Inside ICI
INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR
2016 INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR SHELLCAST, INC. T
he 2016 Innovator of the Year award was presented to Shellcast, Inc. of Montague, MI for their
approach to humidity control in the shell room at the Investment Casting Institute’s 63rd Annual Technical Conference and Exposition in Columbus, OH. Shellcast Inc. had no active humidification control system in the ceramic shell building process since the facility was built in 1984. Although manageable for most of the year, the cold Michigan winters caused the heaters to dry out the air. The result was shell cracking and like many in the industry, they tried to manage it by wetting the floor and allowing the evaporation to bring humidity up. Bob Johnson and his team got to
work on finding a solution. Shellcast looked to a rotary atomizer as an answer. “We have installed a digitally controlled rotary atomizer that allows us to maintain constant humidity levels – within +/-2% – regardless of whether the environmental controls are calling for heating or cooling,” Johnson explained. The idea was born from when Shellcast was approached by a company
14 ❘ November 2016 ®
interested in making a diffuser casting for a fluid atomizer system. It rotated at a high speed generating centrifugal force creating a fine mist of whatever fluid was fed into it. At the time, traditional markets were primarily agricultural, such as pesticide spraying, but research performed at the University of Michigan defined other applications. Shellcast determined that the size and the number of holes required in the part didn’t make it a good casting candidate but the device and it’s capability to produce fine mist was not forgotten. The 125,000 cubic foot area of the shell room required a large conventional HVAC humidification system with high energy loads. It was clear that an alternative approach should be explored and Johnson remembered the rotary atomizer’s capabilities. The customer from 2004, Ledebuhr Industries in Williamston, MI was contacted and asked if atomizers were ever used in large scale humidification systems and the answer was yes. They had developed a system intended for warehouses to reduce static electricity that looked like a candidate for Shellcast.
They then measured air flow throughout the space with an anemometer at multiple locations within the room and at multiple heights. This allowed 3-dimensional mapping of air currents and the maximum flow area to be isolated. The atomizer was positioned at the key spot (X/Y/Z) to assure maximum vapor dispersion. Since the unit was installed, shell drying cracks, face coat lifting, and shell buckle have been eradicated. The conventional approach used
by HVAC professionals was a steam generator at a cost over $20,000. Total investment for the atomizer
was just over $3,000 and the ROI was immediate. Equally
important, the
energy savings with the atomizer is significant as it has only 1 moving part and it operates in ambient temperatures with cold water. As compared to traditional misting heads it offers water savings and it will not wet the surrounding areas. Since it is digitally controlled it works around the clock and adjusts automatically to the temperature variations throughout the day.
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