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I was wondering what experience anyone has had with using thermal imaging in the injection molding industry. (mapping mold temperature and melt temperature)? We are considering the purchase of a thermal imaging camera and I would like to get some thoughts from everyone...
Greetings;
Had a FLIR unit a few years ago and loved it only Con was the cost and getting it approved. Pros: Aside from the many uses in looking for hot spots in your electrical panels, We were running preforms and it worked great for Id'ing hot cores in the mold, hot cavities in the cooling head, used as a troubleshooting tool. I've also used it to inspect barrels for bad heater band, a bit of an overkill, one can just rub a runner on the band and tell its dead, right.
Scott
We purchased a Flir when the older units went on sale. It's great for mapping tools and finding hot spots or as a long distance check on a mold without stopping the press. You can watch a mold steel continue to rise to prove that there's not enough water manifolds on a tool. I've also proved a cold spot in one mold. Seals leaking chiller water into mold base.
Rick
Agreed with the above. Does not do too well for melt temp since you cannot get the inside of the melt temp. But it is a great comparison tool - what was it and what is it now?
Suhas
We have a FLIR too. For us it works great.
Ejection temperature, mass temperature, mould tempereature, you can even diagnose blocked circuits. Although you have to be carefull when reading mould temperatures, measure plastic with infrared is different than measuring reflective steel.
For the mass temperature i developed a method to measure it with infrared. Comparing it with a probe it gave me readings 5ºC below, average.