A Project Synopsis on

Automatic Ingot Feeder For Foundry

BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING
IN
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Submitted By

Group
Roll No. Name Mobile No. Email-Id
No
43208 Sarvesh K.Dalal 8805781400 danzasarvesh@gmail.com
43251 Rutuj V.Rajput 9168831960 rutuj.rajput04@gmail.com
24 43256 Atharva M.Salodkar 9822237813 atharvasalodkar@gmail.com
43275 shrikantwaghmode7145@gm
Shrikant S.Waghmode 7875167145
ail.com

Project Guide
Prof. S.B.Patil

Year 2019-20

Department of Mechanical Engineering

PES’s MODERN COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING PUNE-05
ABSTARCT

 This project work titled “AUTOMATIC INGOT FEEDER FOR

FOUNDARY” has been conceived having studied the difficulty in feeding of
aluminum ingot manually.
 An ingot is a material, usually metal, that is cast into a shape suitable for further
processing. Non-metallic and semiconductor materials prepared in bulk form
may also be referred to as ingots, particularly when cast by mold based
methods.
 In industries the method of manual feeding of ingot is adopted. Due to high
temperature,some molten metal can splash out and the fumes of material are
generated which are harmful to workers
The avoid the accidents it need to develop ingot feeder which can feed ingot
automatically. This industrial ingot feeder uses two pneumatic cylinders in
conjunction with electronics system

LITRATURE REVIEW

A foundry is a manufacturing plant that produces metal castings. Metals are thrown into
shapes by softening them into a fluid, pouring the metal in a form, and evacuating the form
material or throwing after the metal has cemented as it cools. The most well-known metals
handled are aluminum and cast press. Be that as it may, different metals, for example, bronze,
steel, magnesium, copper, tin, and zinc, are likewise used to deliver castings in foundries.

Liquid steel from BOF/EAF is taken advantage of an abounding scoop. Deoxidizers,

decarburizes and alloying components if required, are included for the last completing as for
oxygen content and different components in steel. The steel might be degassed either
previously or amid throwing. In the advanced steel plants, steel is thrown ceaselessly. In a
few little scale plants, especially those in light of acceptance dissolving heaters ingot
throwing is honed. Ingot throwing is done in solid metal molds having square, round or
polygon cross segment. Ingots with square cross segment are utilized for moving into billets,
rails, and other auxiliary segments. Though, ingots with the rectangular cross segment
(otherwise called chunk), are utilized for moving into level items. Round ingots are utilized
for tube making. Polygon ingots are utilized to create tires, wheels, and so forth. Normally an
ingot measuring 5-20 tons for rolling, though the couple of hundred to 300 tons for
manufacturing.

PROBLEM FORMULATION

Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal in a mold,
and removing the mold material or casting after the metal has solidified as it cools. At
someplace ingot is still feeded manually due to high temperature of furnace and fumes of the
molten metal it can be harmful to workers. So to avoid these type incidents we have to
develop some mechanism.

OBJECTIVE
  In several small scale plants, particularly those based on induction melting
furnaces ingot casting is practiced.
 Ingot casting is done in cast iron moulds having square, round or polygon
cross section. Ingots with square cross section are used for rolling into billets,
rails and other structural sections.
 Whereas, ingots with rectangular cross section (also known as slab), are used
for rolling into flat products.
 Round ingots are used for tube making.
 Polygon ingots are used to produce tyres, wheels, etc. Typically an ingot
weighing 5-20 tons for rolling, whereas few hundred to 300 tons for forging.

SCOPE OF THE PROJECT

 In the modern steel plants, steel is cast continuously. In several small scale plants,
particularly those based on induction melting furnaces ingot casting is practiced.
 This ingot feeder is cost effective so this can be also used in small scale industry.
 This industrial ingot feeder can be also used in forging industry where it can load
forging material to press and same for unloading forged material
 By making some modification in industrial ingot feeder we can use it for loading and
unloading purpose in warehouse.
 This industrial ingot feeder can be used in sheet metal working where it can load and
unload sheet metal from press.
METHODOLOGY

Ingot mould types

Cast iron is used to fabricate the mould. Thermal coefficient of cast iron is lower than
steel as a result, steel on solidification contracts more than cast iron which makes detachment
of ingot easier from the mold. Inner walls of the mould are coated by tar or fine carbon. The
coated material decomposes during solidification which prevents sticking of solidified ingots
with the inner walls of the mold.
Molds are essentially of two types:

i) Wide end up or narrow end down

ii) Narrow end up or big end down

WORKING

A material that has been cast into a shape in order to be transported and processed easier
than in an unprocessed form. An ingot is typically rectangular in shape, which allows it to be
stacked. Ingots are most commonly associated with metals,

The pneumatic cylinder picks up the ingot material in to the furnace tank in slow motion by
using the compressed air. The DC motor used to move the ingot material to furnace by using
the microcontroller circuit.
FIGURE: INDUSTRIAL INGOT FEEDER

PROPOSED WORK

Melting

Melting is performed in a furnace. Virgin material, external scrap, internal scrap, and alloying
elements are used to charge the furnace. Virgin material refers to commercially pure forms of
the primary metal used to form a particular alloy. Alloying elements are either pure forms of
an alloying element, like electrolytic nickel, or alloys of limited composition, such as
ferroalloys or master alloys. External scrap is material from other forming processes such as
punching, forging, or machining. Internal scrap consists of the gates, risers, or defective
castings.

The process includes melting the charge, refining the melt, adjusting the melt chemistry and
tapping into a transport vessel. Refining is done to remove deleterious gases and elements
from the molten metal to avoid casting defects. Material is added during the melting process
to bring the final chemistry within a specific range specified by industry and/or internal
standards. During the tap, final chemistry adjustments are made.

Furnace

Several specialized furnaces are used to melt the metal. Furnaces are refractory lined
vessels that contain the material to be melted and provide the energy to melt it. Modern
furnace types include electric arc furnaces (EAF), induction furnaces, cupolas, reverberator,
and crucible furnaces. Furnace choice is dependent on the alloy system and quantities
produced. For ferrous materials, EAFs, cupolas, and induction furnaces are commonly used.
Reverberator and crucible furnaces are common for producing aluminum castings.

Furnace design is a complex process, and the design can be optimized based on multiple
factors. Furnaces in foundries can be any size, ranging from mere ounces to hundreds of tons,
and they are designed according to the type of metals that are to be melted. Also, furnaces
must be designed around the fuel being used to produce the desired temperature. For low
temperature melting point alloys, such as zinc or tin, melting furnaces may reach around 327°
Celsius. Electricity, propane, or natural gas are usually used for these temperatures. For high
melting point alloys such as steel or nickel based alloys, the furnace must be designed for
temperatures over 1600° Celsius. The fuel used to reach these high temperatures can be
electricity or coke.

The majority of foundries specializes in a particular metal and has furnaces dedicated to these
metals. For example, an iron foundry (for cast iron) may use a cupola, induction furnace, or
EAF, while a steel foundry will use an EAF or induction furnace. Bronze or brass foundries
use crucible furnaces or induction furnaces. Most aluminum foundries use either an electric
resistance or gas heated crucible furnaces or reverberator furnaces.

The initial design is the casting part (without feeders) which is placed in a suitable mold box.
Design of each feeder contains the following steps:

determination of the feeder-neck connection point on the casting surface, initial feeder
design, feeder shape optimization and feeder topology optimization. Completing designing
the first feeder, the method attends to designing the next one, if it is required, and the same
procedure will be repeated.
In the presented method, feeders are designed in a descending order of their sizes. The
feasibility of the presented method is supported with an illustrative example.
Since caster operating costs are predominantly fixed costs e.g. labour, the cost per tonne
decreases with increasing tonnes per annum., which depends on the line speed and the
percentage uptime. Up-time is a function of the melt delivery, alloying melt preparation cycle
time, machine maintenance schedules and breakdown or shut down due to mold change out
(mold life is thus important). Typical percentage up time casting is around 50% while best
practice up-time is approaching 85-90% with long continuous runs.

To maximize productivity it is essential to have two adequately sized furnaces such that one
is filled while casting out the other so that furnace capacity is not the bottleneck and the
machine is From Light Metals 2009, GeoffBeame, Editor never waiting for the furnaces.
Often the machine is ready to cast but the metal from reduction is too hot. Attempting to cast
with too hot metal results in semi-solid ingots at the knockout and major equipment
problems. Some plants destroy perfectly good product by charging it to the furnace to bring
down melt temperature. Attention to metal scheduling and furnace design are needed to get
reduce this problem Conversion costs for liquid metal to bundled ingot are relatively low for
conveyor machines at -20-40 $US/t depending on labour cost and productivity.

Fundamental Heat Transfer The line speed is set such that the ingots are solid at de-molding.
Thus, the line speed is a function of the ingot solidification time and the maximum ingot
handling capacity. Assuming handling is not the bottleneck, the maximum productivity P in
tonnes per hr is given by p = 3.6WL lsts ( 1) where, W is ingot weight (kg), I, is mold spacing
(m), L is line length (m) and t, is ingot solidification time (s). Longer conveyors are being
installed and old lines lengthened. Generally, the 20 m lines are being replaced by 25 m lines,
but up to 40 m lines have been installed, but with a greater footprint and building
infrastructure. In recent times, conveyor chains and molds have been reconfigured to allow
some small reduction in mold spacing, giving 4-5% productivity increase. Other productivity
gains have been made through control of ingot weight variation, water cooling, mold coating
and casting temperature. Smelters planning incremental production increase can use the
increased casting machine capacity, rather than buying a new machine, and increase
flexibility of product scheduling.

If ingot solidification time can be reduced the line can be run faster or shorter (cheaper
machine scan be built with the same capacity). The solidification time is a function of the
heat flow and the heat content of the ingots (set by size and pouring temperature). Early work
measured solidification time on an ingot line and modeled the heat flow. Productivity was
predicted to be increased up to 4% by using lower casting temperatures[l4]. Water level, die
coating thickness and skimming were also found to effect solidification time.
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