Method and system for operating molding and casting plants

An automatic molding and casting plant comprising:

• a molding station including means for compressing particulate material against at least one pattern so as to form molds or mold parts with at least one casting cavity, the shape of said cavity corresponding to at least a part of castings to be produced,
• a pouring station including means for pouring liquid metal into molds or mold parts formed at the molding station to produce the castings,
• an extraction station including means for extracting, from the molds or mold parts, the castings produced at the pouring station,
• conveying means for conveying the molds or mold parts formed at the molding station through said pouring station and said extraction station in succession, and
• a system for operating said plant,
• said system comprising at least one camera, having a field of vision disposed such that said field of vision encompasses an aspect of interest of an operation being carried out in one of the stations, for producing corresponding camera image information regarding said aspect of interest,
• comparing means for comparing said camera image information to previously stored image information corresponding to a desired performance of said aspect and for producing an output in accordance therewith, and
• control means for evaluating said output and, if the said output reveals a difference beyond a predetermined acceptable level, for transmitting a corrective command to the at least one station, said control means transmitting a command to said pouring station to omit pouring into the casting cavity in a situation (a) where said difference exceeds said acceptable level and a only single casting pattern is present, and not transmitting a command to said pouring station to omit pouring in a situation (b) where said difference exceeds said acceptable level, but where a plurality of casting patterns are involved, and where said difference deviates from said acceptable level by an amount which lies between predetermined limits, said control means further providing, in both situations (a) and (b), a message to a production monitoring means of said plant, said message comprising one of:
• (i) a casting will be missing and (ii) at least one defective casting is being produced.

An automatic molding and casting plant comprising:

• a molding station including means for compressing particulate material against at least one pattern so as to form molds or mold parts with at least one casting cavity, the shape of said cavity corresponding to at least a part of the castings to be produced,
• a pouring station including means for pouring liquid metal into molds or mold parts formed at the molding station to produce the castings,
• an extraction station including means for extracting, from the molds or mold parts, the castings produced at the pouring station,
• conveying means for conveying the molds or mold parts formed at the molding station through said pouring station and said extraction station in succession, and
• a system for operating the plant,
• said system including:
• monitoring means for monitoring an aspect of interest of an operation being carried out in one of the stations, and for producing corresponding image information,
• comparing means for comparing said image information to previously stored image information corresponding to a desired performance of said aspect and for producing an output in accordance therewith, and
• control means for evaluating said output and, if the said output reveals a difference beyond a predetermined acceptable level, for transmitting a corrective command to the at least one station, said control means transmitting a command to said pouring station to omit pouring into the casting cavity in a situation (a) where said difference exceeds said acceptable level and a only single casting patterns is present, and not transmitting a command to said pouring station to omit pouring in a situation (b) where said difference exceeds said acceptable level, but where a plurality of casting patterns are involved, and where said difference deviates from said acceptable level by an amount which lies between predetermined limits, said control means further providing, in both situations (a) and (b) a message to a production monitoring means of said plant, said message comprising one of:
• (i) a casting will be missing and (ii) at least one defective casting is being produced,
• said system further including:
• a parameter recorder for receiving data from at least one station, and
• a data processing unit, connected to said parameter recorder, for processing data received from the said recorder,
• said control means including a control unit connected to said data processing unit, for supplying control signals to at least one station in dependence on the data received from said data processing unit,
• said monitoring means comprising a monitoring camera producing image information and having an output connected to an input of said parameter recorder,
• at least one of said parameter recorder and said data processing unit comprising data storage means for storing image information relating to a correctly performed operation,
• comparing means for comparing the image information produced by the monitoring camera to the image information stored in said data storage means, and
• decision means for deciding on the basis of externally input decision criteria whether the result of said comparing by said comparing means calls or influencing at least one station and, if so, transmitting corresponding signals to the said control unit,
• said control unit transmitting, on the basis of the signals received from said decision means, control signals to at least one station to be influenced.