Part temperature measurement inside forming tools

Common temperature measurement methods, such as contact or radiation thermometers, are often inaccurate or not applicable. Typically, contact thermometers embedded in the mold lack sufficient dynamics and accuracy. Radiation thermometers, are generally unssuitable for temperature determination during the manufacturing process of workpieces completely enclosed by the mold.

This invention, based on the thermoelectric effect, was developed by a research team at the Technical University in Munich. It enables highly accurate and highly dynamic workpiece temperature determination. Instead of determining the temperature indirectly, for example via a separate thermocouple, the tool itself becomes the thermocouple. Two tool parts in direct contact with the workpiece each composed of materials with distinct Seebeck coefficients are used as the segments of a thermocouple. The thermoelectric voltage that results correlates with the temperature of the workpiece.