I news NDUSTRY
Wind Casting Research Team Wins $300,000 Grant A research group at the Univ.
“T e wind industry is highly
of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, has been awarded a $300,000 grant to improve ductile iron castings for use in wind turbines. T e grant was given to a team
led by Christoph Beckerman, Univ. of Iowa Foundation Distinguished Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering and director of the Solidifi cation Laboratory at the university. Allocated by the Iowa Alliance for Wind Innovation and Novel Development, the grant will be matched by Clipper Windpower, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and the North American Ductile Iron Co. (Nadicom), Fulton, Md.
pressured to meet demand, with a current bottleneck concentrated on the ability to produce castings that meet required quality levels,” Beckerman said. “T is research will result in more reliable and higher quality castings that are less prone to failure in the fi eld.” Clipper is an established
player in wind energy technology, turbine manufacturing and project development. Nadicom announced plans earlier this year to locate its fi rst ductile iron casting facility in Iowa City. T e $85 million metalcasting plant will have the capacity to cast and machine large
castings with an initial focus on the wind turbine market. According to Beckerman, the
goal of the research is to develop methodology for advanced casting of wind turbine components that result in reduced weight, greater reliability and longer life, thus providing lower electricity costs. He said the project leverages a decade of U.S. Department of Defense-sponsored research in the Solidifi cation Laboratory on integrated casting design and indicated additional interest in the project from other manufacturers that use castings, including Deere & Co., Caterpillar and Oshkosh Corp.
Nissan Casting Plant Wins Mercedes Block Through Daimler Collaboration Nissan’s Decherd, Tenn.,
manufacturing facility, which maintains metalcasting capability, will begin building a new line of engines in 2014 as part of a growing relationship between the Renault- Nissan Alliance and Daimler. In the latest step in the
collaboration, the Decherd plant will produce Mercedes-Benz 4-cylinder engines for Infi niti and Mercedes-
Benz automobiles. Installed capacity is expected to be 250,000 units per year once full ramp-up is achieved. Nissan’s Decherd powertrain
assembly plant manufactures 4-, 6- and 8-cylinder engines for U.S.-produced Nissan and Infi niti vehicles. T e plant houses crankshaft forging and cylinder block casting operations. In 2011, Decherd produced more than 580,000 engines on a covered area of more than
1.2 million sq. ft. (111,000 sq. m). “In the context of our Mercedes-
Benz growth strategy, we have decided we will expand [local] production capacities,” said Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the Daimler board of management and head of Mercedes- Benz Cars. “T rough the extension of our cooperation with Renault-Nissan, we can realize near-market engine production in the NAFTA region on attractive economic terms.” T e collaboration marks the fi rst
production of Mercedes-Benz engines in the North America Free Trade region. According to a press release issued by Nissan, the Decherd plant’s location and supply chain position ensure a direct supply of engines for Mercedes-Benz C-Class automobiles that are assembled in Daimler’s vehicle plant in Tuscaloosa, Ala. “T is is our most signifi cant project
outside Europe so far,” said Renault- Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn. “Localized capacity reduces exposure to foreign exchange rates while enabling business development in North America.” Daimler and the Renault-Nissan
The Nissan Decherd plant maintains metalcasting capacity to produce cylinder blocks for the engines it assembles.
8 | METAL CASTING DESIGN & PURCHASING | Jan/Feb 2012
Alliance launched their collaboration in April 2010. It includes an equity exchange that gives each group a 3.1% stake in the other.
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