Cooling apparatus for injection molding machines
AssigneeHusky Injection Molding Systems Ltd.
InventorWitold Neter
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention is related to a rotary cooling station to be used in conjunction with a high output injection molding machine and a robot having a take-out plate. More particularly, the present invention teaches a high speed robot that transfers warm preforms onto a separate rotary cooling station where they are retained and internally cooled by specialized cores. The preforms may also be simultaneously cooled from the outside to speed up the cooling rate and thus avoid the formation of crystallinity zones. Solutions for the retention and ejection of the cooled preforms are described. The rotary cooling station of the present invention may be used to cool molded articles made of a single material or multiple materials.
Claims30
An apparatus for cooling molded articles comprising:
- a rotary cooling device positioned externally of a machine for manufacturing a plurality of molded articles at a single time;
- said rotary cooling device having a central member which rotates about a first axis and a plurality of faces attached to said central member;
- and
- each of said faces having means for holding said plurality of molded articles and means for applying cooling directly to interior surfaces of said molded articles.
An apparatus for cooling molded articles comprising:
- a rotary cooling device positioned externally of a machine for manufacturing a plurality of molded articles at a single time;
- said rotary cooling device having a central member which rotates about a first axis and a plurality of faces attached to said central member;
- each of said faces having means for holding said plurality of molded articles and for cooling interior surfaces of said molded articles;
- said central member comprising a block having a plurality of faces attached to it;
- and
- each said face including a core plate which is translatable relative to said block and said block including means for translating the core plates relative to said block.
An apparatus for cooling molded articles comprising:
- a rotary cooling device positioned externally of a machine for manufacturing a plurality of molded articles at a single time;
- said rotary cooling device having a central member which rotates about a first axis and a plurality of faces attached to said central member;
- each of said faces having means for holding said plurality of molded articles and for cooling interior surfaces of said molded articles;
- and
- said central member comprising a rotatable column and means for pivotally connecting each said face to said rotatable column.
An apparatus for cooling molded articles comprising:
- a rotary cooling device positioned externally of a machine for manufacturing a plurality of molded articles at a single time;
- said rotary cooling device having a central member which rotates about a first axis and a plurality of faces attached to said central member;
- each of said faces having means for holding said plurality of molded articles and for cooling interior surfaces of said molded articles;
- and
- said holding and cooling means comprising a plurality of core members attached to each said face, and wherein each of said core members is designed to be inserted into the interior of a respective one of said molded articles to be cooled.
A system for cooling molded articles comprising:
- a machine for molding a plurality of articles at a single time;
- means cooperating with said molding machine for removing said molded articles and transporting said articles to a location outside a mold area of said molding machine;
- a rotary cooling device positioned externally of said machine for receiving said molded articles from said removing and transporting means;
- and
- said rotary cooling device having a central member which rotates about a first axis and a plurality of faces mounted to said central member and each said face having a plurality of core members for holding said molded articles and means for applying cooling directly to interior surfaces of said molded articles.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.