Foundries, or metalworking factories, produce metal castings used by manufacturers to reproduce parts that are durable, dimensionally consistent, and maintain consistent appearance. Metal casts are created by melting metals down to liquid and pouring them into molds. Common metals processed in foundries are:
- Aluminum
- Cast iron
- Bronze
- Brass
- Steel
- Magnesium
- Zinc
Furnaces are used to melt the metal down to liquid. Some foundries recover waste heat from their processes to save on energy costs. Precision combustion airflow systems for furnaces and recovery boilers optimize the equipment and processes and provide efficiency improvements.
Another use of airflow in foundries is with pneumatic conveying of frac sand, resin coated sands, and ceramics. Foundry sands are used in the casting process to form molds or patterns in metal castings. Characteristics of sands vary, but highly abrasive sands can scour the interior surfaces in the system and lead to changes in performance – changes to the inner diameter of the conveyance or also leaks. Even small air leaks in a pneumatic conveyance system can be problematic for system performance.
