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[July 2002]
Mould Thermal Analysis Software to Reduce Downtime and Scrap
The latest thermal inspection software from Ircon BV (Amersfoort, Holland) is said to provide a complete assessment of the health and efficiency of moulds and dies. Used in conjunction with company's 'Stinger' thermal imaging camera, the PC-based 'Mold Inspector' software helps mouldmakers save on scrapped product and leads to reduced downtime.Specifically designed for mould analysis in process industries - such as ceramics, plastics, glass and metals - Mold Inspector enables users to determine mould wear, cracks and improper cooling. It allows R&D engineers to improve mould design and to verify the application of mould release agents. Shown as hot spots, plugged cooling ports can be identified by the software prior to running product batches.
During the heating and cooling phases, the combination of the Mold Inspector software and the Stinger thermal imaging camera provides real time thermal images of a mould at an adjustable speed of up to 60 frames per second. Thermal data for even the most complex mould inspection process, adds Ircon, can be stored for VCR style playback, used for on-line process control or exported via serial or TCP/IP connection into a database for quality control purposes.
A fully configurable software package, Mold Inspector software allows users to define up to 50 specific 'areas of interest' (AOI) for each mould.
Temperature data for each AOI - including minimum, maximum and average - can be displayed numerically while thermal images of the complete mould based on absolute and differential temperature measurements can be shown simultaneously. Defining a line across the thermal image as an AOI, the software can display temperature as a 2D graphic profile.
Independent alarms can be configured for each AOI of a mould. Alarm signals generated by the heating and cooling process can be viewed either directly on the PC screen, logged to hard disk or linked via an optional I/O interface module to provide outputs for process control.
ENDS