Pollution Research Paper

MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF RAW MATERIAL PREHEATING BY ENERGY RECYCLING METHOD IN METAL CASTING PROCESS

J. SELVARAJ, PRAKASH MARIMUTHU, SRIRAM DEVANATHAN AND K.I. RAMACHANDRAN

Abstract

Modern economic development programs critically depend on reliable supply of energy. Energy conservation has become the need of the hour. Metal casting industry in one among the many industries which uses a lot of energy for its production. This paper presents a novel method of energy recycling in the sand casting process, which readily translates into substantial energy conservation in foundries. The heat that is being wasted into sand during the solidification process is used to preheat the raw material that is melted, for the subsequent pouring. The influence of the casting parameters such as, offset distance, moisture content in the molding sand, and the insulator thickness on the temperature gain by the raw material, have been analyzed. A mathematical model was developed via statistical analysis of the experimental data, to predict the amount of heat recovered from the solidifying molten metal, for any specific combination of values for the experimental parameters. The predicted values are in good agreement with the experimental values.