Abstract:
A modular casting system includes a plurality of casting modules and, is provided with on-board systems such as a lubrication system, cooling system, etc., which operate independently from similar systems on other modules of the system. Each of the casting modules is connected by quick disconnect connections to a centrally disposed source of fluid pressure and electrical power and a control unit for controlling each of the modules independently. Each of the modules is readily removable from the system and replaced with a new module of a different type or with a different mold. Each of the modules is preferably provided with a filter removal unit which is operative to raise of the filter during the cooling operation and facilitates removal of the filter upon completion of the pouring operation. The casting modules are provided with a tilting launder tray which facilitates laundering of the mold after a casting operation. The upper platen of a casting module is provided with a swinging cope which is movable between a horizontal position and a vertical position to facilitate cleaning of the cope. The lower platen is preferably provided with a pneumatic hydraulic cylinder arrangement including a mechanism for raising the casting from the drag.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The invention relates to automated casting systems and more particularly to a casting system employing a plurality of casting units disposed on a rotating table or the like. 
     2. Background Art 
     A casting system, besides a casting mold, typically includes a mechanism for opening and closing the mold and a variety of electrical, pneumatic, and/or hydraulic systems which serve to perform a variety of controlling functions in the overall molding process. Furthermore, lubrication systems and cooling systems may be required. A problem with prior art casting systems is the difficulty encountered in substituting a different configuration mold in an existing system. Since molds of various different shapes and configurations may be required from time-to-time and connections for the various systems to control the molding apparatus may vary substantially between molds, the changeover from one set of molds to another results in significant and expensive downtime for the casting system. Such changeover may require re-routing of electrical cabling and connections for pneumatic and hydraulic as well as cooling systems. Furthermore, in typical prior art arrangements, a plurality of molds and the apparatus for opening and closing the molds are disposed on a rotating table or the like. In case of a breakdown or routine maintenance of the opening and closing mechanism for a particular mold or of the mold itself, the entire casting system must be shut down. Such a shut-down tends to be time-consuming since the system typically has to be cooled down for maintenance work and must be brought back to working temperature before operations can be resumed. A particular disadvantage of prior art systems is the costly downtime of the entire system for maintenance, repair or changeover of molds. 
     Routine molding operations typically require that a filter used in the casting operation be removed and replaced before a next pouring of the molten metal or the like. This is commonly done manually. In order to avoid introducing the necessary delays in the casting operation, the filter is typically removed as soon as possible after the previous pouring operation, often while it is still very hot. The filter removal can be both difficult and time consuming. A further difficulty in the routine operation of a casting system is that the mold is preferably laundered after a casting operation and coated with a specialized coating prior to the next pouring. The functions of laundering and coating are typically performed manually and tend to be difficult and time consuming, adding to the cost of the casting operation. 
     A further difficulty in many casting operations is the removal of a casting from the mold, particularly from the drag of the mold, while the casting is hot. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     These and other problems of the prior art are overcome in accordance with this invention in a modularized system comprising a plurality of casting modules, each of which may be removed from a casting system, such as a rotating table casting system, without affecting the operation of other modules. Each module is provided with on-board systems such as a lubrication system, a cooling system, etc., which operate independently from similar systems on other modules. Each module is provided with quick-disconnect connectors for connection to a main source of electrical power, hydraulic pressure, etc. The modules are preferably interchangeable and a variety of different modules may be installed in one main system and can be readily exchanged as required by production demands, without significant system downtime. 
     A particular advantage of the modular system is that a casting module may be removed and replaced in a relatively short period of time since only a few connections need to be made. Furthermore, periodic maintenance and repair of the modules may be performed off-line with a minimum of production line down-time. 
     Advantageously, in accordance with another aspect of the invention, a casting module of the system may be replaced by another module which has not only been set up and tested off-line, but also warmed up off-line to bring the unit up to the desired  10  operating temperature. In a system in accordance with this invention, the replacement of a casting module requires the casting operation be interrupted only for a period of time sufficient to disconnect a number of quick-disconnect connections, remove the casting module by means of a forklift or the like, replace the removed module with a preheated casting module and make the necessary quick-disconnect connections. Advantageously, since the new unit has been warmed up off-line and since the other units are not taken out of operation for an extended period of time, no significant system warm-up time is required and system downtime is reduced substantially. 
     In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a casting unit is provided with a mechanism for mechanically removing a filter that is used in the casting process. In accordance with one specific aspect of the invention, the casting unit includes a pneumatic or hydraulic cylinder mounted on a pivoting bracket having spaced apart arms attachable by means of chain or the like to a filter to be removed. Advantageously, the filter may be raised during the pouring operation such that it is completely removed from the casting before the casting solidifies, thereby avoiding certain problems of the prior art associated with the removal of filters from a casting. 
     In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a cope of a casting system provided with a tilting launder tray, preferably mounted on the upper platen, that is readily moved aside during the pouring operation and quickly put in the appropriate position to direct a laundering liquid into a filler neck of the upper platen. 
     In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the upper platen of a casting system is provided with a swinging cope which is movable between the horizontal position, in which the cope is disposed adjacent a lower surface of the upper platen, and a vertical position in which the cope is extended at a 90 degree angle to the upper platen. Advantageously, the movable platen greatly facilitates cleaning of the cope prior to a next pouring operation. In one specific embodiment of the invention, the cope is movable between the horizontal and vertical positions by one or more hydraulic or pneumatic cylinders and a hydraulic or pneumatically operated locking mechanism is provided to lock the cope in place adjacent to the upper platen. 
     In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, the lower platen is advantageously provided with a pneumatic or hydraulic cylinder arrangement which serves to raise the lower platen for easier removal of a casting and is further provided with a mechanism for lifting a casting from the drag. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a plan view of a casting table supporting a plurality of casting modules; 
     FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of a casting module in accordance with the invention; 
     FIGS. 3A and 3B are left and right elevational views, respectively, of the module FIG. 2; 
     FIGS. 4A and 4B depict enlarged breakaway views of a filter lift mechanism in accordance with the invention; 
     FIG. 5 is a plan view of a bracket for mounting a filter lift cylinder in the mechanism of FIGS. 4A and 4B; 
     FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of a casting unit which is an alternate embodiment of the casting unit of FIGS. 2-5; 
     FIG. 7 is a plan view along line  7 — 7  of FIG. 6 showing a launder tray and a cope operating mechanism; 
     FIG. 8 is a partial breakaway side elevational view of the casting unit at FIG. 6 showing the launder tray in an operating position; 
     FIG. 9 is a partial breakaway side elevational view of the casting unit of FIG. 6 showing the swinging cope  203  in the closed position; 
     FIGS. 10 and 11 are partial cutaway right elevational views of FIG. 6 showing the cope locking mechanism in locked and unlocked states, respectively; and 
     FIG. 12 is a partial cutaway enlarged frontal elevational view of the dual action lower cylinder of FIG.  6 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     FIG. 1 is a plan view schematic representation of a rotatable casting table  10  provided with a plurality of casting modules  100  and a central hub area  20  incorporating control and supply systems. The control and supply systems are connected to each of the modules  100  by means of control and supply lines  25 . Each of the casting modules  100  is preferably connected to an associated control supply line  25  by means of a quick-disconnect connector  30 . The central hub area  20  preferably includes an electronic controller  35 , a hydraulic unit  40  providing hydraulic fluid under pressure, an air supply unit  45  providing air under pressure and an electrical supply box  50 . The controller  35  may, for example, be a programmed logic array designed to provide electrical signals to various ones of the casting modules  100  to operate various air and/or hydraulic valves and/or relays. The programmed logic array may also receive signals from the various units  100  indicative of certain operations, such as actuation of limit switches, etc. The electrical supply box  50  provides electrical power to the various units  100 , when required. A filling station  60  provides a source of molten material to be used in the casting modules  100 . The casting table  10  may be rotated to place a casting module  100  adjacent the filling station  60 . Molten material may be transferred from the filling station  60  to a casting module disposed adjacent the filling station through a transfer conduit  65  or ladle or the like. 
     FIG. 2 is a frontal view of a dual casting module  100  consisting of two independently operable casting units  102 ,  104 . Each casting unit is provided with an upper platen  106  for supporting a cope of a mold (not shown in the drawing) and a lower platen  108  for supporting a drag of a mold (not shown in the drawing). For the sake of clarity, one of the casting units is shown in the open position in which the upper platen is spaced apart from the lower platen and the other of the casting units is shown in a closed position in which the upper platen is disposed adjacent the lower platen. The two casting units  102 ,  104  operate in the same manner but are independently controlled by the controller  35 . By constructing dual unit casting modules, rather than single unit casting module, a substantial savings in construction material and system connections will be realized while obtaining modularity of the system. It will be apparent that single unit casting modules may be constructed as well. In one particular application, the dual casting modules are used to cast different parts of a unit to be assembled. A casting unit, such as the dual casting unit  102 ,  104  consisting of two sets casting modules, may be readily moved by means of a forklift or other lifting equipment onto the rotating table  10 , such that the advantages of modularity are not lost by the use of a dual unit. It will be understood that the invention applies to single units in the same manner as it applies to dual units described herein. 
     The upper platen  106 , is moveable between a lowered position in which the cope of the mold (not shown in the drawing) supported on the upper platen  106  is disposed in immediately adjacent the drag of the mold (not shown in the drawing) supported on the lower platen  108 , and a raised position in which the cope is spaced apart from the drag. When the cope is in the lowered position, the cope and the drag together form a mold ready to receive molten metal from a ladle or the like. The raising and lowering of the upper platen  106  is achieved by means of a hydraulic lift cylinder  112  having a movable shaft  113  connected to cross beam  115 . The cross beam  115  is mounted to a pair of lift rods  117  extending from the cross beams  115  through guides  110  to the upper platen  106 . Upper guide bearings  119  and lower guide bearings  120  are provided on upper and lower ends, respectively, of the guides  110 . The guide bearings are preferably provided with a wiper seal or the like engaging the surface of the guide rods and a lubricating oil may be provided to the bearings for purpose of cooling and lubrication. The lift cylinders  112  are actuated via a control valve  121  which selectively applies hydraulic fluid under pressure from hydraulic unit  40  to the upper and lower ends of lift cylinders  112  via hydraulic quick disconnect  122  and control valve  121 , thereby controlling the movement of the upper platen  106 . The control valve  121  is actuated in response to signals from controller  35  applied via electrical quick disconnect  126  and electrical conductors  124 . Further shown in FIG. 2, associated with the raising and lowering mechanism of the upper platen  106 , is an upper platen trip rod  116 . The trip rod  116  is designed to activate a switch  111  when the upper platen is lowered to its desired position. The two switches  111  are connected to the electrical disconnect plug  126  to transmit appropriate signals to the controller  35  when the switches are actuated. For the sake of clarity, the various electrical and hydraulic connections are not shown in the drawings. 
     The lower platen  108  is supported on a lower platen lift cylinder  114  and lift cylinder shaft  130 . The lift cylinder  114  is operated to raise the lower platen to facilitate removal of a casting after the casting operation has been completed and the upper platen has been raised. The lift cylinder  114  is connected by means of hydraulic lines (not shown in the drawing) to the control valve  121  which, as mentioned earlier, is operated by electrical control signals from the controller  35  via the quick disconnect  126  and appropriate ones of the conductors  124 . The lower platen  108  is supported on guide rods  135  extending through bearings  136 . Connected to one of the guide rods  135  is a trip rod  138  which serves to actuate limit switches  139 ,  140  to indicate the position of the lower platen. The limit switches are electrically connected by selected ones of the conductors  124  to quick disconnect  126  to provide an indication to the controller  35  of the position of the lower platen. 
     Further shown in FIG. 2 is a pair of oil pumps  142  and an oil supply reservoir  145 . The pumps and the reservoir, together with oil supply and return lines (not shown in the drawings) interconnecting the reservoir  145 , the pumps  142  and the bearings  119 , 120  and  136  are part of a closed bearing lubrication and cooling system in which oil is drawn from the reservoir  145  and supplied to the bearings by the pumps  142  under pressure and is returned to the reservoir. When the lower platen  108  is lowered to the normal position for casting, a lube cam  122  actuates the oil pump  142  which distributes the oil under pressure to the bearings  119 ,  120  and  136  via oil supply lines and a series of standard distribution blocks (not shown in the drawings). The oil is returned from the bearings to the reservoir via the oil return lines to be reused. 
     Referring now to FIGS. 2 through 5, there is shown in FIG. 2 a filter element  150  in each of the casting units  102 ,  104 . When a mold disposed between the upper and lower platens is in the closed position, a molten substance, such as a molten metal, is poured into the mold from a ladle or the like through an opening in the upper platen  106 . A filter element  150  is provided in alignment with such opening for filtering the molten metal. Such filter elements and the use thereof in the casting process are well known in the art. In the partially cut-away right side elevational view of FIG. 3B there is shown a filter removal unit  152 , for lifting the filter element  150  during a pouring. The filter element  150  is initially disposed adjacent the upper platen and is gradually lifted by the filter removal unit  152  during the pouring operation. Lifting the filters during the pouring operation facilitates removal of the filters before the casting begins to solidify and avoids a significant problem encountered in prior art systems wherein the filter is removed after the pouring operations have been completed. 
     As shown in detail in FIGS. 4A,  4 B and  5 , the filter removal unit  152  comprises a hydraulic lift cylinder  157 , mounted on cylinder support bracket  151 , and a piston rod  158  having a free end mounted to the frame  148 . The support bracket  151  comprises a pair of spaced apart lift arms  153 A,  153 B each pivotally mounted to an upstanding support bracket  163  mounted on the frame  148 . A chain  155  is connected from each of the lift arms to opposite sides of the filter element  150 . The cylinder  157  has fluid connections to control valve  121  and is operated in response to operation of the control valve  121  by controller  35 . FIG. 4A shows the filter removal unit  152  in the fully raised position and FIG. 4B shows the filter removal unit  152  in the fully lowered position. The cylinder  157  has a piston rod  158  having an end engaging a flattened surface  161  of a spherical rod eye  159 , which is pivotally mounted on pivot  160  by a bracket  166  supported in a clevis bracket  162  mounted to the frame  148 . Cylinder  157  is mounted to a cylinder pivot pin  164  by means of brackets  165 . The cylinder pivot pin  164  is rotationally mounted to end brackets  166 , along the pivot centerline  154 , to allow the cylinder support bracket  151  to pivot relative to the lift cylinder  157  between the positions shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B. As the cylinder  157  is actuated, the support bracket  161  is pivoted on pivot point  156  and the lift arms  153 A, B are moved between the raised and lowered positions as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, respectively. 
     Referring now to FIGS. 6 through 12, there is shown an alternate embodiment of casting units  102 ,  104 . The casting unit  201  is provided with a swinging cope  203  which is rotatably attached to the upper platen  205 . The upper platen is supported on lift rods  217  extending through guides  210  and is shown in FIG. 6 in the raised position. The swinging cope  203  is supported on a pivot  207  on the upper platen  205 . A pair of spaced apart hydraulic or pneumatic cylinders  209  is operable to move the cope from the open position shown in FIG. 6 to a closed position, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, in which the upper surface  204  of the cope  203  is disposed immediately adjacent the lower surface  206  of the upper platen  205 . The lower surface of the cope is typically coated before each casting operation. In a production facility, such a coating may have to take place every three minutes. The swinging cope allows for quick and easy access for such coating purposes. 
     The cylinders  209  are each provided with a piston rod  240  having one end engaging the swinging cope at brackets  242 . Each of the cylinders  209  has a fixed end  244  mounted to the top surface of the upper platen  205  by means of a mounting bracket  246 . As readily apparent from the drawing, the cope  203  is disposed immediately adjacent the upper platen when the piston rod  240  is extended and is in the full down position when the piston rod  240  is retracted. The cope  203  is retained in a locked position with respect to the upper platen  205  by means of a locking mechanism  248 . FIG. 10 shows the locking mechanism in the locked position and FIG. 11 shows it in the released position. As shown in the drawing, the cope  203  is provided with a pair of pins  250  and a pneumatic or hydraulic cylinder  252  is used to actuate a pair of latches  254 , mounted on the upper platen  205 . The latches are pivotally mounted on the platen  205  by means of pivot pins  256 . The cylinder  252  is mounted to the two latches  254  by means of pivot pins  258 . When the cylinder  252  is in the extended position, as shown in FIG. 11, the latches  254  are in the released position and the upper platen  203  may be lowered to the open position as shown in FIG.  6 . After the lower platen  203  has been rotated to the position shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, the cylinder  252  is operated to the retracted position which causes the latches  254  to be rotated about the pivot pins  258  thereby engaging the pins  250  and drawing the cope  203  against the upper platen  206 . 
     Further shown in FIGS. 6 through 9 is a launder tray  220 . The launder tray  220  is pivotally mounted on axis  221  supported on a pair of spaced apart brackets  222  mounted to the upper platen  205  by fasteners  228 . The launder tray has a filler neck  225  engaging a filler opening  227  in the upper platen  205 . Further shown in FIGS. 6 and 12 is a dual action lower cylinder arrangement  230  comprises an upper cylinder  231  for raising and lowering the lower platen and a lower cylinder  232 . The lower cylinder  232  engages a lower bracket  234  provided with vertically extending rods  235  and  236  engaging an upper bracket  238 . The bracket  238  is provided with vertically extending pins  236  extending into a lower portion of the lower platen  208  and engaging a plate  239  supporting pins  240 . When the hydraulic cylinder  232  is actuated, the brackets  234  and  238  are raised and pins  240 , extending through openings in the lower platen, serve to raise the casting in the mold to facilitate removal of a casting from the mold. 
     Shown in FIG. 12 is an enlarged breakaway view of the lower platen lift mechanism with a casting removal assist mechanism shown is FIG. 6 . An upper hydraulic or pneumatic cylinder  232  is mounted to cross-member  260  and, when operated, actuates the piston  262  to raise or lower the upper platen  205 , to facilitate removal of a casting from a mold  270 . A lower hydraulic or pneumatic cylinder  231  is mounted to the cylinder  232  by means of flanges  233 . When the lower cylinder  231  is actuated, a piston  264  raises a lower bracket  234  in the direction of the lower platen  208 . A pair of vertically extending rods  235  are mounted on the lower bracket  234  and engage an upper bracket  238 . Mounted on the upper bracket  238  are vertically extending rods  236  which extend through the lower platen  208  and engage a horizontally extending plate  239 . Vertically extending rods  240  are mounted on plate  239  and extend through the lower portion of the mold or drag. When lower cylinder  231  is actuated, rods  240  engage and raise a casting disposed on the drag to a position where it is lifted from engagement with the drag. Advantageously, this arrangement facilitates the removal of a casting from the drag. 
     Further shown in FIG. 6 is a dual action lower cylinder  230  having an upper portion  231  for raising and lowering the lower platen and a lower portion  232 . The lower portion  232  engages a horizontally extending bar  234  provided with vertical members  235  and  236  engaging a upper horizontal bar  238 . The bar  238  is provided with vertically extending pins  239  extending into a lower portion of the lower platen  208 . When the hydraulic cylinder  232  is actuated, the horizontal bars  234  and  238  are raised and the pins  240  extending through openings in the lower platen serve to eject the casting from the mold. 
     It is to be understood that the above-described arrangement is merely illustrative of the application of the principles of the invention and that other arrangements may be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appendant claims.