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By R. Parada

In January 1995, Disputada Mining Company Ltd. (Compañia Minera Disputada de Las Condes) started up the Expansion Project for the Chagres Smelter, following an investment of US$M 2 15. The new smelter replaced the 44,000 tomes per year revervatory furnace with an Outokumpu Flash Smelting Furnace (FSF) designed to produce 118,000 tonnes per year of copper. Nowadays, this smelting unit has achieved a 40% over design performance. The landmarks of this modernization project are described. The start up period in 1995-1996 was characterized by the impacts of several restrictions that prevented the smelter from reach design production. The design performance was reached in 1997-1998 through the implementation of solutions designed to eliminate, or at least mitigate, the restrictions found early on. The smelter has been further optimized in the 1999-2000 period, leading to a new record anode copper production rate of 148,000 tonnes in 2000 while obtaining 98% approval for our different anode shapes. The objective of this paper is to discuss the consecutive processes of start-up, achievement of design capacity, and operational improvements to go well beyond the design capacity. These processes took place between early 1995 and late 2000, under the principles of Continuous Improvement that promotes the effective participation of the workers in the technology innovation and Enterprise Management.

Jan 1, 2002

By Dieter Offenthaler

Catalysts used in petroleum industry often contain valuable amounts of PGMs. The typical recycling route for those materials is the pyrometallurgical one, but this treatment way offers limited flexibility with respect to small charge weights. A new process, combining a pyrometallurgical pre-treatment step of the ceramic carriers with a hydrometallurgical leaching procedure overcomes this disadvantage. It not only allows the economical treatment of even very small charge weights, but also gives the possibility to maximize the PGM yield by individually adapting the process to the different charge materials. Due to an ingenious process design, where all leaching agents and effluents are recycled in a closed loop and therefore no waste waters leave the process, process operation becomes very economical. However, the temperature-time-regime in the pyrometallurgical pre-treatment step is of major importance for the success of the whole process. Therefore various investigations have been done to identify how the different process variables in the pyrometallurgical pre-treatment influence the subsequent leaching procedure. It turned out, that the adjustment of the correct phase-modification in the ceramic carrier materials during the pyrometallurgical treatment is the key factor of this process step. Although it is a troublesome issue to exactly adjust the correct phase modifications, it is the prerequisite to take advantage of the benefits of this new process concept.

Jan 1, 2006

By H. Kurokawa

Sumitomo Metal Mining decided to expand copper production capacity of Toyo Smelter and Refinery to cope with the recent copper demand growth in Asia, and to survive by reducing cost. The expansion plan is promoted to increase electrorefined copper production capacity from 270,000 metric tons in 2001 to 450,000 metric tons in 2007. The major changes in smelting section are introduction of the rotary steam dryer, renewal of the feeding system for flash furnace, improvement of the concentrate burner, modification of the flash furnace cooling materials, renewal of the slag cleaning furnace, modification of the flash furnace waste heat boiler, installment of a new converter furnace, enlargement of two anode furnaces. In addition, the gas cleaning system was upgraded and the second acid plant was installed. In the refinery section, the existing tank houses have been operated at high current density of 300A/m2 using the conventional starting sheet cathode technology and moreover a new tank house utilizing the permanent cathode technology was constructed. Although the copper production capacity has been increased, SO2 emission has been kept the lowest in the world through consideration of influence on the environment by expansion project.

Jan 1, 2006

By Leonard J. Friedman

There have been considerable changes in systems, equipment design and materials used in the modern Sulfuric Acid process. Many of these will shape the metallurgical sulfuric acid plant for the year 2000 and beyond. Advances have come from all over the world, and include new scrubbing area designs, catalyst contacting devices, silicon stainless alloys for unlined acid systems, energy recovery from acid heat, stainless converters and heat exchangers, etc. This paper describes each of the process "advances" and presents a review and analysis indicating advantages, operating experience and limitations.

Jan 1, 1988

By R. Winand, M. Degrez, C. Temmerman

"The influence of the copper electro crystallization inhibitors (mainly thiourea, gelatin and chloride ions) is studied in a new fully automatic pilot plan. This paper describes the conception and the building of this plan. The new approach is to reproduce the experimental conditions observed in the industry with the three additives present simultaneously in the electrolyte and secondly to study the influence of a slight modification of the concentration of one inhibitor, the others being present in the electrolyte with their industrial nominalconcentrations.1. INTRODUCTIONDespite the fact that gelatine, thiourea and chloride ions have been used in copper electrorefining for a long time, precise knowledge concerning their influence on the cathode deposit, metallographic structure and associated properties is still lacking.Many authors studied the influence of each additive separately, or of two added at a time. Only a few authors studied the combined influence of the three additives added simultaneously. The general conclusion that can be drawn is that the combined influence is far from that forseen from the influence of each additive separately, or even from two additives used at a time. Moreover most of the experiments described in the literature were performed by adding all additives at once initially. It is however, well known that gelatine looses a great part of its activity during the first half hour due to degradation by sulfuric acid (as shown by the cathode overpotential drop). Thiourea is rapidly replaced by a number of degradation mole,cules and complex ions including cations from the solution, changing even the equilibrium between Cu, Cu(I) and Cu(II).Chloride ions are consumed by precipitation.A number of successive research projects [1-9] led pregressively to the concept that, in order to obtain reproducible results representative of industrial cathodes, it was necessary to simulate as far as possible industrial conditions. It was essential that all additives were added continuously during the electrolysis, with, as consequence, a continuous bleed.The purpose of this paper is to describe the concept of a new fully automatic pilot plan for copper electrorefining and to present the first results."

Jan 1, 1997

By G. K. Ruhlandt, C. W. Kim

"A 3-D Finite Element Method program called ""SOLCAST"" has been developed to simulate the casting solidification process. Using the temperature recovery method to evaluate the latent heat of fusion and applying a new combination of the time integration scheme, SOLCAST reduces the computational time significantly compared to an existing commercial FEM program, and produces accurate results comparable to experimental casting results. Prediction of casting shrinkage porosity for A390 aluminum alloy will also be discussed. To make this FEM program useful for foundry engineers, this program was connected to a commercial pre- and post-processor.IntroductionBecause of recently increased competition, foundrymen must produce high quality castings more economically. Therefore, casting solidification analysis prior to casting production is an attractive way to reduce costs and development time.Although the actual casting solidification process is a very complicated phenomena, foundrymen could predict where shrinkage defects would occur based on a transient conduction heat transfer analysis that includes the liberation of latent heat. A numerical analysis is generally required to solve the heat diffusion equation with the latent heat diffusion term, because casting shapes are very complicated and pure materials are rarely used.Different numerical methods have been applied to the casting solidification analysis 1. Among them, a finite difference method 2 and a finite element method (FEM)3 are most commonly used.Each simulation method has one or more basic difficulties which are different for each method. These difficulties are:(1) Modeling casting shapes on a computer.(2) Time consuming computation.(3) Uncertain material properties."

Jan 1, 1986

By Olga K. Karakasi, Angeliki Moutsatsou, Ioanna Kavallari

"The present study focuses on the amelioration of the behaviour of high calcium fly ash (HCFA), investigating its application in a new environmental field: oil spill clean up. High calcium fly ash is a by-product of electric power plants, produced annually in large quantities, whose greater amount is landfilled. Some of its properties, such as its chemical and mineralogical composition, its fine particle size, its porosity, floating ability and hydrophobic character make it an attractive material for this purpose. Researches showed that when added to an oil spill, it forms a semi-solid phase, which allows the quite total removal of the oil, but it is not stably retained on the surface. In order to ameliorate its floating ability, the decrease in its specific gravity by mixing with a lighter material is investigated. In the present study the mixing with two materials, already used in oil spill clean up, sawdust and a polymer, has been examined. Addition of 15-25% w/w sawdust to HCFA results in a material with better performance than HCFA or sawdust alone: it has a satisfactory floating ability and allows total removal of oil. Addition of the polymer, however, has resulted in no significant amelioration of the oil sorption behaviour of HCFA, probably because no affinity between HCFA and polymer has been achieved.IntroductionCoal fly ash is a by-product of coal combustion in electric power plants, produced worldwide in huge quantities, approximately 500 million tones annually. High calcium fly ash (HCFA) is classified to class C presenting a (Al2O3 + SiO2 + Fe2O3) > 50%. The production of lignite fly ash in Greece comes up to 13 million tones annually, of which only 12% is used in construction applications, the other being landfilled [5, 6].Besides its limited application worldwide as a construction material, research is focusing on the development of new environmental applications, such as waste stabilisation and solidification, soil and water environmental improvement [9, 12]. For the application of fly ash in further environmental fields several chemical modifications have been applied, in order to improve its properties. Extensive research has been focused on the conversion of both coal and lignite fly ash to zeolite and its further application in environmental field, such as the uptake of inorganic (heavy metals and ammonium [8, 11]) or even organic compounds (methylene blue [15]) from waste water streams, or the use as molecular sieves, to adsorb water molecules, SO2 and NH3 from gas streams, due to the high cation exchange capacity and porosity of the produced zeolithic material. Furthermore, lignite fly ash has been combined with sodium silicate solution, prepared by treatment of rice husk ash, and tetrapropylammonium bromide, to synthesise hydrophobic zeolite ZSM-5 [4]."

Jan 1, 2008

By Y. Maeda

Non-ferrous smelting furnaces generally lnstal1 a gas cooling system for treatment of waste gas containing S02. From the point of view of corrosion resistance and recovery of waste heat, the high pressure boiler system Is the best way to cool gas, however this system requires high Initial investment and relatively higher operating costs. Because the feasibility of this boiler system greatly depends on the smelting process and scale, other lower temperature systems, e.g. water-cooled Jacket system, are more suitable If the smelting process does not produce enough steam nor generate enough electricity to compensate operating cost. In addition, the water-cooled Jacket system Is simple in structure and easy to operate. For those reasons, it is applied widely. A new smelting furnace. was planned tin our factory and It was necessary to install waste gas cooling equipment. In our case, a water-cooled Jacket system was mo11e feasible because of the low gas volume and high dust content. H was also expected to operate without maintenance for ten years. On the other hand, some leakage problems with the water-cool1ed Jacket had been experienced In the past. That is because S02 in the waste gas changed into sulfuric acid which corroded the Jacket material, As the first step, several data from actual usage were reviewed to throw light on the corrosion process, and an appropriate procedure to determine the operating temperature of cooling water was obtained. For the basis of this study, a water-cooled Jacket system was newly designed and tested for three months in a pilot plant. After this system's performance was confirmed, It was installed In a new furnace as a commercial pl.ant. After one year of operation, the initial thickness of carbon steel Jacket remains almost the same.

Jan 1, 1992

By Kazuyo Yokoyama

New environmental assessment model based on the Waste Input-Output analysis has been developed and applied for the "Landfill mining activity". "Landfill mining" implies the digging up of the landfilled wastes, the recovery of valuable material and energy resources and, thus, the reuse of the saved space as a new landfill site. In this study, the landfilled wastes are assumed to be treated by the gasification/melting processes. Two kinds of reactors, the fluidized bed type (FB) and the shaft furnace type (SF), have been considered in this work as the typical gasification/melting processes adopted in Japan. In FB, the dug-up wastes are heated in the sand fluidized bed zone under reducing atmosphere, Fe and Al are recovered in the metallic form, and then, the gasification/melting of residues is made in the second zone. In SF, the waste is charged in the high temperature coke bed, and the gas is recovered together with molten metal and slag. Both processes generate electric power by the recovered heat and fly ash as waste to landfill. It has been found in this study that the both processes can reduce the total volume of waste and save the available landfill space. SF seems to have higher potential for decreasing volume of wastes because of less emission than FB while FB has great benefit to recover metallic Fe and Al individually. The results of scenario analysis have also indicated that the landfill mining activity is effective for sustainable management of landfill sites.

Jan 1, 2006

By B. I. Hop

The f10wfield set up by the standard Hydro gas purging unit has been predicted by a numerical model. In addition turbulent trajectories of gas bubbles released from the rotor are predicted. Here the deposition rate of inclusions on the bubble surface is allowed to depend on local conditions. Bubbles passing regions with strong pressure gradients, such as close to the rotor, will experience large slip velocities and large deposition rates. This model can deal with any distribution of bubble sizes and inclusions. The results found from the multidimensional flow predictions are discussed in relation to what can be obtained from a much simpler metallurgical engineering approach. The differences between these two approaches to predict the same process will be discussed. The model predictions are compared to experimental results for removal of SiC-particles from aluminium.

Jan 1, 1996

By Yamei Han, Jiang Du, Jinhui Peng, Mengbi Fu, Libo Zhang, Zhengfu Zhang

"A continuously pilot synthesis by microwave-heating was used in preparing the cathode material LiNi113Co113Mn11302 for Li-ion battery, which used Ni1/3Co1/3Mn1/3(0H)2 and LizC03 as raw materials. Decomposition of the raw materials and synthesis of LixNi113Co113Mn11302 would be fmished in single roasting process. In addition, using microwave-heating would reduce the reacting time largely. Furthermore, the yield of LixNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/302 synthetized in single roasting process was 50 kg. Meanwhile, the effects of Li:(Ni+Co+Mn) molar radio (Li:(Ni+Co+Mn)=l.06, 1.075, 1.09, 1.15) was studied in this paper. XRD, SEM and EIS were used in characterizing the cathode material. The results showed that the best Li:(Ni+Co+Mn) molar radio was 1.075. It was found that the LiNi113Co113Mn11302 synthetized with Li:(Ni+Co+Mn)=l.075 had homogenous distribution of particles and ideal layered structure. The galvanostatic charge-discharge(O. l C, 2. 75-4.3V, vs. Lt /Li) tests showed that the initial discharge capacity of the LixNi113Co113Mn11302 was 159.5mAh·g-1, and the discharge capacity was 157.6mAh·g·1after10 cycles.IntroductionRecently, as the cobalt was expensive and the restriction of dynamic power, the commercial cathode Li2Co02 which was expensive, toxic, and high pollution had exposed its defects[1·2l. Since T.Ohzuku[3l first reported the layered LiNi113Co113Mn11302, this material had high reversible capacity and caused the attentions of researchers[4l. Its reversible capacity was l 60mAh/g and 200mAh/g in the voltage range of 2.75-4.3V[5-61. But for the present, preparing LiNiwCowMnw02 by traditional had lots of disadvantages, such as the long heating time, the high cost and the volatizing of lithium and so on[7-9l. According to these, traditional prepatation wasn't good for sustainable development and energy conservation."

Jan 1, 2013

By Bruce W. Wessels

"Metal-organic chemical vapor deposition has been shown to be a highly versatile technique for the synthesis of complex oxides. High dielectric constant oxide thin films of SrTiO3, BaTiO3, Ba1-xSrxTiO3 and SrxBa1-xNb2O6 can be be be deposited at 800 ºC with this technique. The fluorine substituted B-diketonate precursors have been shown to be well-suited for the deposition of high quality, epitaxial thin films of these materials.IntroductionThere has been a resurgence of interest in thin film ferroelectric oxides as a result of the development of techniques to deposit high quality material. Both physical and chemical vapor deposition techniques have been realized. Of the chemical vapor deposition techniques, metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) has received the most interest for the deposition of ferroelectric oxide thin films. This results, in part, from the availability of a number of volatile metal-organic precursors.(l) Moreover, MOCVD offers the advantages of high growth rates, uniform coverage over large areas, conformability, abrupt interfaces and excellent epitaxial crystallinity. Of the metalorganic precursors, the B-diketonate complexes have played an important role especially in the deposition of ferroelectric oxides containing alkaline-earth metals such as BaTi03 and Ba1•XSrxTi03. For example, barium tetramethylheptanedionate Ba(thd)2 has been used in the preparation of BaTi03 by MOCVD.(2) These compounds, however, are not without their problems. Ba(dpm)2 has a relatively low volatility; and as a consequence, temperatures in excess of 180·C are required for volatilization. This leads to the necessity of a complex precursor delivery system to insure that the precursor does not condense before the reaction zone. Moreover, the Ba precursor tends to oligomerize leading to a decrease in vapor pressure as well as a problem with reproducibility. To counter these problems, novel liquid source and solid source precursor delivery systems have been developed. (3)(4)"

Jan 1, 1994

By M. M. Sadawy

"The increased rate of exploitation of iron ores has resulted in a rapid depletion of high-grade iron ore deposits in Egypt. New iron reserves have to be discovered to secure the iron ore for steel production. This paper aims to study the characterization and magnetic separation of low grade Aswan iron ore. The results showed that Aswan iron ore is composed of oolitic hematite, goethite, quartz and kaolinite. The screen analysis indicated that Aswan iron ore had a uniform distribution of iron and silica in the different particle size fractions and there is no any particle size has high amount of iron or low content of silica. On the other hand the results of dry high intensity magnetic separation illustrated that this technique is not suitable for upgrading this ore.IntroductionIron is one of the common metals used in industry, as well as being the fundamental raw material used in iron-steel industry; products are wide spread even in daily uses. The total iron ore reserves of the world have been estimated as 3 70 billion tones; 160 billion tones is classified as economical, while 210 billion tones as potentially economical [1]. An estimated 98% of the iron ore exploited in the world is used in the manufacture of pig iron and steel, which are non-substitutable backbones of modem society. The rapid increase of world steel production over the last few years have required an equal increase in iron ore production, from 876.8 Mt in 2006 to 948.1 Mt in 2007 [2]. The increased rate of exploitation of iron ores has resulted in a rapid depletion of known high-grade iron ore deposits. This, in turn, has led to a dramatic increase of prices. In the absence of any major new discoveries of high-grade iron ore deposits, mining companies have turned to lower-grade materials to assess their beneficiation potential to expand their production base and beneficiation capacity, in order to satisfy future demand. Egypt is going to face shortage in iron production, consequently new iron reserves have to be discovered to secure the iron needed for the country [3]. Exploitation of low grade ores requires special equipments and techniques for recovery of minerals values. High gradient magnetic separators offer promise and great potential of application both technologically and economically in the processing of fine particles containing weakly or feebly paramagnetic components [4-6]. Within this existing framework, this research was initiated to assess the beneficiation potential of low-grade Aswan iron ore by high intensity magnetic separation."

Jan 1, 2013

By O. G. Yeremin

The Joint Venture "Inter-S" jointly with the Gintsvetmet Institute have developed a technology for manufacturing of sulphoconcrete and sulphoasphalt. The sulphoconcrete manufacturing technology comprises preliminary production of modified sulphur, which is blended in liquid form at a temperature of 120°C with an inert material preheated to the same temperature. The second promising area for the use of sulphur is partial substitution of modified sulphur for more expensive bitumen. The sulphoasphalt manufacturing process comprises preliminary production of a sulphur and bitumen mixture with a sulphur content of 30% to 40%, which is then blended with inert materials using conventional techniques. Sulphoasphalt manufactured at a full-scale plant meets all requirements set to its strength properties for road paving. Technology has been developed for production of high-purity sulphur based on rectification of liquid sulphur in a packed column. A commercial-scale plant with a capacity of up to 15 tonnes per year for production of sulphur with an impurities level of about 110-6 % by mass has been put into operation.

Jan 1, 2006

By M. Tokumasu, T. Mutoh, Y. Sugawara

"In October 1986, a process computer was introduced in order to achieve an optimum combustion of pulverized coal at the reverberatory furnaces. The secondary combustion air volume is controlled based on the nitrogen oxide concentration of the off-gas from the reverberatory furnaces. The carbon monoxide concentration has strong relation with the concentration of nitrogen oxide under the situation of using alternative fuels, such as chipped tires and p,ulverized coal. Using this computer aided combustion control system, both nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide concentrations were stabilized and conventional monitoring and controlling apparatuses were absorbed into this computer system. Due to this easily operated system, labor cost was reduced and the operation of the reverberatory furnaces and the off-gas treatment plant became stable.IntroductionOnahama Smelter and Refinery started its operation in April 1965 as a large scale copper smelter and refinery in Japan. The green charged reverberatory furnaces were introduced and bunker C oil was chosen as the fuel for the reverberatory furnaces. After the oil crises, Onahama was forced to use cheaper fuels such as coal and waste tires, i.e., alternative fuels instead of the expensive oil. As the amount of the alternative fuels fed to the reverberatory furnaces increased, the concentrations of nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide in the off-gas became unstable. Consequently, the fluctuation of the combustion condition became not to be negligible in view point of a combustion efficiency and pollution regulations. A process computer has been introduced to overcome these off-gas troubles and to reduce the operating cost of the smelter.Outline of Operation HistoryInitially, the operation started by one reverberatory furnace and then the capacity was expanded almost twice by additional furnace in December 1972. As shown in Figure I, the smelting throughput was depressed after oil crises in 1973 and 1978. From 1983 to 1985, some copper mines stopped their operations because of low price of copper metal. During this period, Onahama suffered from the shortage of concentrate production levels were depressed."

Jan 1, 1989

By Pertti Koukkari, Nagendra Tripathi, Karri Penttilä, Justin Salminen

A computational fluid dynamic model for a novel flash ironmaking process based on the direct gaseous reduction of iron oxide concentrates is presented. The model solves the threedimensional governing equations including both gas-phase and gas-solid reaction kinetics. The turbulence-chemistry interaction in the gas-phase is modeled by the eddy dissipation concept incorporating chemical kinetics. The particle cloud model is used to track the particle phase in a Lagrangian framework. A nucleation and growth kinetics rate expression is adopted to calculate the reduction rate of magnetite concentrate particles. Benchmark experiments reported in the literature for a nonreacting swirling gas jet and a nonpremixed hydrogen jet flame were simulated for validation. The model predictions showed good agreement with measurements in terms of gas velocity, gas temperature and species concentrations. The relevance of the computational model for the analysis of a bench reactor operation and the design of an industrialpilot plant is discussed.

Jan 1, 2014

By B. Willit, J. Martin

"Continued emphasis on water and energy conservation with less operator attention has created a need for more sophisticated cooling tower controls. A joint Betz/ASARCO project has produced a computerized water parameter controller and automated pumpless feed unit. Interfacing the unit via radio modem to the operator control room computer allows real time system status monitoring. Incorporating SPC principles to monitor and regulate all pertinent parameters yielded enhanced water control. This paper described the system design and present the results of a six month trial.BackgroundReducing operating costs and better manpower utilization are two of the largest concerns confronting maintenance managers today. At the ASARCO plant in Amarillo, a trial has been initiated to prove that it is possible to accomplish both of these objectives by using automated cooling tower control. The system is being adapted from a unit that was designed for continuously operating cooling towers in refineries and power plants by Betz Equipment Systems Division, a subsidiary of Betz Laboratories, Inc. The System l3000™ is designed to continually monitor conditions in the cooling system and to provide adjustments to the chemical balance for corrosion and deposition control. At Asarco, the unit was installed on the Rodline cooling system which operates on an intermittent basis.The primary justification for this project is to reduce costs of the five cooling systems in the plant. Current procedures require an operator to make visual checks every two hours on the five cooling towers as well as run lab tests on the water to insure proper treatment levels. This manpower can be better utilized by controlling the towers and collecting all the data available at one central location, in this case, the boiler house."

Jan 1, 1989

By G. Cifuentes

It's know that the cathodic purity and the electrolyte treatment is affect for the solid present in the electrolyte. Anodic slimes properties (f.e.: chemical composition, crystalline composition, sedimentation) was studied in copper electrorefining, this properties were modify through by anodic composition and current density. In this paper will be present only the preliminary anodic slimes relationship at different lead anodic composition. The anodic material was doped during the poured process with lead at different composition. It's confirm the apparition of the (Bindheimitte) SMbz07. The specific gravity of this specie is approximately 7.3 - 7.5, with this values is biggest the probability of sedimentation and smaller the slimes not sedimentabel.

Jan 1, 1999

By Nobuaki Sato, Tetsuo Fukasawa, Akira Kirishima

To apply the fluoride volatility process for the treatment of fuel debris formed in the damaged nuclear reactors, study on the fluorination behavior of main constituents, such as fuel and cladding is essential. The mixture of uranium and zirconium oxides is formed under severe conditions such as high temperature and oxidizing atmospheres. In this paper, fluorination and volatilization behavior of uranium and zirconium oxides have been studied by TG-DTA method in the presence of fluorine. From the TG-DTA result of UO2 in F2 atmosphere, the weight gradually increased up to 7% at 350 oC followed by rapid weight decrease with exothermic peak showing the vaporization of uranium as UF6. ZrO2 showed similar fluorination behavior to that of UO2. However, fluorination of UO2-ZrO2 seemed to be suppressed with increasing ZrO2 amount. This may be caused by the formation of solid solution.

Jan 1, 2016

By Henry Hu

In high pressure die casting processes, proper control of temperature die yields a high casting production rate and superior quality components, Die temperature is usually influenced by various die design and process parameters such as size and location of intemal water cooling lines, flow rates of cooling lines, and pouring temperature of molten metal. Among them, the cooling water flow rate plays a major role in controlling thermal pattern of the die_ In order to develop an effective control strategy, data of local die temperature must be collected and analyzed, In this study, a PC-based data acquisition and control system (DACS) for die temperature control has been designed, and established, The developed DACS has three input channels for temperature signals and one input channel for water flow rate signals, as well as one output channel for a water pump, and is capable of displaying data in both curve format and value format. Implementation of the DACS in a laboratory setup has also been attempted, It should be pointed out that more advanced control mechanisms can be potentially integrated into this system in future,

Jan 1, 2003