TK Waupaca Motion Optimization - Sponsored Whitepaper

This technical whitepaper describes the optimization of a simple motion profile based on construction of a physical system model using a simple spreadsheet. While the approach, model, and tools described in this paper are very general and can be applied to any basic motion optimization, here we focus on a specific motion optimization process recently completed for a specific DMC Client, the ThyssenKrupp Waupaca foundry.

ThyssenKrupp Waupaca (TK-Waupaca) is a gray, ductile, and compacted graphite iron foundry located in Waupaca, WI. A foundry is a manufacturing facility that produces solid metal castings by pouring hot molten metal into a mold. For iron casting, the molds are typically made of sand. The metal is allowed to cool and solidify after which the mold is removed by shaking, resulting in the final metal part, the ‘casting’.

To create hollow features inside a casting, a ‘core’ is inserted into the mold (Figures 1-3). For Iron castings, this core is also Figure 1. The Coresetter places a core inside the mold produced inside the sand column. [1] made of sand with its shape held together by a binding agent. In large foundries, such as TK-Waupaca, placing the core inside the mold is an automated process preformed by a large mechanical tool called a ‘coresetter’. In simplest terms, a coresetter is a large, 2 ton, pick and place machine.

In this whitepaper, you will find out how DMC increased the speed of the TK Waupaca coresetter machine.

Certain elements of TK-Waupaca’s design are being claimed in a patent application pending in the US Patent and Trade Office.