L32 Knockout Barrel for Rapid Separation of Castings and Old Sand in Sand Casting

When the mold of the sand box is rotated to a certain height, it falls to the bottom of the simplified box by its own weight. Under the mutual impact and friction, the sand mold and the casting separation well reach the simplified box grid along the direction of the spiral plates. The sand enters the old sand system and the casting is discharged through the discharge port.
In the sand-falling section of the foundry workshop, the efficient separation of sand molds and castings directly affects the production rhythm and the quality of old sand regeneration. The spiral guide sand-falling system of the sand box has achieved a double breakthrough in non-destructive separation of castings and accurate recovery of old sand through innovative structural design and intelligent control technology. This article will deeply analyze how this equipment enables foundry companies to achieve clean production and reduce costs and increase efficiency from the dimensions of technical principles, process advantages, intelligent control and industry applications. With three breakthroughs, namely, efficient use of gravitational potential energy, lossless separation of castings, and intelligent regeneration of used sand, this equipment has become an innovative technical solution for modern foundries.


1. Technical principle and core component design
Based on the physical properties of sand molds (compressive strength 0.8-1.2MPa) and castings (weight 50-5000kg), the system achieves efficient separation through the synergy of gravity impact and spiral guidance:
Rotation and tipping mechanism:
The sand box is driven by a servo motor to rotate to a predetermined angle of 45°-75° (error ±0.5°), and the castings and sand molds impact the bottom plate of the simple box under the action of gravity acceleration (4.5-6m/s²), with an initial separation efficiency of 98%.
The bottom of the simple box is paved with AR450 wear-resistant steel plate (thickness 20mm), which increases the impact resistance by 3 times and has a service life of >5 years.


Spiral guide system:
Multi-layer involute spiral plates (pitch 300-800mm) guide the sand flow in vortex motion, and achieve secondary crushing through friction between particles (friction angle 32°-35°), and the residual rate of molding sand is less than 0.5kg.
The surface of the guide plate is laser-clad with tungsten carbide coating (thickness 0.2mm), which reduces the friction coefficient to μ<0.15 and is suitable for various molding sands such as resin sand and water glass sand.
Intelligent sorting module:
The old sand outlet is equipped with a double-layer vibrating screen (aperture Φ5mm/Φ0.2mm), which simultaneously separates iron bean impurities (>5mm) and micro powder (<0.2mm), and the old sand regeneration qualified rate is >95%.
The casting slide is equipped with a visual inspection system (5 million pixels) to identify the integrity of the casting in real time, and defective products are automatically diverted to the rework line.


2. Process advantages and economic benefits
Compared with traditional vibrating sand-falling machines, this system achieves a leap in efficiency through energy optimization and modular design:
Improved separation quality:
The amount of residual sand on the casting surface is less than 0.3g/cm², which is 80% less than that of pneumatic impact equipment, and the subsequent cleaning cost is reduced by 60%.
The loss on ignition (LOI) of old sand is controlled ≤3.5%, the reuse rate is increased to 92%, and the amount of new sand replenishment is reduced by 50%.
Record-breaking low energy consumption:
The utilization rate of gravitational potential energy reaches 85%, and the power consumption per ton of casting separation is ≤1.2kW·h, which saves 45% energy compared with vibrating sand-falling machines.
The impact noise is ≤78dB(A), the dust concentration is <5mg/m³, and the environmental protection cost is reduced by 70%.
Intelligent operation and maintenance system:
The predictive maintenance module monitors the bearing temperature (alarm threshold 85ºC) and vibration spectrum in real time, and warns of faults 7 days in advance.
The digital twin platform simulates the optimal tipping angle under different casting weights (100-3000kg), and the separation efficiency fluctuation rate is less than 2%