New Scrap Drying System Reduces Labor Costs by 50%, Increases Production by 24%.The Dotson Co., a producer of gray and ductile iron Ductile iron, also called ductile cast iron or nodular cast iron, is a type of cast iron invented in 1943 by Keith Millis[1]. While most varieties of cast iron are brittle, ductile iron is much more ductile, as the name implies. castings located in Mankato, Minnesota “Mankato” redirects here. For other uses, see Mankato (disambiguation). Mankato is a city in Blue Earth County¹, Minnesota with a population of 32,427 as of the 2000 census². , recently installed a "scrap drying" system designed and manufactured by Gaylord Foundry Equipment, Independence, Missouri Independence is the fourth largest city in Missouri, USA. It is part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2006, the city had a total population of 109,400[1]. It is the county seat of Jackson CountyGR6. , that provided reduced labor costs and quicker production. As part of a foundry retooling, Dotson looked toward modernizing its furnace charging system. "Improving the charging practices should increase production, improve working conditions, improve safety, reduce the potential for accidents and make charging a desirable job within the foundry," Dotson's VP of Technology John Close explained. Gaylord examined the existing method for charging the furnaces, and working with specific target parameters, a system was designed to increase charge weights, charges per hour and drying capacity. Other project criteria precluded any major changes to the buildings' construction, and the system also operates within the maneuvering range of an electromagnet-equipped robotic arm A robotic arm is a robot manipulator, usually programmable, with similar functions to a human arm. The links of such a manipulator are connected by joints allowing either rotational motion (such as in an articulated robot) or translational (linear) displacement. . In addition, the system makes use of three charge buckets that each has a station on a rotating "turntable" assembly with 7 min to complete the specific operations. Some of the special features of the equipment include: * three custom-engineered charge buckets designed for quick, accurate and repeatable placement on the turntable; * a vibratory vibratory /vi·bra·to·ry/ (vi´brah-tor?e) vibrating or causing vibration. vibratory vibrating or causing vibration; vibritile. feeder mounted to a weighbridge weighbridge Noun a machine for weighing vehicles by means of a metal plate set into a road Noun 1. weighbridge - platform scale flush with a roadway for weighing vehicles and cattle etc , which uses load cells to transmit weight data to the operator; * a scrap dryer rated at 2.6 million Btu/hr complete with I.R.I valve train, automatic ignition and a comprehensive flame safety package; * a three-station turntable with controls for the gradual acceleration, precision deceleration deceleration /de·cel·er·a·tion/ (de-sel?er-a´shun) decrease in rate or speed. early deceleration and stopping when indexed; * integrated controls via a remote located control panel installed on the melt deck complete with graphical operator interface. The new system is capable of eight 1500-lb charges/hr vs. the seven, 1300-lb charges/hr with the old system for a 24% increase. The system utilizes just three operators (as opposed to the previous six) for a 50% reduction in labor and boasts time to spare during each cycle. The drying of the scrap is more efficient judging by the absence of moisture-related incidents inside the three 3.5-ton coreless furnaces. The atmosphere around the scrap dryer also is cleaner, quieter and free from aldehydes. |
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