The key technologies involved in the digital chemical plant are: digital modeling technology, virtual reality technology, optimization simulation technology, application production technology [2]. According to the definition of the digital factory, it can be understood that using the design software of the digital factory to model the casting products, each process equipment, plant buildings, public pipelines, etc., and then simulate the production process. According to the simulation results, constantly modify and perfect the design scheme to optimize. The foundry designed and built according to this design is the digital foundry. The fact is not so simple, because since it is simulation, it must be “true”. Therefore, each equipment must be modeled according to the actual situation, and the construction process must be managed according to the digitalization. After the completion of the project, the production process must be digitalized.
1. How to model
In order to build a digital foundry, in the early design stage of the project, there must be a strong team to complete the three-dimensional design of castings, the three-dimensional design of public equipment, the three-dimensional design of casting equipment, the three-dimensional design of building structure, etc. in these three-dimensional designs, each of them has to spend a lot of energy and have a lot of basic data, The model must be based on the actual object size.
2. Virtual technology
Virtual reality technology is a kind of multi-dimensional information space with immersion, interaction and imagination, which is convenient to realize human-computer interaction and make people feel immersive. His quality has a direct impact on the operability of the digital chemical plant, at the same time, it affects the product and the correctness of the judgment on the production and operation process.
3. Optimization simulation technology
According to the established digital model and virtual technology, the reality is simulated, and the relevant data, possible problems and optimization schemes are analyzed, so as to optimize the production process, improve production reliability and product quality. For foundry, because of its complexity, the whole project should be divided into various units, and each unit should be simulated in three dimensions. For example: layout planning and simulation, static analysis and dynamic simulation of molding line, simulation of core making center, simulation of sand core conveying system, simulation of balance of various work departments in production process, simulation of robot core lowering, simulation of man-machine work efficiency, simulation of control software test, simulation of pouring, simulation of solidification, etc. After the simulation of each unit is completed, it is spliced as a whole to conduct comprehensive simulation, and then modified and improved. Here, the automation and intelligence level of optimization technology is very important.
4. Equipment requirements of digital foundry
1) Digital foundry requires high automation level of casting equipment, such as molding line, PLC programming, debugging, transmission and real-time monitoring. The color simulation shows the operation of the production line, the location of the failure point and the tips for solving the failure. The parameters of the storage system include: template number, molding sand weight, pressurization pressure at each working stage, casting name, casting / template number, molten iron weight of each mold, net weight of casting, etc. Record the number of molds produced every day (month, year), cumulative number of molds produced, start-up, shutdown time, shutdown times, shutdown reasons, etc. The shutdown caused by non molding lines such as iron deficiency water, sand core and molding sand can be input manually.
2) The equipment of the digital foundry also needs intelligence, such as: the control of dust removal air volume of the electric furnace, the installation of electric butterfly valve in the air pipe of each furnace body, the opening state of the butterfly valve and the actual operation of the electric furnace are interlocked, so as to automatically adjust the air volume, and realize the corresponding furnace body in each working state (charging, melting, ironing) configuration of different exhaust volume, So as to reduce heat loss and energy saving. In addition, the water control of sand mixing can determine and supply the required water addition according to the water content of used sand, temperature of used sand and preset molding sand parameters. There are also hydraulic and pneumatic systems in the molding line, which are equipped with air pressure, hydraulic system accidental loss of pressure and power-off protection devices. The charging system has the functions of automatic weighing, automatic compensation, dynamic sampling, automatic accumulation, over error alarm, automatic compensation, etc., so as to make the ingredients stable and the ingredients reasonable.
3) Digital foundry also needs information. Because digital foundry needs a large amount of data exchange and has a certain time limit, digital foundry also needs information, such as: cable communication system, computer network (intranet) system, remote meter reading system, security system, cable television system, integrated card management system, etc. Modeling line and other equipment have the functions of remote diagnosis and management, and use Ethernet to control all process parameters and costs, generate excel table on the switch, and connect with the MES management software system of the enterprise. Figure 1 and Figure 2 are the information system diagram and monitoring system diagram of an enterprise respectively.
4) Because the digital factory involves a lot of modeling and simulation, visual operation and virtual computing, which need to occupy a lot of computer resources [2], therefore, there must be a computer or workstation with excellent performance.