METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING THE TEMPERATURE OF AN INGOT DURING CASTING, PARTICULARLY AT START-UP

摘要

A method of controlling a temperature of a surface of a direct chill cast ingot cast in an open-ended mould provided with a bottom block during early stages of casting as the ingot emerges from the open-ended mould. The method involves the steps of directing a flow of a coolant onto at least one surface of an ingot emerging from an open-ended mould to impinge on the surface at a normal impingement point and to cool the surface, measuring a surface temperature on the emerging ingot at at least one measurement location which is at a predetermined position close enough to the normal impingement point to be affected by the secondary coolant, to generate a measured surface temperature, determining the displacement of the bottom block of the casting machine from its initial position at the start of the cast, corresponding to each of the surface temperature measurement, and using the measured surface temperature to control a casting variable and thereby to control the temperature of the surface. The invention also relates to apparatus for carrying out the above method and to a method of measuring the surface temperature.