Rotary tilt drum

The aim of this project was the design of a rotary tilting drum together with the associated frame structure for the melting of up to 34t of aluminum.

The drum is operated with two tilt positions. The melting process takes place with the drum set backwards and supported either by a lifting cylinder or a support bearing. When pouring Aluminium, the drum is tilted slightly to the front.

The thin-walled structures of the rotary drum were represented in the FE model by using shell and beam elements. The thick-walled milled parts, the foundation and the lining of the drum were modeled with solid elements. The stiffness of the main bearing was modeled with a nonlinear force-displacement curve.

A separate submodel was created for the drum cover. The mass of the cover was therefore only taken into account as a mass point in the overall model of the tilt/turn drum.

The drive loads from the motor and gearbox as well as from the chain drive were determined analytically and implemented in the FE model as individual forces and moments.

The design included the evaluation according to Eurocode 3 of both the base material and the welds in respect to static loads and fatigue loads. The weld schedules of the frame were determined on the basis of the calculation results! In addition, the foundation loads were determined and thus the bolted connections to the ground were determined.

It was possible to prove the release of the design for production. The rotary tipping drum was commissioned by RBU in May 2021.