Foundries that supply materials to the automotive industry are well aware that quality control and production cadence are key to achieving adequate performance and preventing a contract with a major brand from turning into a nightmare.
The presence control of risers in engine blocks is a differentiating factor in maintaining an adequate production rhythm. If one of these excess parts breaks off and remains inside the mold, it could cause damage to the mold, requiring repair and slowing down the production rate.
Thanks to the ThermoStamp riser solution, part of the Enlight ecosystem from Álava Ingenieros, the presence of each and every one of these risers on each face or part of the block is controlled easily, quickly, and without contact.
ThermoStamp risers is based on the use of infrared machine vision cameras, which are used to clearly distinguish a potential background with random foundry events from a newly formed engine block.
The simplicity of its basic operating principle (detecting hot spots against a much colder background) results in extreme ease of use for the operator at a truly contained cost. All of this is compatible with the most widespread industrial communication protocols (OPC UA, OPC DA, MODBUS, PROFIBUS, PROFINET, etc.) and opens up the possibility of analyzing data, trends, and results on IoT platforms for predictive maintenance with artificial intelligence, such as MonoM.
The solution adds several clearly differentiating value-added factors compared to fixed optical sensors with their simple OK/NOK signals to the control PLC, such as:
- 100% traceability of produced parts
- Assists the operator by displaying an image of each part and marking these risers.
- Customization of each part thanks to the recipe system, which eliminates the need to modify the hardware setup to adapt to new mold designs.
