JP2002187155A - Cooling method in expansion molding - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To uniformly cool composite moldings in a short time, in a cooling step of an expansion molding process for monolithically forming the composite moldings consisting of a surface member and the expanded moldings. SOLUTION: The surface members like a front side member 12 and a back side member 13 are arranged along the inner face of a cavity 11 formed between a pair of freely openable halves 21 and 22 of a mold, and the cavity 11 is filled with a raw material bead. Further, the raw material bead packed in the cavity 11 is thermally fusion-bonded in one piece, using utilities and the composite moldings consisting of the surface member and the expanded moldings are monolithically formed. In this expansion molding method, after the steam heating step, cooling water is run from a plurality of water supplying/draining apertures 4 into gaps 41 between the back side member 13 and the inner face of the half 22 of the mold. Consequently, the composite moldings are directly cooled.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for forming a composite foam molded article such as a drain pan member for an air conditioner or a dashboard for an automobile, and more particularly to a composite method comprising a foam member and a surface member such as a skin member and a back substrate. The present invention relates to an improvement in a foam molding method for integrally molding a molded article.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The present applicant has previously filed Japanese Patent Application No.
No. 24123 proposes a foam molding apparatus for the composite molded article. An outline of this foam molding apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. 4. The foam molding apparatus is a foam composite molding apparatus for integrally molding a front member 12 and a back member 13 via a foam molded article. The mold forming the cavity 11 in which the mold is formed can be closed and the mold can be opened. One of the molds is a mold 21 to which the front member 12 is attached, and the other mold is a mold to which the back member 13 is attached. A mold 22 was provided. A mold 22 on the back side of the mold 22 was provided with a filler 23 for feeding raw material beads made of a foamable resin, and a plurality of utility nozzles 3 were opened in the cavity 11. It is arranged at each of the nozzle openings 31.

In this case, the utility nozzles 3a, 3a
Three lines b, 3c, 3d, 3e, and 3f are shown for a total of six lines. The utility nozzle 3 is a utility supply device including a supply device capable of supplying one or more types of utilities such as exhaust gas, heated steam, pressurized air, vacuum, cooling water or drain, and a control device therefor. (Not shown). These utilities are supplied into the cavity 11 through the utility nozzle 3 to fill the cavities with the raw material beads, or the filled raw material beads are integrated by heating and fusing, and then cooled to form a composite. The foam molding for obtaining a foam molded article is performed.

However, in this cooling step, even if an attempt is made to supply cooling water from the nozzle 3 for cooling, the interior of the cavity 11 is filled with a fused and integrated foam molded body, so that sufficient cooling water is supplied. There was a problem that it took time to cool down because water could not be passed. Therefore, the mold 2
Although the conventional method of spraying cooling water on the back surfaces of the molds 1 and 22 had to be adopted, even in this case, due to the partial difference in heat capacity of the mold, temperature unevenness occurs and uniform cooling cannot be performed. The problem remained.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a foam molding method for integrally molding a composite molded article comprising a surface member and a foam molded article. Provided is a cooling method in foam molding that enables a composite molded body to be uniformly cooled in a short time by cooling water in a cooling step after a heating step.

[0006]

The above-mentioned problem is caused by disposing a surface member along an inner surface of a cavity provided between a pair of molds which can be opened and closed, filling the cavity with raw material beads, heating and cooling. In a foam molding method for integrally molding a composite molded article comprising the surface member and the foam molded article,
The foam molding of the present invention, characterized in that after the heating step, cooling water is passed between the surface member and the inner surface of the mold facing the surface member to cool the mold and the composite molded body. Can be solved by the cooling method in the above.

Further, according to the present invention, there are provided cooling water supply / drain ports, which are communicated between the above-mentioned surface member and the inner surface of the mold facing the surface member, at a plurality of locations of the mold,
A cooling operation in which cooling water is supplied from the water supply port, water is passed through the mold, and the water is discharged from the water discharge port is divided into a combination in which one of the water supply and drainage ports is a water supply port and the other is a drainage port. A cooling method in foam molding may be embodied in which a combination of the water supply port and the drain port is exchanged to perform a cooling operation in which a water flow direction in the mold is reversed. Also, a cooling water guide groove is provided on at least one of the surface of the surface member through which the cooling water flows and at least one of the inner surfaces of the mold facing the surface member, and the cooling water flows therethrough. A water supply / drain port through which cooling water flows between the member and the mold inner surface facing the surface member is provided separately from a steam supply / drain port for heating the raw material beads, and used for cooling. It can be preferably embodied as a cooling method in the above foam molding.

[0008]

Next, an embodiment of a cooling method in foam molding according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The molding apparatus used in the cooling method in the foam molding of the present invention is based on the structure illustrated in FIG. 4 described above. That is, in FIG. 1, a front side member 1 that forms one of a pair of molds that can be closed and opened to form a cavity 11 that forms a cavity 11 in which a foam molded body is molded is used as a skin.
2 is a mold 21 to be attached, and the other mold is a mold 22 to which a back member 13 serving as a back substrate is attached. Raw material beads made of a foaming resin are fed into the mold 22 on the back member side. A plurality of utility nozzles 3 are arranged in a plurality of nozzle openings 31 opened in the cavity 11, respectively. These utility nozzles 3 are configured to be able to supply one or more utilities such as exhaust gas, heated steam, pressurized air, vacuum, or drain.

The cooling method in the foam molding of the present invention uses such a device, and a pair of molds 2 which can be opened and closed freely.
Surface members such as the front member 12 and the back member 13 are arranged along the inner surface of the cavity 11 provided between the first and the second 22, and the cavity 11 is filled with raw material beads.
Using the above-mentioned utility, the raw material beads filled in the cavity are heated, fused and integrated, and a foam molding method for integrally molding a composite molded body composed of the surface member and the foam molded body is premised. I have.

The cooling method in the foam molding of the present invention is characterized in that, after the heating step by steam, between the surface member and the mold inner surface facing the surface member, in the case of FIG. The point is that cooling water is supplied from the plurality of water supply / drain ports 4 to the gap 41 between the back member 13 and the inner surface of the mold 22 to cool the mold 22 and the composite molded body.

In the present invention, since water can be passed directly through the gap 41 between the back member 13 and the inner surface of the mold 22 to make cooling water come into contact with the composite molded article to be foam-molded, thereby cooling each part. Becomes uniform, and foam unevenness of the foam molded article can be reduced.
Furthermore, compared to the case of indirect cooling from outside the mold, the composite molded body can be cooled directly, so the cooling efficiency is dramatically improved, and as a result, the time required for cooling before demolding can be greatly reduced. Was.

Further, according to the present invention, the cooling water supply / drain port 4 communicating with the gap 41 between the side member 13 which is one of the above surface members and the inner surface of the mold 22 facing the surface member is connected to the metal member. It is arranged at a plurality of locations of the mold 22, and the plurality of water supply / drain ports 4 are divided into combinations in which one is a water supply port and the other is a water discharge port, and cooling water is supplied from the water supply port,
A cooling operation is performed in which water is passed through the mold and drainage is performed from the drain port, and then the combination of the water supply port and the drain port is exchanged to reverse the water flow direction in the mold. Is more preferable. That is, taking FIG. 1 as an example, first, water is supplied using the water supply / drain port 4b2 as a water supply port, and drainage is performed using the water supply / drain ports 4b1, 4b3 as water discharge ports.
Subsequently, the direction of water passage is reversed, for example, water is supplied from the water supply / drain ports 4b1 and 4b3, and water is discharged from the water supply / drain port 4b2, and this is repeated as necessary.

The operation of reversing the cooling water flow direction will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the mold apparatus as viewed from a plurality of water supply / drain ports, and shows a number of water supply nozzles connected to each of the water supply / drain ports. A typical example in which each of the water supply nozzles is provided with the same reference numeral as the water supply / drain port will be described. First, the water supply / drain ports 4b3 and 4a3 are set as the water supply ports,
1, 4b2 and 4a1, 4a2 are drainage ports. Such a combination of water supply and drainage can be set in advance by the water supply and drainage collection header 5 shown in FIG.

The water supply / drainage collecting header 5 is provided with inlet valves 51a, 52a, 53a which branch off from the water supply valve 55 and receive water supply.
And the outlet valves 51b, 5
2b, 53b and piping 51c, 52 connecting between them
c, 53c, and each of the pipes 51c, 52c, 53
c is provided with a branch portion connected to the water supply / drain port (in FIG. 3, the branch portion is denoted by the reference numeral of the water supply / drain port). Therefore, the water supply / drain port connected to the pipe with the inlet valve opened and the outlet valve closed functions as a water supply port, and the water supply / drain port connected to the pipe with the inlet valve closed and the outlet valve opened functions as a drain port.

More specifically, in the case of FIG.
The water supply / drainage ports 4a3, 4b3 connected to the pipe 53c of the opened inlet valve 53a (the outlet valve 53b is closed) function as water supply ports, into which the cooling water is fed, while the closed inlet valves 52a, 51a are closed. Water supply / drain port 4 connected to pipes 52c, 51c (outlet valves 52b, 51b are open)
a2, 4b2 and 4a1, 4b1 have a function of a drain port, from which the cooling water is discharged.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3B, the opened inlet valve 53a is closed (the outlet valve 53b is opened),
When the closed inlet valves 52a and 51a are opened (the outlet valves 52b and 51b are closed), the water supply port and the drain are switched, so that the flow direction of the cooling water is reversed. In this way, by preparing a plurality of combinations of the inlet valve, the outlet valve and the piping between them, and connecting the water supply / drainage port to this pipe, the function can be switched as a water supply port and a drainage timely. Thus, the flow direction of the cooling water can be controlled according to a preset program.

Further, in the present invention, in order to improve the cooling effect of the cooling water, a cooling water passage is formed on a surface (water passing surface) of the surface member (back side member 13) through which the cooling water flows. A cooling water guiding groove (not shown), such as a concave groove or a space formed by a convex portion such as a rib, is provided continuously to allow cooling water to flow, or a mold whose surface member faces the cooling water guiding groove. (Mold 22) It is also preferable that a cooling water guide groove such as a concave groove is similarly provided continuously on the inner surface. In this case, the purpose can be achieved by providing the cooling water guide groove in either one.

In the present invention, the mold 2 is used for cooling water.
The water supply / drain opening 4 provided in 2 is opened toward a surface member, for example, the inner surface of the back member 13 separately from the nozzle opening 31 of the utility nozzle 3 for supplying steam for heating the raw material beads. This arrangement is preferable because cooling water can be effectively fed and discharged between the surface member and the inner surface of the mold facing the surface member.

[0019]

Since the cooling method of the foam molding method of the present invention is configured as described above, the cooling method after the heating step of the foam molding method for integrally molding a composite molded body composed of a surface member and a foam molded body is performed. In the cooling step, it is possible to cool the composite molded body in a short time and uniformly by the cooling water that directly contacts the surface member, and it is necessary to cool the mold part in contact with the composite molded body to the same extent as the composite molded body. Disappears. As a result, there is an excellent effect that the quality can be improved and the cooling time until demolding can be reduced to about 1/3, and the amount of steam used for heating can be reduced to 1/5 or less. Therefore, the present invention has an extremely large industrial value as a cooling method of a foam molding method that solves the conventional problems.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a main part of a molding apparatus for explaining a foam molding method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a main part of a molding apparatus for explaining the foam molding method of the present invention.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are piping system diagrams for explaining supply and discharge of cooling water.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a main part of a molding apparatus for explaining a foam molding method on which the present invention is based.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 cavity, 12 front member, 13 back member,
21 Mold, 22 Mold, 23 Filler, 3 Utility nozzle, 31 Nozzle opening, 4 Water supply / drain port, 41 Gap, 5
Plumbing header, 51a, 52a, 53a inlet valve,
51b, 52b, 53b Outlet valves, 51c, 52c, 5
3c piping, 55 water supply valve, 56 drain valve.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Kiyotaka Ida 2-25 Komaba-cho, Nakatsugawa-shi, Gifu F-term in Daisen Industry Co., Ltd. (reference) 4F212 AG03 AG20 AH25 AH33 UA01 UB01 UB13 UL06 UN10

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A surface member is arranged along an inner surface of a cavity provided between a pair of molds that can be opened and closed, and the cavity is filled with raw material beads, heated and cooled, and the surface member and the foam molded body are formed. In the foam molding method for integrally molding a composite molded body comprising, after the heating step, cooling water is passed between the surface member and the inner surface of the mold facing the surface member, and the mold and the composite molded body A method of cooling in foam molding, characterized by cooling. 2. A cooling water supply / drain port, which communicates between the surface member according to claim 1 and an inner surface of a mold facing the surface member, is provided at a plurality of locations of the mold, and the water supply / drainage is provided. A cooling operation in which cooling water is supplied from the water supply port, water is passed into the mold, and the water is discharged from the water discharge port; The cooling method in foam molding according to claim 1, wherein a combination of a port and a drain port is exchanged to perform a cooling operation in which a water flow direction in the mold is reversed. 3. A cooling water guide groove is provided on at least one of a surface of the surface member through which the cooling water flows and at least one surface of a mold facing the surface member to flow the cooling water. 3. The cooling method in foam molding according to 1 or 2. 4. A water supply / drain port through which cooling water flows between the surface member and a mold inner surface facing the surface member is provided separately from a steam supply / discharge port for heating raw material beads. 4. The cooling method in foam molding according to claim 1, wherein the method is used for cooling.