Cope and Drag Flask Alignment via Connecting Rods
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional molding machines produce defective casts due to misalignment or shifting of cope and drag components, leading to issues like fins in the cast.
Innovation Solution
A flask unit with uprightly disposed connecting rods supporting a cope and drag flask, allowing them to slide and mate directly, along with a molding machine featuring a match plate, molding sand squeeze mechanism, rotating mechanism, and sand blowing mechanism to ensure proper alignment and sanding.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the cope and drag are supported by the sides of the L-shaped frame in a cantilever manner, then the molding machine can operate with a simple structure, but the cope and drag become misaligned or shifted, producing defective casts with fins
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces connecting rods as an intermediary component between the frame and the flasks. These rods serve as a mediating structure that properly transmits support forces while maintaining alignment, resolving the contradiction between simple structure and precise alignment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from single-side cantilever support to dual-end support through connecting rods, adding structural dimensionality. This dimensional change enables both structural simplicity and manufacturing precision by distributing support across multiple points.
2Device complexity
If the flasks are designed without side blowing-in ports to simplify the structure, then the molding machine structure is simpler, but the flasks cannot be used with molding machines that rotate the flasks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates side blowing-in ports into the flask design, making the flasks universally compatible with different molding machine types including those with rotating mechanisms. This multi-functional design element allows the same flask to work across various machine configurations.
3Device complexity
If the cope and drag are stacked without proper alignment mechanisms, then the device complexity is reduced, but the casting quality deteriorates due to fins and defects
Solution Approach 1:
The connecting rods act as intermediary alignment mechanisms that ensure proper positioning of the cope and drag during stacking. These rods mediate the alignment process without requiring complex adjustment mechanisms, maintaining both simplicity and reliability.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Prevents misalignment of cope and drag components, enabling the production of high-quality casts without defects like fins, and allows for the reuse of the flask unit in a circulating molding line.
Implementation Method 1
a sand blowing mechanism for blowing molding sand into the vertically kept cope and drag flasks through the sand blowing-in ports
Data Source
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AI summary
A flask unit for producing a cope and a drag that are stacked, comprising at least two uprightly disposed connecting rods (4), a cope flask slidably fitted on the connecting rods and formed with a molding sand blowing-in port in one of its sides, and a drag flask slidably fitted on the connecting rods so that it is located under the cope flask to mate it, the drag flask being formed with a molding sand blowing-in port in one of the sides thereof.