Core shooting apparatus and method for controlling core shooting apparatus

A method for controlling a core shooting machine for producing cores by a process of shooting a core sand mixture into a at least one cavity in a core box that is associated with said core shooting machine, said core shooting machine comprising:

• a source of compressed air at an adjustable initial machine pressure,
• said adjustable initial machine pressure, being an adjustable process condition of the process, and
• a shooting head fluidically coupled to said source of compressed air by at least one conduit that includes an electronically controlled shot valve,
• said shooting head being configured for containing an amount of said core sand mixture, resulting in a filling degree of the shoot head,
• said filling degree being an adjustable process condition of the process,
• said method comprising performing a simulation of said process on a computing device, using a model of said process,
• on the basis of several process conditions, including said adjustable process conditions, and determining an improved or optimal value for one or more adjustable process conditions based on the result of a performed simulation, and adjusting one or more of said adjustable process conditions in accordance with the determined improved or optimal value.

A method for simulating, on a computing device, a process performed by a core shooting machine for producing cores by shooting a core sand mixture into a at least one cavity in a core box that is associated with said core shooting machine, said method comprising

• informing said computing device of several process conditions, including one or more adjustable process conditions, of said process,
• performing a simulation of said process on the basis of said process conditions, using a model of said process, and
• determining an improved or optimal value for said one or more adjustable process conditions based on the result of said simulation,
• wherein said model is a simplified 1-D representation of said process, considering the main local flow direction.