Injection molding system

An injection molding system, comprising:

• an injection molding machine including
• a mold clamping device configured to clamp a mold,
• an injection device including a heating barrel and a nozzle, and
• a control unit adapted to control the injection molding machine, the heating barrel and the nozzle being adapted to inject a molding material into the mold, wherein the injection molding system is configured to automatically perform a purge operation for discharge and replacement of the molding material within the heating barrel;
• a sensor configured to detect a state of the molding material purged by the purge operation;
• a movement unit mounted to the mold clamping device and configured to move the sensor;
• a purged material analysis unit configured to obtain a detection signal of the sensor and make an analysis of the purged molding material;
• and
• a purge completion determination unit configured to make a determination of whether or not the purge operation is completed on the basis of a result of the analysis by the purged material analysis unit and configured to output a result of the determination to the control unit of the injection molding machine, the injection molding system being configured to complete the purge operation on the basis of the result of the determination by the purge completion determination unit,
• wherein
• the sensor is an imaging device configured to capture
• a first image of the material that flows out from the nozzle when the purge operation is started, and
• a second image of the material purged when the purge operation is performed after the purge operation is started,
• the purged material analysis unit is configured to make an analysis of image data of the first and second images captured by the imaging device,
• the purge completion determination unit is configured to make the determination of whether or not the purge operation is completed on the basis of
• a determination of whether or not the image data of the second image exceed preset reference values and subsequently become stable, and
• at least one of hue, saturation, and brightness of the image data of the first and second images is used in the analysis.