data processing means for carrying out the method according to any of the preceding claims.

14. A computer program for determining a rinse water need of a chemical treatment line, the treatment line comprising i) a first zone (10) in which treatment fluid is used for treating objects and ii) a second zone (20) in which rinsing fluid is used for rinsing the objects after they have been treated in the first zone (10), the rinsing fluid including rinse water, wherein the program comprises instructions which, when the program is executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the method according to any of claims 1 to 12.

15. Use of the apparatus according to claim 13 or the program according to claim 14 for configuring or reconfiguring the chemical treatment line based on the determined rinse water need.

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