Development of a concept to optimize the energy efficiency in forging process chains

Abstract

In the industrial production, approaches for the optimization of process chains mainly focus on criteria like quality, costs and time. Normally the energy consumption of process chains is not considered, although the variation of process parameters is an important possibility to reduce the consumption significantly. Besides that, the investigated processes are often optimized locally without considering the interaction between the different process elements of the whole process chain. Based on this background the developed concept realizes the optimization of the energy consumption of a forging process chain by adaptation of its energetic relevant parameters. Therefore, the concept defines at first variation intervals for the energetic most significant parameters of a forging process chain. After that, the resulting technical/technological modifications are evaluated energetically. To enable a holistic optimization of the process chain, the approach includes the use of a simulation model. The application of the concept has been approved with a simulation model of a 4-cylinder-crankshaft process chain. With the parameter variations “reduction of the forging temperature”, “reduction of the raw part volume” and “reduction of the forging time” three possibilities to reduce the energy consumption were identified successfully.