DOE awards grant to Shiloh Industries to develop energy efficient casting technique

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) HPC4Mfg program has selected Shiloh Industries, Inc., a top supplier of light weighting, noise and vibration solutions for the automotive, commercial vehicle and industrial sector for a funding  to develop innovative energy efficient casting techniques.

The project is titled “Development of a Transformational Micro-Cooling Technology for High-Pressure Die Casting using High-Performance Computing". The project also involves Oak Ridge National Laboratory to work with Shiloh to design the detail boiling in casting cooling channels. There are a number of critical variables such as uniform temperature distribution, various mechanical properties and heat transfer related defects that need to be modelled accurately. These factors will have a significant impact on energy management and efficiency.

Commenting on the project, Alex Reikher, Technical Fellow, research and development at Shiloh Industries said, “By incorporating high performance computing into our analytical processes we will be able to accurately model large sections of the cooling channels.  The data will be used in our tool simulations to create dies that will operate with lower energy costs and shorter cycles, reducing waste and rejected parts,”

The High Performance Computing for Manufacturing (HPC4Mfg) Program was designed and started in March 2015 to create an ecosystem that can facilitate direct work collaboration of experts at DOE’s national laboratories with manufacturing industry players. The program trains manufacturers about adopting or advancing their use of high performance computing (HPC) to address manufacturing challenges. The goal of the program was to increase energy efficiency, reducing environmental impacts, and to promote clean energy technologies.