ADVANTAGES OF A STRIKOMELTER

Increasing competition in the automotive industry makes it very hard to keep profitable for die-casting foundries. Aluminium foundries have to reduce their internal production costs continuously in order to stay competitive. Beside the investment costs the main focus is to reduce the energy costs. For this reason, especially here in India, we see many furnace units which are heavy fuel heated. Heavy fuel is the cheapest energy available. It is much cheaper than other energy sources. But is buying a cheap heavy oil fired melting furnace the best way to reduce production costs? This is not this easy to answer. In long term thinking, a modern and efficient foundry has to focus the view on the Total Costs of Ownership. By doing this, the priorities will be different. For example: 1. Availability higher than 98% - stop times are very expensive 2. Best metal yield lower than 1% - app. 60% of the production costs are raw material 3. Longest available lifetime of the furnace (additional payback) 4. Low maintenance costs 5. Low energy costs A StrikoWestofen Melter is especially designed to meet all these mentioned criteria in order to realize a short payback time. StrikoWestofen have over 55 years experience and act as a main supplier to A rated foundries worldwide. More than 2.000 StrikoMelters were sold in the last 30 years. Meanwhile, about 20 StrikoMelters are working successfully in India.

The concept of the StrikoMelter is based on following criteria:

Internal preheating
It is a well a known fact that ingots and returns, placed as a big bulk in the melting area, will have the risk of wet parts in it. As a result, explosions during melting can happen.

In order to melt a big bulk within a short period of time a high energy input is required due to a relatively small surface in relation to the volume. The results are higher metal loss and energy consumption. Because of the special conical form (ETAmax principle) in the shaft area of a StrikoMelter, most of the charged material will stick in there first and only small portions are falling down into the melting area. Melting of these smaller portions can be done faster with a lower surrounding temperature and energy input. At the same time all waste gases are passing through the filled upper shaft area and preheat the material in there. After a while, the lowest layer of the material begins to melt and the next portion falls down for melting. By keeping the shaft continuously filled and during constant melting process all material in the melting zone is dried and preheated. This makes it possible to keep a very a low energy consumption level and to reduce the metal loss figure.

Optimized Design
To get a good efficiency, it is important that the flame can burn out with its maximum volume. The heat transfer in the melting area is a mixture of radiation and convection. Mathematical modeling is used to optimize the melting area. In a StrikoMelter, we reach a mixture of app. 50% radiation and 50% convection. The molten Al is guided, almost turbulence free, into a holding area attached beside the furnace. There, the liquid Al can be taken out by tapping or tilting into a transport ladle. Very important during the processing is to avoid cold air entering into the system uncontrolled. For that reason, very heavy insulated doors are closing air-tight by their own weight, guided in rails.

Efficiency and Energy

The overall efficiency of a StrikoMelter, using all the mentioned measurements, reaches in standard design app. 56%. If there is space enough in height, the preheating zone can be extended by about 700 to 900mm. As a result, this figure can be improved to app. 65%. Typical data of a StrikoMelter: Specific energy consumption: Metal loss: 550 600 kWh/t

< 0.8% (with ingots only) < 1.2% (with 50% ingots, 50% bulky returns)

Low metal loss

In order to measure the exact metal loss, measurements with a precision weighing unit have to be taken constantly over min 4 days. All input- and output material has to be recorded in detail. Only this systematic statistic will show reliable results. In practical measurements on a StrikoMelter with 1 t melting rate (3 years ago), following data have been reached:

As already mentioned, the metal loss figure is the most important cost factor in the melting shop of a foundry. To point this out, we apply the following example: Existing melting furnace: 2t/h melting rate. Melt loss 3%. Specific energy 50 l HDO/t. Price per liter LDO = 45 INR. Specific Energy = 60l/t. Price per t Al = 110,000 INR/t Production per year: 2t x 22h *330 day = 14.500 t equal 1,319,500,000. -- INR Energy per year; 60l/t x 14.500t = 870,000 l/year equal 39,150,000. -- INR

10% energy saving means: 1,5 % metal loss saving means:

3,915,000, -- INR 23,925,000, -- INR

This example shows clearly that metal loss is most influencing the cost of production.

Environmental Data
By the use of clean raw material and environmental friendly spraying oils, a StrikoMelter does not need a filtering system for the waste gas. In most cases the

data reached are much lower than the Reference Values of the European Union, which are used as reference in many countries, too. hour means Dust
[ mg/m ] STP dry

CO

Ctotal

NOx
[ mg/m ] STP dry

[ mg/m ] STP [ mg/m ] dry STP dry

Mean value Max.- value Reference value of the BREF

of EU-Commission (Best Available Technique Reference Documents)

3.5 8 20

10 50 150

15 30 150

25 50 120

Metal Quality
In order to increase metal quality almost every foundry makes use of degassing systems, which improve the density index of the material. For 7 years, StrikoWestofen offers a porous plug system in the bottom of the holding chamber, so degassing already starts in there. In many cases, the internal degassing results are good enough to be used Density Index directly in the die-casting process. Even with additional degassing, the degassing Figure time can be reduced significantly. The and
15.00 14.00 following table shows the difference between operation without porous 13.00 12.00 with porous plugs in a holding furnace with 5 t liquid Al content. 11.00 10.00 9.00 8.00 7.00 6.00 5.00 4.00 3.00 2.00 1.00 0.00

plugs

In House Recycling
IRON INSERTS Many foundries have problems with faulty casting parts already finished with iron inserts. Direct remelting in the melting shop is often not possible due to quality reasons. With a 2 chamber StrikoMelter, partial remelting of these kinds of parts can be done. Faulty parts can be handled the same way as normal returns. After remelting them in a StrikoMelter, it is only necessary to take the iron parts out of the melting chamber frequently. By doing so, the iron content in the liquid Al will not raise.

CHIPS More machining demands in the foundries lead to more Al chips. This material is normally sold to recycling companies, because there is no practicable unit to recycle chips in-house. In case of rising chip quantities, it is interesting to recycle them inside the own foundry. For this process, the StrikoChipmelter was developed, and is already working successfully. This system consists of a mechanical pump system, which generates a vortex stream in a pocket attached to a holding furnace. Dried and prepared chips are directly drawn underneath the liquid Al surface in this area, so the development of dross is avoided. Due to the special design of the patented Lotuss System from the company Metaullics, the chips do not directly get in touch with the pump system. As a result, a long lifetime of the unit is possible. In case the chips charged are dry, oil free and do not have too many fines, a metal yield of 98% can be reached. The total energy consumption in the oil or gas heated unit will be app. 950 kWh/t.

Additional to a Chip Melter, it is absolutely necessary to invest into a chip preparation plant. The chips have to be shreddered, centrifuged (cleaned from oil), preheated to up to 250OC and to be dosed accurately into the chip pocket. Due to the high invest we see an economical payback time when the amount of chips to be recycled reaches more than 400 kg/h.

Alternatively, it is possible to combine the Lotuss System with a StrikoMelter. So regular melting of ingots, returns and chips can be done in the same unit. This saves investment costs.

DOSING FURNACE IN DIECASTING

Dosing Furnace Westomat
In modern die-casting foundries, the dosing furnaces type Westomat are more and more the state of the art equipment to produce casting parts together with a die-casting machine. The metal transfer of liquid aluminium into the filling chamber is done fully automatic by overpressure through a dosing tube. The liquid metal is taken from underneath the bath surface. In doing so, the material is free of contaminations and oxides.

Dosing accuracy of a Westomat 1.5 % Temperature stability 1.5

o

The Westomat is connected to the DCM and synchronized with it. This means even if the machine is delayed or closes too early, the dosing process will start at the right time.

By use of the Top Stop system, the liquid metal is ready for filling any time. The liquid metal is always kept shortly underneath the running - out point of the dosing tube, so very short dosing cycles are possible. Delays of the die casting machine do not have any influence here as the dosing cycle starts only after announcement that the mould is closed. Faulty dosing cycles are avoided. Filling time of a Westomat: 5-7 s/shot.

The operation-friendly ProDos control is perfectly optimized for pressure diecasting. It provides reproducible dosing weights at constant casting speeds to the filling chamber. The only input parameters for this control are: required temperature and weight. The available content of the dosing furnace should be about 1.5 to 2.0 times of the hourly requirement. Dosing weights up to 100 kg per cycle can be realized.

Example for placement:

Maintenance and cleaning efforts are adapted to the tough requirements in a foundry. By using the lifting- and tilting unit, the Westomat can be taken away from the machine and tilted for cleaning. As cleaning cycle we recommend a short cleaning per week and a complete cleaning monthly. The amount of dross is only app. 0,06 % of the total liquid metal used, compared to a holding furnace where the dross is app. 5 8 times more (depending on process requirements).

A comparative study from an American customer showed a saving in dross compared to a holding furnace/ ladle design with a value of app. 25.000 USD/ per year (1.1 Mill INR/year).

The use of wear parts during normal operation is approximately two filling hoppers and three dosing tubes per year. The refractory, being maintained and serviced properly, can reach a lifetime of up to 10 years. For the Westomat following media are required: Dry compressed air: pressure: max. 150 mbar) Electric energy for holding: application) 50 - 100 Ndm3 - per dosing cycle (furnace 5 13 kWh/h (depending on the size and

OTHER POSIBILLITIES OF USING WESTOMAT

Beside the die-casting use the Westomat can also be operated in Gravity- and Piston Casting Process. Different variations are possible, as following pictures shows:

SAND CASTING

PISTON CASTING

SPECIAL DISA SAND CASTING

These examples show the flexibility of Westomats used in foundries today. With already more than 4.500 units in operation worldwide, this concept is nowadays state of the art and highly reliable for the processes in foundries.

Many thanks

Thomas Platzer