Method of determining melt flow front travel using injection melt pressure and screw position to generate an output and continuously monitor check ring repeatability

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to:

• set a sensor threshold that correlates to any change that indicates that a molten thermoplastic material is beginning to be extruded from a nozzle of a molding apparatus;
• initiate a standard-setting series of molding cycles, for each of the standard-setting series of molding cycles;
• receive, via an interface, a sensor amount as an output from a sensor monitoring the nozzle of the molding apparatus;
• determine that the sensor amount exceeds the sensor threshold;
• receive, via an interface, a location of a screw of the molding apparatus at the moment it is determined that the sensor amount exceeds the sensor threshold;
• calculate a travel distance of the screw from the location of the screw once the sensor amount exceeds the sensor threshold, where the travel distance of the screw is not calculated until the sensor amount exceeds the sensor threshold;
• calculate melt flow front travel based on the travel distance of the screw;
• receive, via an interface, an operator generated value for a desired melt flow front travel to be reached;
• and
• send, via an interface, an analog or digital output after the operator generated value has been reached;
• identify an average melt travel time for the standard-setting series of molding cycles;
• set an acceptable margin from the average melt travel time;
• initiate additional molding cycles after the standard-setting series of molding cycles;
• identify, for each of the additional molding cycles, a melt travel time;
• and
• when the melt travel time exceeds the average melt travel time plus the acceptable margin, initiate a corrective action.

A client device comprising one or more processors, one or more interfaces, and a non-transitory computer-readable memory storing thereon instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the client device to:

• set a sensor threshold that correlates to any change that indicates that a molten thermoplastic material is beginning to be extruded from a nozzle of the molding apparatus;
• initiate a standard-setting series of molding cycles, for each of the standard-setting series of molding cycles;
• receive, via an interface, a sensor amount as an output from a sensor monitoring the nozzle of the molding apparatus;
• determine whether the sensor amount exceeds the sensor threshold;
• receive, via an interface, a location of a screw of the molding apparatus at the moment it is determined that the sensor amount exceeds the sensor threshold;
• calculate a travel distance of the screw from the location of the screw once the sensor amount exceeds the sensor threshold, wherein the travel distance of the screw is not calculated until the sensor amount exceeds the sensor threshold;
• calculate melt flow front travel based on the travel distance of the screw;
• receive, via an interface, an operator generated value for a desired melt flow front travel to be reached;
• and
• send, via an interface, an analog or digital output after the operator generated value has been reached;
• identify an average melt travel time for the standard-setting series of molding cycles;
• set an acceptable margin from the average melt travel time;
• initiate additional molding cycles after the standard-setting series of molding cycles;
• identify, for each of the additional molding cycles, a melt travel time;
• and
• when the melt travel time exceeds the average melt travel time plus the acceptable margin, initiate a corrective action.