Presentation: Virtual Reality Die Casting at NADCA Meeting

CIVS Researcher John “Jack” Moreland presented at the North American Die Casting Association’s (NADCXA) R&D meeting on June 10 at Arlington Heights, IL. The presentation included the latest progress of the ongoing virtual reality die casting simulator for workforce development. The simulator is being created to improve operator understanding about how the die casting machine and melter furnaces work, and lets them practice common and abnormal situations for operation and maintenance.

One of the highlights of the presentation was a new learning mode that lets operators make parts of the machine transparent and view CFD simulations showing how liquid metal is injected and distributed inside the casting cavity. This feature has been combined with a quiz system that verifies operator understanding of how machine parameters can affect the castings being produced. One of the attendees commented “I think this is the best visualization I’ve seen of what’s going on inside the machine. I want to give this to my customers before they visit the plant.”