Method for the production of frozen mould bodies and apparatus for use in the carrying out of the method

In the production of frozen moulds (12) or cores the freezing process is accelerated by drawing the liquefied freezing agent, such as nitrogen, used for freezing the water in the mould bodies, into or through the bodies by the application of a vacuum.

The invention relates to a method of and apparatus for the production of 
frozen mould bodies which include granular material and a binder. 
The use of a neutral binder, such as water, and a neutral coolant, such as 
liquefied nitrogen for freezing the water, totally obviates the 
environmental pollution which the use of conventional binders and 
catalysts has produced. It moreover reduces the manufacturing costs and 
allows the sand to be reused without subsequent treatment. 
The known embodiments of the present method, by which the coolant is 
sprayed or poured into or on the mould body, suffer from the drawback that 
it takes a relatively long time to freeze the water to a sufficient depth; 
the object of the invention is to eliminate or significantly reduce this 
drawback. 
The object is achieved in carrying out the method by drawing suction 
through a porous sand mass to increase significantly the rate at which the 
freezing agent can be caused to contact the binder in the mould body, 
resulting in a corresponding reduction in the time required for freezing 
and additional cooling to the necessary depth. 
In an embodiment which provides for rapid penetration of the freezing agent 
into the mould bodies and which is used in connection with a mould string, 
the freezing medium is passed direct to the mould faces which later 
contact the molten metal. 
The invention also concerns apparatus or a plant for use in the carrying 
out of the method, in which freezing is effected in the mould box. 
The invention also concerns a mould production apparatus or plant in which 
the moulds are not frozen until they have left the mould box and have been 
pushed out on a mould path, and which includes a nozzle assembly mounted 
so that a vacuum tunnel can be closed by simple means simultaneously with 
the nozzle assembly being in its operative position between the exposed 
mould faces.

In the drawing, 10 represents a pattern plate fitted on the piston rod 11 
of a hydraulic cylinder (not shown) of a known moulding apparatus or mould 
producing machine, which moulds and presses each mould between two 
vertical pattern plates in a frame (not shown), and then one pattern plate 
is pivoted to a horizontal position and the other pushes the produced 
mould 12 out of the frame and forwardly to the position shown in FIGS. 1 
and 3 on a mould path 13 by means of the hydraulic pressing cylinder. The 
pattern plates produce mould impressions 14 and impressions 15 which upon 
juxtapositioning of the moulds form mould cavities and ingates and sprues 
between each pair of adjacent moulds 12. The said position of the newly 
formed mould 12 provides a space 24 between this mould and the rear mould 
in the mould row 16 formed by the previously produced moulds on the mould 
path 13. 
The rear end of the mould row 16 and the last-formed mould 12 are 
surrounded by a vacuum and cooling tunnel 17 defined by two side walls 18, 
a top wall 19 and a bottom 20 of heat insulating material. The bottom 20 
constitutes a part of the mould path 13 and supports a slide plate 21 on 
which the moulds 12 can rest and slide. Gaskets 22 are provided at the 
ends of the tunnel 17, and they extend from the side walls 18 and the top 
wall 19 towards and resiliently and sealingly engage the mould row 16 and 
edge faces of the pattern plate 10, respectively, in the pattern plate 
position shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. Additional gaskets 22 (FIG. 1) are 
provided on opposite sides of the space 24. Adjacent the front end of the 
tunnel 17 a through pipe stub 23, which can be connected to a source of 
vacuum (not shown), is fitted in the top wall 19. Similarly, at the rear 
end of the tunnel 17, a vacuum hole, also designated by the numeral 23 
(FIG. 1), is formed in the top wall 19. 
Opposite the space 24 between the last-formed mould 12 and the rear end of 
the mould row 16 one tunnel side wall 18 is formed with an opening 25 
through which a freezing agent applying device in the form of a nozzle 
assembly generally designated by 26 can be inserted into the space 24. The 
nozzle assembly 26 is formed by a U-shaped frame 27, between the legs of 
which there extends a plurality of vertical pipes 28, which each carry a 
plurality of nozzle pipes 29 disposed end to end in pairs and extending in 
parallel with the mould path; in the active position of the nozzle 
assembly shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 one half of the nozzle pipes 29 are 
rearwardly directed towards the mould face of the last-formed mould 12, 
the other half being forwardly directed towards the exposed mould face of 
the rear mould in the mould row 16. 
The nozzle assembly 26 is secured to and extends perpendicularly from a 
closing plate 30 placed at the end of the piston rod 31 in a hydraulic 
cylinder (not shown), which is capable of reciprocating it between the 
position shown in FIG. 2, in which the entire nozzle assembly is disposed 
outside the vacuum and cooling tunnel 17, and the position shown in FIGS. 
1 and 3 with the nozzle assembly disposed in the space 24 between the 
moulds. In the second position the edge portions of the closing plate 
sealingly engage a gasket 32 fitted circumferentially in the edge of the 
opening 25 in the side wall of the tunnel 17. 
The nozzle assembly 26 is connected to a source of a liquefied freezing 
agent, e.g. nitrogen, by means (not shown) comprising a non-return valve. 
In the active position of the nozzle assembly 26 the freezing agent is 
sprayed on the two mould faces directed towards the nozzle assembly, and 
the vacuum simultaneously applied on the outer faces of the moulds present 
in the vacuum and cooling tunnel 17 causes the freezing agent to be drawn 
rapidly into the moulding sand and to cool the water in the sand below the 
freezing point, so that the water will turn into ice which binds the sand 
grains together. After this freezing process the supply of coolant to the 
nozzle assembly 26 is interrupted, and the nozzle assembly is withdrawn 
from the tunnel 17 to the position shown in FIG. 2. The drive cylinder for 
the pattern plate 10 then pushes the last-formed mould 12 into engagement 
with the mould row 16 and additionally pushes the entire mould row a 
distance forwards corresponding to the thickness of a mould. This mould 
row movement can be supported by a generally known advancing mechanism 
(not shown). After the completion of the advancing movement the pattern 
plate 10 returns to its operative position in which it can cooperate with 
the other pattern plate (not shown) to produce a new mould. 
Owing to considerations of space it may be expedient in practice to mount 
the moving cylinder (not shown) for the closing plate 30 and the nozzle 
assembly 26 above the tunnel 17 instead of at its side, as indicated in 
FIG. 2. The shown and described plant can also be modified in many other 
ways. 
Plants according to the invention may assume many other shapes than the one 
shown and described in the foregoing. It may e.g. be formed by a closed, 
heat insulated box in which one or more sand moulds or cores may be placed 
and which may be evacuated and then be supplied with liquefied coolant, 
which because of the evacuation penetrates rapidly into the mould bodies 
and freezes at least part of the water in it. 
This effect will be greatly enhanced when the mould bodies are formed by a 
string of juxtaposed moulds like the one shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 and the 
means for supplying freezing agent are adapted to supply this agent direct 
to the ingates 15 of the moulds. 
FIG. 4 schematically shows moulding apparatus in the form of a mould box 34 
of the type described above with reference to FIGS. 1-3, which has been 
modified in accordance with the invention for forming a frozen mould body 
12', having cavity and ingate-forming impressions 14' and 15', in a mould 
cavity 36. As modified, the mould box 34 has an upper wall 38 which may be 
of porous material and/or formed with small vacuum holes or channels 23'. 
Opposite walls of the mould box 34 are formed by a first vertical pattern 
plate 10' mounted on a piston rod 11' and a pivoted second vertical 
pattern plate 10'. The pattern plates 10' also may be of porous material 
and/or formed with small holes or channels 40. Further, a lower wall 42 
may be of porous material or formed with small holes or channels 44. In 
use, a freezing agent is pressed or sprayed through the pattern plates 10' 
and the lower wall 42, and a vacuum is applied to the mould box upper wall 
38 to draw the freezing agent through or into the mould body 12' in the 
mould cavity 36 during or immediately after the formation thereof. 
FIG. 5 schematically shows moulding apparatus in the form of a two-part 
core box 34" for forming a frozen core body 12". The core box 34" is of 
the same general construction as the mould box 34 in FIG. 4, with like 
parts being identified by the same reference numerals. Thus, the core box 
34" includes vertical opposed core-forming parts 10" generally 
corresponding to the pattern plates 10' of the mould box 34 in FIG. 4, and 
which define a mould cavity 36". The core-forming parts 10" may be of 
porous material and/or formed with small holes or channels 40". Similarly, 
upper and lower walls 38" and 42" may be of porous material and/or formed 
with small holes or channels 23" and 44", respectively. In use, a freezing 
agent is introduced into the mould cavity 36" by pressing or spraying the 
freezing agent through the core-forming parts 10" and the lower wall 42" 
while a vacuum is applied to the upper wall 38" to draw the freezing agent 
through or into the hollow core body 12" during or immediately after the 
formation thereof.