The influence of the configuration of operating parameters of a machine for thermal reclamation on the efficiency of reclamation process

Abstract

An experimental machine for thermal reclamation, constructed specifically for the research purposes, enables various ways of regaining sand grains from the used moulding and core sands bound by synthetic resins. The source of heat for the process of burning the used moulding and core sands is provided by three gas burners equipped with automatic ignition devices which control the flame and whose work is individually steered by temperature adjusters. It is extremely important to find an appropriate system of stirring the reclaimed sand in order to create the conditions for fast and even burning of the border of the used synthetic binder. The fluidized floor in the machine for thermal reclamation presented in the paper is divided into three independent sections. Air provided to each section by a blower gets through an electrovalve, whose work is steered by an electronic system which was designed and constructed specifically for the use in machine. The adequately set time adjusters in the controller make the electrovalve open and enable the air to flow to particular sections of the fluidized floor of the reclamation chamber. The process is monitored and the working parameters are recorded electronically. The diverse methods of stirring the reclaimed sand used in the process were analyzed in relation to their influence on temperature fluctuation in the reclamation chamber, the length of reclamation process, the amount of the media needed to obtain the purity of the reclaimed (gas, energy), in order to obtain the reclaimed sand of purity defined in terms of ignition losses.