Monitoring and controlling a die casting press

08 March 2011

Die cast presses use hydraulic systems to force molten metal into a die to form intricately shaped parts that require very little final machining for engine components, transmissions and other parts. Control over the injection process is often managed by a PLC.

However, to achieve fully formed parts of the correct density with minimum porosity speed control, volume and pressure during the injection process are critical. Many conventional PLCs lack adequate response times to maintain the tight control required during this process.

A system has been designed that incorporates an ADwin-Gold real-time data acquisition and control system to monitor and control the various parameters during this process. The system is easily interfaced to a Visual Basic application that provides the HMI for set-up and monitoring tasks. All of the real-time control is achieved using the on-board analogue and digital I/O of the ADwin in real-time.

The use of the ADwin system provides accurate, real-time control of the shot injection. It can be customised to provide special functionality, if required. Using a Windows-based PC for the HMI has also simplified connection to the factory network for monitoring, recipe management and process feedback.

The ADwin system is manufactured by Jäger Messtechnik. In the UK it is available from Adept Scientific.


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