Real time material and velocity control in a molding system
AssigneeImflux Inc.
InventorsMilko Gergov, Chow-Chi Huang, Steve Steve Burns, Rick Alan Pollard
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system includes a cavity, an injection nozzle configured to inject material into the cavity, and a plurality of sensors at sensor locations. Each of the plurality of sensors is configured to measure parameters at one of the sensor locations. The system lacks a strain gauge. The system further includes a controller configured to control a flow rate of the injection of material into the cavity. The controller is configured to receive the measured parameters and compare the received information to predetermined curves. The controller is configured to control the flow rate when the measured parameters deviate from the predetermined curves.
Claims12
A method of detecting a leak in an injection molding system, the method including:
- providing an injection mold having a driving mechanism;
- injecting an injection material into an injection mold;
- determining a pressure, a volume, and a temperature inside of the injection mold at the driving mechanism;
- calculating a weight of the injection material inside of the injection mold as a function of statistical processing of the pressure, volume, and temperature at the driving mechanism during injection of material;
- calculating a mass of the injection material inside of the injection mold as a function of statistical processing of the pressure, volume, and temperature at the driving mechanism during injection of material;
- calculating a weight of the injection material inside of the injection mold as a function of statistical processing of a machine signal for injection forward at the driving mechanism during injection of material;
- calculating a mass of the injection material inside of the injection mold as a function of statistical processing of the machine signal for injection forward at the driving mechanism during injection of material;
- calculating a weight of the injection material inside of the injection mold as a function of statistical processing of a Filling Index at the driving mechanism during injection of material;
- calculating a mass of the injection material inside of the injection mold as a function of statistical processing of the Filling Index at the driving mechanism during injection of material;
- calculating a weight of the injection material inside of the injection mold as a function of statistical processing of a Viscosity Change Index at the driving mechanism during injection of material;
- calculating a mass of the injection material inside of the injection mold as a function of statistical processing of the Viscosity Change Index at the driving mechanism during injection of material;
- measuring an actual weight of the injection material inside of the injection mold;
- measuring an actual mass of the injection material inside of the injection mold;
- comparing the calculated mass to the actual mass;
- comparing the calculated weight to the measured weight;
- generating a leak alert upon determining that a predefined leak condition exists, wherein the predefined leak condition consists of at least one of the group selected from:
- a difference between the calculated mass and the actual mass being greater than a predetermined mass threshold and a difference between the calculated weight and the actual weight being greater than a predetermined weight threshold.
A method of compensating for a leak in an injection molding device having a cavity and a driving mechanism configured to inject injection material into the cavity, the method comprising:
- providing a plurality of sensors at sensor locations, wherein each of the plurality of sensors is configured to sense and calculate a pressure, volume, and temperature of the injection material at the sensor locations;
- calculating a weight and a mass of the injection material inside of the cavity during an injection process as a function of information received from the plurality of sensors;
- adjusting a speed of the driving mechanism according to the calculated weight and mass of the injection material;
- determining when the cavity has been filled by the injection material based on the calculated weight and mass of the injection material;
- and
- stopping the driving mechanism upon determining that the cavity has been filled.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.