Swedish Iron Foundry Increases Production Capacity Fivefold With New Crane

 Dongqi Crane helps customers improve production efficiency by providing them with customized cranes. The case shared by Dongqi Crane today is that a Swedish iron foundry used a new casting crane to increase production capacity five times. Foundry crane is a type of bridge crane, mainly used for lifting molten metal. It is suitable for metal smelting workshops and complies with relevant industry standards. This kind of crane works by longitudinal movement in the direction of the workshop track, lateral movement of the trolley and lifting movement of the hook.

How Foundries Use Foundry Cranes to Improve Work Efficiency

The charging crane collects the scrap or replenishment charge and transports it to the induction melting furnace for melting for subsequent casting.

Scrap is sorted into nine boxes. Crane crews at the control station receive pick orders for material in quantities to be removed from each individual bin and operate the crane to move large quantities of scrap material. The plan specifies the amount of scrap steel to be smelted to produce ore. The specified recipe provides the casting material with the precise properties required by the foundry.

Calibrated crane scales in open capstan crabs determine the weight of collected material.

Based on the weight, the system determines how much more material is needed, transmits this via radio to the cab and displays it to the operator.

Once the desired final recipe is achieved, the mixture is dumped onto a pile of waste materials and from there it is conveyed to the smelting furnace.

The accuracy of weight measurement is important. It affects the overall cost of the process, as a less precise mixture will require more expensive alloys.

To achieve both speed and predictability, the foundry decided to install a 4.8 ton twin-girder overhead crane.

The twin-girder crane has a span of 22.65m and is equipped with a multi-purpose open winch that can travel along a 40m crane runway.

To pick up the load, the crane has a round magnet connected to the hoist via a 4/2 winding device.

The crane has long-travel speeds of 80m per minute, cross-travel speeds of 60m per minute and load-dependent lifting speeds of up to 66m per minute, allowing operators to achieve high loading and unloading rates.

The frequency converter allows for infinitely variable movement in three axes, contributing to safe operation.

In the cab, the crane supplier provides a control panel. Cameras mounted on the crabs and cranes allow a control station to monitor the entire process.

With the previous crane, employees worked 24 hours a day in the scrap yard and melt shop, but the new crane can handle the same weight of scrap in less than two shifts.

The new crane is faster, handles waste faster and increases production capacity fivefold.

Installing the new crane made a huge difference in cycle times.

“Where the old crane would take up to 60 minutes for an operating cycle, the new crane can do the job in just 12 minutes.”

This allows the crane to operate in two shifts, five days a week. The crane supplier designed the loading crane to meet future requirements for further increases in production capacity.

Swedish Iron Foundry Increases Production Capacity Fivefold With New Crane