WO2009056905A1

WO2009056905A1 - Mould string casting plant comprising two core setters

Info

Publication number: WO2009056905A1
Application number: PCT/IB2007/054377
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ole Anders Jacobsen; Mogens Hansen
Original assignee: Disa Industries A/S
Priority date: 2007-10-29
Filing date: 2007-10-29
Publication date: 2009-05-07

Abstract

In a mould string casting plant comprising a moulding machine (1) delivering a plurality of uniform mould parts (11) to a string of moulds (10) on a transport system and a core setter for placing cores into the back of the last produced mould part (11) before closing the mould cavity by delivery of the next mould part to the string of moulds, two core setter's (2, 3) are positioned on opposite sides of the moulding machine (1) for sequentially inserting cores in the mould cavity, whereby the time available for positioning cores in the core masks of the core setters (2, 3) is increased.

Description

MOULD STRING CASTING PLANT COMPRISING TWO CORE SETTERS

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a mould string casting plant of the kind set forth in the opening part of claim 1.

BACKGROUND ART

In mould string plants of this kind, it is known to provide a core setter and an associated core shooter, whereby the produced moulds can be provided with cores for forming internal cavities in the produced castings. A mould string plant of this kind is e g known from US 4,765,389

US 4,079,774 discloses a mould string plant comprising core shooters having a high production rate for the produced cores in order to be able to drive the mould string casting plant at a high production rate

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

It is one object of the present invention to provide a mould string casting plant of the kind refeπed to above, with which it is possible to increases the productivity or in the alternative to increase the time available for inserting cores into the core mask of the cote setter. It is another object of the present invention to provide a mould string casting plant of the kind refeπed to above, with which it is possible to perform a quick change from production of one type of castings involving coies in the mould to another type of castings involving cores in the mould A further object of the present invention is to provide a mould string casting plant of the kind referred to above, with which it is possible to provide the casting cavities with a relatively complex core constellation involving cores in different layers in the casting cavity

A further object of the present invention is to provide a mould string casting plant of the kind referred to above, with which it is possible to insert cores and cooling irons into the casting cavities The above objects are achieved with a mould string casting plant of said kind, which according to the present invention also comprises the features set forth in the characterizing part of claim 1.

Experience has shown that typically the production rate of such a mould string casting plant is mainly limited by the time necessary for inserting the cores in the coie mask and the movement of the core mask to and from the delivery position in front of the mould string By having two core setters, the time available for this part of the process will be increased considerably and thus it will be possible to increase the production rate for the mould string casting plant

Another possibility is to use only one core setter at a time and preparing the other for the next, succeeding type of casting to be produced, whereby the change from one type of casting to another can be performed quickly, primarily limited by the time necessary for exchanging the pattern piates in the moulding machine The time used for change of the pattern plates in the moulding machine can be further decreased by using an automatic pattern plate exchange mechanism for quick change of the pattern plate in the moulding machine.

A further possibility is to insert one type of cores by means of one of the core setteis and another type of cores by means of the other core setter, whereby two layers of cores can be inserted in the mould cavity providing the possibility of supplying a more complicated coie structure therein

Furthermore, one core setter could be used for inserting cores and the othei core setter for inserting cooling irons used for controlled cooling of selected parts of the casting

In order to avoid repetitive motion disorders for an operator manually inserting the cores into the core mask, a coie-inserting robot is preferably used for inserting the cores in the core masks.

Advantageous further features, the advantages of which will be evident from the following detailed description, are revealed in the subordinate claims BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following detailed part of the present description, the invention will be explained in more detail with reference to the exemplary embodiments of a mould string casting plant according to the invention shown in the drawing, in which

Fig. I shows a schematic view of a mould string casting plant in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, said mould string casting plant comprising two core setters, two core shooters, two core-inserting robots, and a pattern plate exchange mechanism

Fig 2 shows a schematic view of the set-up of the core setters for moving horizontally in a direction orthogonal to the mould string on a common rail seen from the front of the moulding machine

Fig 3 shows a side view of the moulding machine provided with core setters

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The mould string casting plant shown in Fig 1 comprises a moulding machine 1 for making and depositing onto a conveyor, mould sections 11 having joint faces in engagement to foim a string IO of mould sections A mould cavity is defined in the joint face between the mould sections and said mould cavity is filled with liquid metal at a filling station 9 positioned to the side of the mould string 10

The moulding machine 1 shown in Fig 1 comprises an automatic pattern change mechanism 8 for quick change of pattern plates, said automatic pattern change mechanism 8 being associated with a pattern plate storage 12 for storing pattern plates to be inserted in the moulding machine 1

Two core setters 2, 3 are positioned on opposite sides of the moulding machine 1 and mounted for movement between a core insertion position, in which cores are inserted in the core masks on the core setters, and a core delivery position, in which the cores aie delivered to the last produced mould 1 1 in the string 10 of moulds. The forward movement of the core setter and core mask for delivery of the coies to the last produced mould part 1 1 is provided along forward movement rails 16 associated with each core setter, and the horizontal movement in the direction orthogonally to the mould string is provided along horizontal movement rails 15, which may be common for the two core setters The horizontal movement is provided by means of a hydraulic piston cylinder unit connected to a mechanism 17, and the forward movement is provided by means of hydraulic cylinders associated with each of the two core setters 2, 3

Other forms of drive units, which could be used instead of the mentioned hydraulic units, comprise pneumatic drives, electrical drives, etc.

The measuring system used for positioning the core setters in the core-delivery position and core-insertion position, respectively, in the direction orthogonally to the mould string is preferably provided in the form of a common measuring system for the two core setters

Correspondingly the vacuum system for retaining the cores in the core masks may be a common vacuum system controlled individually for the two coie setters 2, 3 If one coie setter 2 or 3 is used for inserting cooling irons, these cooling irons may be retained by means of the vacuum system, or in the alternative such cooling irons may be retained by electromagnets controlled electronically

In the mould string casting plant shown in Fig. 1 the cores for insertion into the last produced mould parts are delivered to the core setters by means of core-inserting robots 4, 5, one associated with each core setter 2, 3 The core-inserting robots 4, 5 pick up the cores from the core shooters 6, 7, or in the alternative the cores are delivered from a core storage, either on pallets or on a conveyor belt Normally the cores will be delivered in a suitable position for the coie-inserting robots 4, 5 to pick these up, but as an alternative the core- inserting robots 4, 5 may be provided with optical means for identifying the positions and orientations of the cores to be picked up in order to be able to pick them up in a conect position for delivery to the core masks 13, 14 in the core setters 2, 3

In Fig 1, two separate core shooters 6, 7 are associated with the core-inserting robots 4, 5, respectively, providing the possibility of delivering the cores directly from the core shooters 6, 7 via the core-inserting robots 4, 5 to the core masks 13, 14 of the core setters 2, 3 In order to avoid mutual dependency of a long string of apparatuses as described above it may be preferred to deliver the cotes from a core storage, whereby possible production problems related to the core shooters 6, 7 will not influence the productivity of the mould string casting plant

In principle it will be possible to have an operator manually inserting the cores into the core masks 13, 14 of the core setters 2, 3, instead of using the two core-inserting robots 4, 5, however, the operator will be subjected to repetitive motions, which may lead to repetitive motion disorders for the operator, and accordingly the use of core-inserting robots 4, 5 is prefeπed

The mould string casting plant as shown in Fig 1 provides a large flexibility with regard to production speed due to the fact that the two core setters 2, 3 can be used altcrnatingly for inserting coics in the last produced mould part 1 1, whereby the production rate for the mould string casting plant will be less restricted by the time necessary for inserting cores in the core masks 13, 14 of the core setters 2, 3 Whenever a mould part 1 1 is delivered ftom the moulding machine 1, a core setter 2 or 3 will be ready for delivery of cores to the last produced mould part 1 1 Thus, it will only be necessary to have the moulding machine 1 wait for the insertion being performed by the core setter 2, 3 and removing of the core setter 2, 3 from the position between the moulding machine 1 and the string of moulds 10 A major part of this waiting time will be used by the moulding machine 1 for producing the next mould part Compared with a mould string casting plant only comprising one core setter 2, the time available for inserting cores in the core masks 13, 14 of the core setters 2, 3 will be increased with approximately the time necessary for producing a mould part in the moulding machine 1

When producing small series of castings, the time used for changing from one series to anothei can be reduced by using the automatic pattern-change mechanism 8 and the pattern plate storage 12 associated with the moulding machine 1, and correspondingly a core mask- change mechanism 18, 19 may be associated with each of the two core setters 2, 3 in order to speed up the change of core masks 13, 14 for the core setters 2, 3 Also the core shooters 6, 7 may be associated with suitable change mechanisms 20, 21 for increasing the speed with which the core boxes of the core shooters 6, 7 arc changed from one set of cores to another. In the above respect with regard to changing core masks and core boxes, it might be possible to have the core-inserting robots 4, 5 adapted to be able to change the core masks 13, 14 and possibly also to assist in the changing of core boxes in the core shooters 6, 7.

In the above, the invention has been described in connection with a prefeπed embodiment, as shown in the drawings, however, many modifications may be performed within the scope of the present invention without departing from the following claims.

Claims

1 Mould string casting plant comprising a moulding machine (1) delivering a plurality of uniform mould parts (11) to a string of moulds (10) on a transport system and a core setter for placing cores into the back of the last produced mould part (11) before closing the mould cavity by delivery of the next mould part to the string of moulds (10), cha racterized by comprising two core setters (2, ϊ) positioned on opposite sides of the moulding machine (1),

2. Mould string casting plant in accordance with claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d by comprising a core shooter (6, 7) or a core storage associated with each core setter (2, 3).

3. Mould string casting plant in accordance with claim 2, c h a r a c t e r i z e d by comprising a core-inserting robot (4, 5) associated with each core setter (2, 3), said core- inserting robot (4, 5) being provided to move the cores from the core shooters (6, 7) or core storages to the core setters (2, 3).

4. Mould string casting plant in accordance with any of the preceding claims, ch ara cte r i ze d by comprising a pattern plate exchange mechanism (8) for quick exchange of pattern plates in the moulding machine (I)

5. Mould string casting plant in accordance with claim 1, char acterized by one of the two core setters (2, .3) being adapted for inserting cores into the last produced mould pait (11) and the other core setter (2, 3) being adapted for inserting cooling irons into the last produced mould part (11).

6. Mould string casting plant in accordance with claim 1, characterized by the two core setters (2, 3) being adapted to sequentially insert different sets of cores in one mould cavity

7. Mould string casting plant in accordance with claim 1, c ha ra c te rize d by the two core setters (2, 3) being mounted foi movement in the direction orthogonally to the mould string (10) on a common set of horizontal movement rails (15)

8- Mould string casting plant in accordance with claim 1, ch a ra ct e rize d by comprising a common measuring system for positioning the two core setters (2, 3) in the direction orthogonally to the mould string (10)

9. Mould stiing casting plant in accordance with claim 1, c h a ra ct eri zed by comprising a common vacuum system associated with the core setters (2, 3) for controlled retaining of the cores in the core masks (13, 14).