Fused Deposition Modeling Printed Patterns for Sand Casting in a Nigerian Foundry: A Review

There has been a gradual adoption of Three-Dimensional (3D) printing in pattern making for sand casting absolutely because of its reduced lead-time and higher dimensional accuracy.Pattern making is the most central activity in the production line of any casting operation. A delay in pattern making or a defect in pattern usually translates to increased production cost and time or poor quality castings respectively. Many foundry industries have been concerned with reducing the duration for pattern making and improving the dimensional accuracy of patterns. Adoption of Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) based patterns have only provided a limited solution to the challenges of traditional pattern making for sand casting.Some patterns are not suitable for FDM printing due to their size volume which is not usually cost-effective to print. Also,the surface quality and mechanical properties of patterns produced with FDM are usually affected by process parameters thereby leading to post-manufacturing treatment before the patterns are suitable for moulding operation. This study investigated the problems of traditional pattern making and the challenges of FDM-printed PLA-patterns for sand casting and suggested solutions and areas for future research. Related researches on 3D printing in the foundry carried out around the worldwide are discussed

Cost-effectiveness Management of a Compressed-air System Using an Energy Analysis Application

This paper developed an application for a foundry enterprise to reduce the delay in fixing identified air leaks and decrease energy consumption in the compressed-air systems. In many instances, air leaks were detected, but the response towards correcting them is usually less expeditious by the various departments responsible. Perhaps, there is a lack of awareness about the opportunities to conserve energy either through prompt repairs of air leaks or by regulating the pressure setting to match demand per time. An energy analysis application was developed using Matlab®. It facilitated increased response to repairs of air leaks and improved supplydemand management of output pressures from compressed-air system

Innovative Foundry Technology and Material Using Fused Deposition Modeling and Polylactic Acid Material in Sand Casing

In sand casting, Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) printing by using Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) filament is one of the innovative foundry technologies being adopted to substitute traditional pattern making. Several literatures have reported the influence of process parameters such as raster angle and print speed on some mechanical properties of FDM-printed, PLA-prototypes used in other applications. This study investigated the effects of interior fill, top solid layer, and layer height on the compressive strength of rapid patterns for sand casting application. Different values of the process parameters were used to print the pre-defined samples of the PLA-specimens and a compression test was performed on them. The coupled effects of the process parameters on compressive strength were investigated and the optimum values were determined. Interior fill of 36%, layer height of 0.21 mm and top solid layer of 4 were found to produce a FDM-printed, PLApattern that sustained a compaction pressure of 0.61 MPa. A simulation analysis with ANSYS® to compare failure modes of both experiment and model shows a similarity of buckling failure that occurred close to the base of each specimen

Modeling of the kinematic geometry of spur gears using matlab

The analytical method of gear design is calculation-intensive and it is usually difficult to achieve optimum backlash and interference-free involute profile that are required to generate geometrical compatibility in a pair of meshing gears when design procedure is entirely based on this method. Some amount of backlash is often required in the assembly of gears but excess backlash can lead to increase vibration and wear of the gear assembly. Also, interference-risk profile can result in undercutting of gear tooth. This paper optimized a spur external involute-profile gear by developing an application for the modeling of its geometrical compatibility using Matlab®. The application uses existing models to test for interference and a proposed model to determine effective backlash in a gear. The backlash values resulting from the application are more confined and the model is applicable to a wider range of modules suggested by American Gear Manufacturers Association. Simulation of the gear-set in Solidworks® for kinematic geometry presents an interference-free tooth contour and an effective backlas

An Android Based Mobile Robot for Monitoring and Surveillance

(Application Programming Interfaces) that is provided for the operating system. However, the building cost for the robot with a smartphone is greatly reduced. The robot can be remotely controlled using the wifi module and a microcontroller, smart phone interface embedded on the robot. The camera on the robot is used to capture and record real time video from the robot. The robot can be controlled based on visual feedback from the same smartphone. The four wheeled dc motors help to navigate the robot and ultrasonic sensor to avoid obstacles. The camera is attached to the wifi robot link which enables it to capture the environment or any object of concern. Experimental results with varied positions of obstacle show the flexibility of the robot to avoid it and have shown a decent performance and it is getting a communication range of nearly 50m, which is good enough for many surveillance applications

Modeling of the kinematic geometry of spur gears using matlab

The analytical method of gear design is calculation-intensive and it is usually difficult to achieve optimum backlash and interference-free involute profile that are required to generate geometrical compatibility in a pair of meshing gears when design procedure is entirely based on this method. Some amount of backlash is often required in the assembly of gears but excess backlash can lead to increase vibration and wear of the gear assembly. Also, interference-risk profile can result in undercutting of gear tooth. This paper optimized a spur external involute-profile gear by developing an application for the modeling of its geometrical compatibility using Matlab®. The application uses existing models to test for interference and a proposed model to determine effective backlash in a gear. The backlash values resulting from the application are more confined and the model is applicable to a wider range of modules suggested by American Gear Manufacturers Association. Simulation of the gear-set in Solidworks® for kinematic geometry presents an interference-free tooth contour and an effective backlash

Modeling of the kinematic geometry of spur gears using matlab

The analytical method of gear design is calculation-intensive and it is usually difficult to achieve optimum backlash and interference-free involute profile that are required to generate geometrical compatibility in a pair of meshing gears when design procedure is entirely based on this method. Some amount of backlash is often required in the assembly of gears but excess backlash can lead to increase vibration and wear of the gear assembly. Also, interference-risk profile can result in undercutting of gear tooth. This paper optimized a spur external involute-profile gear by developing an application for the modeling of its geometrical compatibility using Matlab®. The application uses existing models to test for interference and a proposed model to determine effective backlash in a gear. The backlash values resulting from the application are more confined and the model is applicable to a wider range of modules suggested by American Gear Manufacturers Association. Simulation of the gear-set in Solidworks® for kinematic geometry presents an interference-free tooth contour and an effective backlash