Simple Solutions That Work! Issue 9

In the course of visiting foundries there are two points that have become apparent. Each foundry does things its own way, so a “one size fits all solution” is never the best solution. And, the best way to do this is of course, is to work with the customer. Over the years, we have noted that the operator of a bottom pour ladle was often in an exposed and vulnerable position should anything go wrong, especially if the mold was large, tall, or located in a constricted space. In 2012, we were approached by a foundry, to improve the safety of the ladle operator. This led to the development of a basic powered bottom pouring system for ladles, which we called the Safe-pour system. That Safe-pour unit required an AC power supply and had a separate hydraulic power-pack mounted on the ladle sidearm. The battery powered bottom pouring unit was mounted on the ladle shell (same as the STEVE HARKER Technical Director ACETARC ENGINEERING CO. Ltd ARTICLE TAKEAWAYS: • Listening to foundry operators will enhance safety and productivity • Learning through beta testing THE DEVELOPMENT OF POWERED BOTTOM POURING LADLING, FOR SAFETY 10 manually operated bottom pouring unit) but instead of using a lever, the slide-bar was raised via a small hydraulic cylinder. Control was via a radio remote control system which allowed the ladle operator full freedom of movement. HOW IT WORKS • The safe-pour system was fitted with a return spring that would automatically lower the slide-bar, thereby stopping the pouring. • When the operator released the handset button, the unit would also stop pouring, providing a fail safe, if either the power or the RRC signal were interrupted. As I’ve always said, we’ve never believed in a “one size fits all” philosophy. We hold the view that those who use the equipment have a valuable contribution to play in product development. We had assumed that a powered bottom pouring unit would be of most interest on large capacity ladles. However several foundry men had wanted to know if the Safe-pour unit could be fitted to medium and small capacity ladles. Physically the initial design would have proved difficult to fit onto ladles smaller than around the 5000 kg capacity size. Other foundry men had also commented on the problems they could see in getting a reliable power supply to the ladle, especially if the ladle was used in several areas and on different cranes within the foundry. We were concerned with having the power pack on the ladle sidearm while the bottom pouring unit was mounted on the ladle shell as this meant that the two had to be linked via a hydraulic hose. While the hose could be protected – it was still in a vulnerable area. Our other concern was that the hose then had to be disconnected before the ladle could be rotated. While the hose was fitted with quick release couplings, it seemed likely that, sooner or later somebody would forget, leading to a broken hose and an out of action bottom pouring unit. Therefore during the design stage, we made the decision to look at a self-contained battery operated unit, with everything mounted on the ladle shell. This obviously removed both the need for an external power supply and the risk of damaging an external connecting hose. After exploring several designs, we finally arrived a working model that covered the initial basic requirements; battery operated