The moulding machine includes a moulding chamber having at least one chamber end wall provided with a pattern plate adapted to form a pattern in a mould part and associated with a reference pattern block positioned in fixed relationship to a pattern of said pattern plate and adapted to form a reference pattern in an external face of a mould part. The reference pattern block includes a face having a tangent varying in a longitudinal direction of the moulding chamber and being adapted to form a corresponding reference pattern in the sand mould part. A non-contact detection system (87) detects the position of a number of different points (P.sub.1, P.sub.2) distributed over the pattern face of the reference pattern in the longitudinal direction of the sand mould part, and the tangent (T.sub.1, T.sub.2) in the longitudinal direction of the sand mould part is different between at least two of said points.

The moulding machine includes a moulding chamber having at least one chamber end wall provided with a pattern plate adapted to form a pattern in a mould part and associated with a reference pattern block positioned in fixed relationship to a pattern of said pattern plate and adapted to form a reference pattern in an external face of a mould part. The reference pattern block includes a face having a tangent varying in a longitudinal direction of the moulding chamber and being adapted to form a corresponding reference pattern in the sand mould part. A non-contact detection system (87) detects the position of a number of different points (P.sub.1, P.sub.2) distributed over the pattern face of the reference pattern in the longitudinal direction of the sand mould part, and the tangent (T.sub.1, T.sub.2) in the longitudinal direction of the sand mould part is different between at least two of said points.

A flaskless molding machine includes: an upper flask; a lower flask; an upper sand tank; an upper plate attached to a lower end of the upper sand tank; a first lower sand tank; a second lower sand tank storing mold sand supplied from the first lower sand tank; a lower plate attached to an upper end of the second lower sand tank, with at least one supply port being formed, the supply port allowing the second lower sand tank to communicate with an inside of the lower flask; at least one pressure detector detecting a pressure of at least one tank among the upper sand tank, the first lower sand tank and the second lower sand tank; and a control unit connected to the pressure detector and obtaining a detection result of the at least one pressure detector.

A method for managing a casting process based on measured properties of molding sand is provided so that casting defects or energy used can be reduced by changing the molding conditions for the mold to be produced or changing the steps after molding. The method for managing a casting process based on the properties of the molding sand includes a step (1) of measuring the properties of the molding sand just before the molding sand is supplied to a molding machine (40) and a step (2) of determining if the measured properties of the molding sand comply with predetermined properties so as to then switch between a step of molding a mold when the measured properties do comply with the predetermined properties and a step of molding a mold when the measured properties do not comply with the predetermined properties.

A method for managing a casting process based on measured properties of molding sand is provided so that casting defects or energy used can be reduced by changing the molding conditions for the mold to be produced or changing the steps after molding. The method for managing a casting process based on the properties of the molding sand includes a step (1) of measuring the properties of the molding sand just before the molding sand is supplied to a molding machine (40) and a step (2) of determining if the measured properties of the molding sand comply with predetermined properties so as to then switch between a step of molding a mold when the measured properties do comply with the predetermined properties and a step of molding a mold when the measured properties do not comply with the predetermined properties.

The invention relates to a device and method for improving the quality of automated machine-based casting methods by identification of the cast parts by pattern recognition and structure recognition, said method having the following features: Once the desired casting moulds (12) have been filled and monitored by means of sensors and cameras, and once the casting mould has been broken open, each finished cast part is identified by pattern recognition and pattern tracking, any flashing is removed, and the cast parts are fed to a jet cleaning process.

The invention relates to a device and method for improving the quality of automated machine-based casting methods by identification of the cast parts by pattern recognition and structure recognition, said method having the following features: Once the desired casting moulds (12) have been filled and monitored by means of sensors and cameras, and once the casting mould has been broken open, each finished cast part is identified by pattern recognition and pattern tracking, any flashing is removed, and the cast parts are fed to a jet cleaning process.

A core molding method is a method of molding a core using a metal mold that is pressure-fed with mulled sand, and includes heating the metal mold such that the temperature of the metal mold reaches a temperature higher than a predetermined baking temperature, pressure-feeding the heated metal mold with the mulled sand, holding the temperature of the metal mold having been pressure-fed with the mulled sand at the baking temperature, and removing the core from the metal mold after the holding.

A core molding method is a method of molding a core using a metal mold that is pressure-fed with mulled sand, and includes heating the metal mold such that the temperature of the metal mold reaches a temperature higher than a predetermined baking temperature, pressure-feeding the heated metal mold with the mulled sand, holding the temperature of the metal mold having been pressure-fed with the mulled sand at the baking temperature, and removing the core from the metal mold after the holding.

A core inspection device for inspecting a core, the device including a color sensor configured to detect a measured value of each color component of the color of the surface of the core, and a determination unit configured to compare the measured value of at least one color component detected by the color sensor with a threshold prepared corresponding to the at least one color component, thereby determine if a strength property of the core is acceptable or not.