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US 11,235,502 B2Granted
Mold carrier for injection molding
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsPengcheng Xie, Rui Ma, Qiuyi Yu, XiYuan Yin, Qiuying Wang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Provided is a mold carrier. The mold carrier comprises a mold bearing chassis, a pressure bearing plate, and a tie bar. The mold bearing chassis includes a plurality of molds disposed therein. Each mold has one or more mold cavities. The pressure bearing plate is configured to physically couple to the mold bearing chassis during an injection molding process. The tie bar runs through the center of the mold bearing chassis and the pressure bearing plate. The mold bearing chassis is configured to allow components to be removed from their molds without separating the mold bearing chassis from the pressure bearing plate.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- injecting molten material into a first mold disposed on a mold carrier that includes a plurality of molds using an injection molding machine to create a component;
- allowing the component in the first mold to at least partially solidify;
- rotating, after the component has partially solidified, the mold carrier such that a second mold of the plurality of molds is aligned with a nozzle of the injection molding machine;
- determining, automatically by a processor, a stress release profile for the component based on at least one characteristic of the component,
- wherein the stress release profile includes a plurality of stages used to release inner stresses within the component during in-mold solidification of the component through controlled heating and cooling of the component, each stage including a target temperature for the component and an amount of time that the component is to be held at the target temperature,
- wherein the stress release profile includes at least one active heating stage and at least one active cooling stage;
- and
- controlling a temperature of the first mold according to the stress release profile,
- wherein controlling the temperature of the first mold according to the stress release profile comprises:
- monitoring, using at least one temperature sensor, an actual temperature of the component;
- comparing the actual temperature of the component to a corresponding target temperature of the component based on the stress release profile to detect a deviation from the stress release profile;
- and
- modifying, in response to detecting the deviation from the stress release profile, the stress release profile to correct for the detected deviation.
10 more elements
A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by processor to cause the processor to perform a method comprising:
- injecting molten material into a first mold disposed on a mold carrier that includes a plurality of molds using an injection molding machine to create a component;
- allowing the component in the first mold to at least partially solidify;
- rotating, after the component has partially solidified, the mold carrier such that a second mold of the plurality of molds is aligned with a nozzle of the injection molding machine;
- determining, automatically by a processor, a stress release profile for the component based on at least one characteristic of the component,
- wherein the stress release profile includes a plurality of stages used to release inner stresses within the component during in-mold solidification of the component through controlled heating and cooling of the component, each stage including a target temperature for the component and an amount of time that the component is to be held at the target temperature,
- wherein the stress release profile includes at least one active heating stage and at least one active cooling stage;
- and
- controlling a temperature of the first mold according to the stress release profile,
- wherein controlling the temperature of the first mold according to the stress release profile comprises:
- monitoring, using at least one temperature sensor, an actual temperature of the component;
- comparing the actual temperature of the component to a corresponding target temperature of the component based on the stress release profile to detect a deviation from the stress release profile;
- and
- modifying, in response to detecting the deviation from the stress release profile, the stress release profile to correct for the detected deviation.
10 more elements
A system comprising:
- a memory;
- and
- a processor communicatively coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to perform a method comprising:
- injecting molten material into a first mold disposed on a mold carrier that includes a plurality of molds using an injection molding machine to create a component;
- allowing the component in the first mold to at least partially solidify;
- rotating, after the component has partially solidified, the mold carrier such that a second mold of the plurality of molds is aligned with a nozzle of the injection molding machine;
- determining, automatically by a processor, a stress release profile for the component based on at least one characteristic of the component,
- wherein the stress release profile includes a plurality of stages used to release inner stresses within the component during in-mold solidification of the component through controlled heating and cooling of the component, each stage including a target temperature for the component and an amount of time that the component is to be held at the target temperature,
- wherein the stress release profile includes at least one active heating stage and at least one active cooling stage;
- and
- controlling a temperature of the first mold according to the stress release profile,
- wherein controlling the temperature of the first mold according to the stress release profile comprises:
- monitoring, using at least one temperature sensor, an actual temperature of the component;
- comparing the actual temperature of the component to a corresponding target temperature of the component based on the stress release profile to detect a deviation from the stress release profile;
- and
- modifying, in response to detecting the deviation from the stress release profile, the stress release profile to correct for the detected deviation.
13 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.