Flaskless Molding Machine With Four-Station Pivoting System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional flaskless molding methods and machines require a long time to place cores, especially when multiple cores are involved, leading to inefficiencies in the molding process.
Innovation Solution
A flaskless molding method and machine that utilize a system with four pairs of upper and lower flasks, positioned at multiple stations, allowing for efficient core placement and mold extraction through a series of pivoting motions, enabling the simultaneous formation and extraction of molds with reduced cycle time.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a conventional flaskless molding machine with two pairs of flasks is used, then the molding process can be performed, but the cycle time is long due to sequential core placement operations
Solution Approach 1:
The invention divides the molding system into four independent stations (molding station, first core-setting station, second core-setting station, and mold-extracting station) with four pairs of flasks. Each station can perform its specific operation simultaneously, segmenting the overall process into parallel operations that reduce total cycle time.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces a spatial dimension by arranging four pairs of flasks at different stations around a central axis, allowing operations to proceed in parallel across multiple locations simultaneously. This dimensional arrangement enables concurrent molding, core placement, and extraction operations that would be sequential in a single-station system.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple cores are placed in the molding process, then product variety increases, but the time required for core placement increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The invention separates core placement operations into two distinct stations (first core-setting station and second core-setting station), allowing different cores to be placed in different flasks simultaneously. This segmentation enables parallel core installation operations that reduce total placement time while maintaining the ability to produce multiple core types.
3Adaptability or versatility
If flasks are moved through multiple stations via pivoting, then operational flexibility improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The pivoting mechanism serves multiple functions: it positions flasks at different stations for molding operations, enables core placement at appropriate stations, and facilitates mold extraction. This multi-functional design achieves operational flexibility through a single integrated mechanism rather than requiring separate positioning systems for each operation.
Data Source
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AI summary
To provide a method and a machine for forming flaskless molds with a shortened cycle time even if many cores are placed, to thereby achieve efficient molding. The flaskless molding machine comprises four pairs of upper and lower flasks 4, each pair comprising an upper flask 2 and a lower flask 3, a device 5 for pivoting the flasks to move the four pairs of upper and lower flasks via four stations, including a molding station, a first station for placing a core, a second station for placing a core, and a station for extracting the molds, a match plate 6, a pair of squeeze plates 7, 8, a storage tank 9 for sand, a device 10 for moving forward and backward around an axis that moves around the axis the upper and lower flasks where an upper mold cavity and a lower mold cavity are formed so that ports for introducing molding sand can receive the molding sand from a pair of nozzles for introducing molding sand, a squeezing device 11, a device 14 for moving the upper and lower flasks, and a device 15 for extracting the molds.