ABB Ability™ Optimold Monitor provides enhanced mold plate temperature monitoring in slab casting, including real-time mold status. The device can measure local thermal and flow events, as well as detecting stickers and cracks, enabling a new level of flexibility and scalability to mold monitoring and goes further than existing conventional and fiber-optic temperature measurement technologies.
With over 4000 measuring points per complete mold, ABB Ability™ Optimold Monitor’s spatial resolution is more than 20 times better than conventional temperature measurement systems. The number, length and placement of every Fiber Braggs Grating (FBG) fiber-optic sensing point along each individual optic fiber can be tailored to specific process needs.
Using ABB Ability™ Optimold Monitor software, data from the fiber-optic sensors is processed and visualized as a heat distribution image of the mold copper plate, allowing the operator to focus on areas of interest. Factors such as real-time meniscus profile and flow speed and other heat-related features such as mold cooling, plate condition, taper control and submerged entry nozzle (SEN) clogging are monitored and measured, providing more detailed process insight than existing mold temperature measurement technologies. Current and historical temperature gradient data can be analyzed allowing for early sticker detection, crack warnings and fewer caster disturbances and help improve process performance.
When combined with an electromagnetic stirring / braking device such as the FC Mold, ABB Ability™ Optimold Monitor can deliver important insights that can be used to increase control of molten steel flows and significantly reduce inclusion defects for all casting conditions. The device’s high resolution mold temperature measurement data is used to calculate the meniscus level profile at any given moment.
Ability™ Optimold Control goes even further by closing the loop between ABB Ability™ Optimold Monitor or equivalent mold monitoring device and the electromagnetic stirring/braking device to provide control of the casting process in real time.