Optimization of parameters effecting the heat recovery from a sand casting process

Abstract

Energy crises has gripped the world to a large extent. Researchers are experimenting on newer and newer avenues to produce energy efficiently, economically. Energy saved is actually twice produced. Energy conservation is the need of the hour. Keeping this in mind the authors of the paper have developed a method to harness the heat that gets wasted during the casting process. Casting is basically one of the manufacturing processes were molten metal is poured into mould and then solidified. The solidifying metal takes the shape of the mould. Huge amount of energy is required for the melting of the raw material. When the metal solidifies it gives way the heat. In the present work the mould is modified such that the raw material that will be used for subsequent process gets pre heated by the heat that emanates due to the solidification process. A number of factors influence the amount of heat that is recovered. Here attempt is made to find out the factors that influence the pre heat of raw material and also using Particle swarm optimization technique the factors are optimized so that the heat recovered is maximised. The implementation of the process is simple and the gains are enormous in terms of the energy that is going to be saved.