Recent Advances
Recent advances in technology from WORSWICK include
LASER SENSING UNIT (FOR FURNACE CONTROL)
A laser sensing unit is mounted above the moulds, which checks the height of the ingots, inputs this information to the PLC which is scaled and, in conjunction with a 'phase', can give a 4–20 ma output which can be connected to the furnace tilt control unit, or whichever control device is used to regulate metal flow.
LASER HEIGHT MEASUREMENT
FOR SOWS: The height of metal in the sow can be read by a laser sensing unit mounted remotely approximately 1m above the mould, and at a slight angle to it. When the metal level in the mould reaches the preset height a signal is given for the tilting tundish to return to the tilted back position, at which point it stops metal being fed from the ladle tilter until such time as it was required for the next pour cycle. The laser references the bottom of the mould as a zero point before each cast, and adds on the correct height to obtain the necessary sow weight, consequently the exact height of each mould on the machine is not critical.
FOR INGOTS: On WORSWICK multi-feed tundishes, an individual air cooled laser unit is mounted above each of the moulds to be fed and monitors the height of the metal within that mould. Once the height measurement reaches a pre-set value, which can be altered for different sized ingots, a signal is given to the stopper rod for that individual ingot mould to stop the flow of metal to the mould. With this system, even when many ingots are poured at once, up to 8 have been cast simultaneously in the past, there is individual control over each ingot, even if the flow to each individual ingot varies slightly.