Thermal Control of Die Cooling Using Inexpensive Standard Cameras

In the die casting or permanent mold casting process, proper control of temperature is essential for producing high quality parts and yielding high production rates. In particular, defects can be caused by the uneven cooling of a casting during solidification. In this paper, two standard silicon-based charge coupled device (CCD) cameras are used to localize the position of the die, and measure the temperature distribution of the die. With the known temperature distribution, the cooling of the dies is adjusted to reduce the temperature fluctuation in the die in the subsequent production cycle. The first camera uses an infrared-pass filter to sense only the temperature dependent infrared thermal radiation and to measure temperature on the die. The second camera uses standard visible light imaging to localize the die. The validity of this approach is demonstrated experimentally.