Optimal positioning of ladle in automatic pouring machine in consideration of pouring liquid accurately into sprue

In this paper, we propose the solution of optimization problem about positioning of ladle in automatic pouring machine in casting industry. In recent years, automation of pouring process has been advanced to improve working environment. Pouring process requires to pour quickly and accurately the molten metal into the mold. However, it is difficult to pour accurately into the mold by using tilting-ladle-type automatic pouring machine due to varying trajectory of outflow liquid from the ladle. In order to solve this problem, the position control of the outflow liquid has been realized by the conventional approaches. In these approaches, the ladle is transferred dynamically in a horizontal direction for controlling the position of the outflow liquid. However, the sloshing of the liquid in the ladle can be excited by transferring the ladle with inappropriate acceleration. In this study, we propose the optimal positioning of the ladle in consideration of pouring the liquid accurately into the sprue without the sloshing. In this approach, the horizontal and vertical position of pouring mouth in ladle is determined before pouring, and held while pouring. The effectiveness of the proposed approach can be verified through the experiments using the laboratory type automatic pouring machine.