Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) announced that it has jointly developed*1 an innovative aluminum casting technology that improves the plant environment and product functionality, for which it has received the Okochi Memorial Production Prize in the 66th (2019) Okochi Memorial Prize awards. Presented by the Okochi Memorial Foundation, the Okochi Memorial Prize acknowledges remarkable achievements related to research and development, and the application of production engineering, production technology, and production systems annually. This marks the first time in three years that Toyota has been awarded the well-established, prestigious Okochi Memorial Prize. It is also the 12th Okochi Memorial Prize*2 overall for Toyota.
Toyota is implementing initiatives to achieve the “Plant Zero CO2 Emissions Challenge,” which is one of the targets in the Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050, announced in 2015. As the electrification of vehicles proceeds, engines will also have to evolve, such as through the use of technologies to achieve high thermal efficiency. For these two reasons, Toyota developed the aluminum casting technology that received this prize.
Toyota received this prize for a world-first aluminum casting technology for cylinder heads*3, which affect engine performance. The cooling water channels of a cylinder head are normally formed using molds made from sand and adhesive, known as a core. The technology commonly used to make cores at present employs an organic material called phenolic resin as the adhesive. However, the casting process produces strong odors and smoke, giving rise to the issue of large deodorization equipment required to deal with the odorous gas by-products.
On the other hand, increased cooling capacity of the cylinder head is necessary for improving engine performance, and this requires thinner and more complex cooling water channels. Also, using inorganic material as the adhesive is an effective way of eliminating smoke and odor, but there was previously no method of manufacturing cores that would allow for complicated shapes and reuse of sand.
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SOURCE: Toyota
