Sustainability Data for Die Casting

Note: See Sustainability Cost Model Overview for general information about the carbon information data that aPriori provides for all supported processes.

The Die Casting cost model provides Sustainability data for the following processes:

Melting

The Melting process cost model provides the following Sustainability outputs on the Part Details / Sustainability tab in aPriori:

Material Carbon Calculation for Melting

Material Carbon = Rough Mass * Primary Material Carbon Factor

  • Rough Mass: the mass of the workpiece prior to production (shown on the Part Summary tab). For details, see Material Cost and Utilization for Die Casting.

  • Primary Material Carbon Factor: the CO2 equivalent factor for a given mass of the selected material for the utilization process in the routing. By default, this is specified by the selected material’s Carbon Emissions Factor as specified in the Material Selection table. You can override this in Formula Dependencies; this can help you to evaluate the impact of switching suppliers.

Process Carbon Calculation for Melting

Process Carbon = Electricity Process Carbon + Other Process Carbon

  • Electricity Process Carbon: the primary source of process carbon based on energy factors and energy consumption. Calculated as (Energy Carbon Factor * Energy Consumption ) / Final Yield:

    • Energy Carbon Factor: the CO2 equivalent factor for a unit of energy consumed. The data is provided by Ecoinvent. You can update the value in the Formula Dependencies or in the Digital Factory if you have a factor that you think is more representative of your selected location. The value depends on the energy source used for the furnace, as specified by the machine property Furnace Energy Source:

      • If Furnace Energy Source = Electricity, the Energy Carbon Factor is specified by the top-level Digital Factory variable Electricity Carbon Factor.

      • Otherwise, aPriori performs a lookup in the meltingFuelCarbonFactors table and returns the Melting Fuel Carbon Factor for the energy source that will be used in Other Process Carbon calculations. Energy Carbon Factor is unchanged. (Note: if the machine property Furnace Energy Source is not populated, aPriori displays an error message. Likewise, if a user-added machine has a Furnace Energy Source value that is not recognized, aPriori prompts the user to add the value to the lookup table meltingFuelCarbonFactors, or to use one of the existing values.)

    • Energy Consumption: the energy consumption of the machine for the process, including direct and indirect energy consumption. See formula below.

    • Final Yield: see Yields For Die Casting.

  • Other Process Carbon: any secondary source of process carbon, including additional sources of carbon not related to electricity. For an electric furnace (that is, the machine property Furnace Energy Source = Electricity), aPriori sets this to 0. For a non-electric furnace, aPriori calculates this as (Melting Fuel Carbon Factor * Furnace Energy Consumed Per Part) / Final Yield:

    • Melting Fuel Carbon Factor: the CO2 equivalent factor for a unit of energy consumed. aPriori performs a lookup in the meltingFuelCarbonFactors table and returns the Fuel Carbon Factor for the energy source.

    • Furnace Energy Consumed Per Part: the energy consumption of the furnace. aPriori calculates this as (Furnace Required Energy / Number of Parts Per Furnace):

      • Furnace Required Energy: the heat energy required for melting the selected material and superheating it up to the pouring temperature. See Melting Formulas for Die Casting.

      • Number of Parts Per Furnace: the maximal number of required parts that can be melted in the selected furnace per a single melting cycle. See Melting Formulas for Die Casting.

    • Final Yield: the number of acceptable parts at the end of the entire part routing divided by the number of this process’ starting pieces including scrap. For more details, see Yields For Die Casting.

Energy Consumption = (Direct Machine Energy Consumption + Indirect Machine Energy Consumption)

  • Direct Machine Energy Consumption: the direct energy consumption of the machine. For an electric furnace (that is, the machine property Furnace Energy Source = Electricity), aPriori uses the Calculated Energy Consumption calculation. For a non-electric furnace, aPriori sets this value to 0.

  • Indirect Machine Energy Consumption: the indirect energy consumption of the work center based on the overhead facility power usage. Calculated as (Indirect Machine Power * Cycle Time):

    • Indirect Machine Power: the indirect power of the work center based on the overhead facility power usage. The calculations are the same for all processes – see Sustainability Cost Model Overview.

    • Cycle Time: the time for one complete cycle of the applicable machine to make a single part. Includes the process times for each stage of the process. For more details, see Melting Formulas for Die Casting.

Calculated Energy Consumption

(Electrically powered machines only.) aPriori calculates this as (Furnace Required Energy / Number of Parts Per Furnace):

  • Furnace Required Energy: the heat energy required for melting the selected material and superheating it up to the pouring temperature. See Melting Formulas for Die Casting.

  • Number of Parts Per Furnace: the maximal number of required parts that can be melted in the selected furnace per a single melting cycle. See Melting Formulas for Die Casting.

High Pressure Die Casting

The High Pressure Die Casting process cost model provides the following Sustainability outputs on the Part Details / Sustainability tab in aPriori:

  • Supports Sustainability: Yes.

  • Primary Material Carbon Factor: not applicable. aPriori leaves the cell blank.

  • Energy Carbon Factor, Logistics Carbon, Annual Carbon, and Total Carbon: the calculations for these variables are the same for all processes – see Sustainability Cost Model Overview.

  • Material Carbon: aPriori sets the Material Carbon value to zero. Although you can see the Material Carbon formula in the Formula Dependencies window, all the cells are blank other than the Final Yield percentage.

  • Process Carbon: see Process Carbon Calculation for High Pressure Die Casting. Note that the Indirect Machine Power calculation included in the Process Carbon calculation is the same for all processes – see Indirect Machine Power Calculation. Also see Process Carbon in the Sustainability Cost Model Overview for some general points about the Electricity Process Carbon and Other Process Carbon calculations.

Process Carbon Calculation for High Pressure Die Casting

Process Carbon = Electricity Process Carbon + Other Process Carbon

  • Electricity Process Carbon: the primary source of process carbon based on energy factors and energy consumption. Calculated as (Energy Carbon Factor * Energy Consumption ) / Final Yield:

    • Energy Carbon Factor: the CO2 equivalent factor for a unit of energy consumed. Specified by the top-level Digital Factory variable Electricity Carbon Factor (data provided by Ecoinvent). You can update the value in the Formula Dependencies or in the Digital Factory if you have a factor that you think is more representative of your selected location.

    • Energy Consumption: the energy consumption of the machine for the process, including direct and indirect energy consumption. See formula below.

    • Final Yield: the number of acceptable parts at the end of the entire part routing divided by the number of this process’s starting pieces, including scrap. See Yields For Die Casting.

  • Other Process Carbon: (if applicable) any source of process carbon, including additional sources of carbon not related to electricity. If not applicable, this will have a value of 0.00.

Energy Consumption = (Direct Machine Energy Consumption + Indirect Machine Energy Consumption)

  • Direct Machine Energy Consumption: the direct energy consumption of the machine. By default, aPriori calculates this using the Calculated Energy Consumption calculation. However, if you override Cycle Time or an element of Cycle Time that is not in the powerProfileFactors table, aPriori uses the Cycle Time Energy Consumption calculation. (If you override an element of Cycle Time that is in the powerProfileFactors table, aPriori continues to use the Calculated Energy Consumption calculation.)

  • Indirect Machine Energy Consumption: the indirect energy consumption of the work center based on the overhead facility power usage. Calculated as (Indirect Machine Power * Cycle Time):

Calculated Energy Consumption

This is the calculated energy consumption of the machine based on cycle time stages and specific power profile factors. aPriori performs a lookup in the powerProfileFactors table, calculates (Machine Power * Power Factor * Process Step Time * Cycle Time Adjustment Factor) for each cycle stage in the process, sums the results, and displays the total energy consumption of the process (Process Step Energy Consumption):

  • Machine Power: the power requirement of the work center. This is specified by the machine property Machine Power.

  • Power Factor: the Power Factor for each cycle stage of the High Pressure Die Casting process in the powerProfileFactors table. This is a researched value that is applied to the Machine Power to reduce it to the power requirement of the particular stage of the cycle.

  • Process Step Time: the time to complete each step of the Cycle Time calculation (specified by the Formula Name in the powerProfileFactors table).

  • Cycle Time Adjustment Factor: the value of the cost model variable cycleTimeAdjustmentFactor. This is set to 1 in starting point Digital Factories.

Cycle Time Energy Consumption

This is the energy consumption based on the cycle time and the maximum power profile factor. Calculated as: (Machine Power * Applied Power Factor) * Cycle Time:

  • Machine Power: specified by the machine property Machine Power.

  • Applied Power Factor: aPriori performs a lookup in the powerProfileFactors table and selects the maximum Power Factor for the process.

  • Cycle Time: the time for one complete cycle of the applicable machine to make a single part. Includes the process times for each stage of the process. For details, see High Pressure Die Casting and Gravity Die Casting Process Formulas.

Trim

The Trim process cost model provides the following Sustainability outputs on the Part Details / Sustainability tab in aPriori:

  • Supports Sustainability: Yes.

  • Primary Material Carbon Factor: not applicable. aPriori leaves the cell blank.

  • Energy Carbon Factor, Logistics Carbon, Annual Carbon, and Total Carbon: the calculations for these variables are the same for all processes – see Sustainability Cost Model Overview.

  • Material Carbon: aPriori sets the Material Carbon value to zero. Although you can see the Material Carbon formula in the Formula Dependencies window, all the cells are blank other than the Final Yield percentage.

  • Process Carbon: same as Process Carbon Calculation for High Pressure Die Casting with the exception that, for the Energy Consumption calculation, aPriori performs a lookup in the powerProfileFactors table and returns the Power Factors for the Trim process. For details about the Cycle Time calculations in the Trim formulas, see Trim Formulas for Die Casting.