. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CASTING INNOVATIONS


fi lter housing for Daimler trucks, it was the company’s fi rst foray into lost foam production casting. It was up to BRP to illuminate the abilities of the process to improve not only the design of the single part, but the entire application. “Unlimited design potential is the


W


fi rst part of lost foam we have to edu- cate our customers about,” said Chris Campbell, head of lost foam/business development at BRP. “The customer might bring to us a design that has been fi nalized for another process. Our challenge is to work with the end company to incorporate more into a single casting.” The fuel fi lter housing for the DD-


15 engine used in heavy duty Daimler trucks requires interior passages that must be pressure tight to 2.5 cu. cm/ minute at 6 Bar. Parker Hannifi n was intrigued by the lost foam process and


Parker Hannifi n’s Introduction to Lost Foam Adds Value


hen Parker Hanni- fin, Cleveland, ap- proached BRP US Inc., Spruce Pine, N.C., to cast a fuel


realized it held design opportunities for the component. “The decision to go with lost foam


was design-driven,” said Dale Giva, en- gineering manager of Daimler products for Parker Hannifi n’s Racor division. “The design of the part in lost foam gave the engine its value.” Originally, the part was considered


as a die casting, but its location in the engine required fuel lines to run across the module, as well as from below and from the right. “It looked like an octopus,” Giva said. The lost foam process led to the elimi- nation of the multi-directional tubing. Because it was the fi rst part Parker


Hannifi n designed for Daimler in lost foam, the original casting design was conservative. “Primarily, the initial changes in-


volved were to make it more eco- nomical,” Campbell said. “The original design weighed 10.6 lbs. (4.8 kg) and was able to be produced using four foam slices.” BRP recognized the opportunity to incorporate more features into the casting


to add further value, even while working with a compact envelope space—the fi nal part dimensions were 10.5 x 7.5 x 10.5 in. (267 x 191 x 267 mm). Together with Parker Hannifi n and Daimler, BRP looked at the full function of the part to fi nd ways to combine application aspects into the single casting, eliminating sec- ondary machining steps. “We would ask them to help us un-


derstand how a feature works with the casting to see if we could fi t it into the casting design,” Campbell said. The fi nal design incorporated seven independent passages that route the fuel through the fi ltration system at high pressure. The fi nal 356 aluminum casting design weighed 17.7 lbs. (8 kg) and required eight foam slices and a complicated core package to produce the geometry. “We tried to integrate channels as


much as possible into the design,” Giva said. The lost foam part fi rst went into


production in October 2008 and is ex- pected to continue to be a part of the Daimler truck launch schedule over at least the next two years. Since Parker Hannifi n’s fi rst production lost foam part, the company also has introduced an oil module with a lost foam iron


casting for another customer. METAL Contact BRP at 828/766-1140 for more information.


The lost foam fuel fi lter housing eliminat- ed secondary machining by incorporating several cast-in features.


JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011


METAL CASTING DESIGN & PURCHASING


49


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