Process and apparatus for direct chill casting
AssigneeAlmex USA, Inc.
InventorsRavindra V. Tilak, Rodney W. Wirtz, Ronald M. Streigle
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system comprising at least one furnace including a melt containing vessel; an intermediate casting product station coupled to the at least one furnace and operable to receive a molten metal from the at least one furnace, the intermediate casting product station including a casting pit, at least one moveable platen disposed in the casting pit, an array of exhaust ports about at least a top periphery of the casting pit, and an array of gas introduction ports about at least the top periphery of the casting pit; and an inert gas source operable to supply an inert gas to the array of gas introduction ports.
Claims23
A system comprising:
- at least one furnace comprising a melt containing vessel;
- an intermediate casting product station coupled to the at least one furnace and operable to receive a molten metal from the at least one furnace, the intermediate casting product station comprising:
- a casting pit,
- a casting mold comprising a body having a cavity therethrough defining a reservoir,
- a coolant feed associated with the casting mold and in fluid communication with the reservoir,
- at least one moveable platen disposed in the casting pit,
- an array of exhaust ports about at least a top periphery of the casting pit, and
- an array of gas introduction ports about at least the top periphery of the casting pit;
- a valve system allowing for selective admission of coolant or an inert fluid to the coolant feed;
- an inert gas source operable to supply an inert gas to the array of gas introduction ports;
- and
- a mechanism for collecting inert gas exiting the casting pit, removing water vapor from the collected inert gas and re-circulating the inert gas to the casting pit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.