JP7114314B2 - Vertical injection molding machine - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a vertical injection molding machine with a purge function.

The injection molding machine has a purge function for discharging resin material remaining in the injection cylinder when replacing the resin material.

The vertical injection molding machine disclosed in Patent Document 1 is provided with a step that serves as a foothold for removing resin material (hereinafter referred to as "purge material") discharged from the injection cylinder by a purge function. This step can be used to remove purge material that has been discharged to a higher position in the molding machine.

JP-A-11-216743

Some vertical injection molding machines, in which the nozzle at the tip of the injection molding machine is directed downward, are provided with a box-like cover surrounding the nozzle in order to prevent the falling purge material from scattering. A tray is then placed within the cover below the nozzles to receive the purge material during the purge operation. When the purge material accumulates in the tray, the tray is removed and the purge material is disposed of.

However, the purge operation may take several minutes to ten minutes or so, and the operator may leave the injection molding machine during that time. Therefore, when the operator returns to the injection molding machine, he may forget that the tray has been placed and start the operation of the injection molding machine. As a result, the injection cylinder may descend, causing the purge material accumulated in the tray to adhere to the nozzle or the nozzle to hit the tray.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vertical injection molding machine that can prevent the operation from being started in a state where a tray for receiving a resin material is placed.

In order to achieve the above object, a vertical injection molding machine according to the present invention includes a flat plate-like upper plate to which an upper mold is attached on the lower surface, and a lower plate that forms a cavity by being clamped with the upper mold. A lower plate to which a mold is attached on the upper surface, an injection cylinder arranged above the upper plate and provided with a nozzle facing downward at the tip, a screw housed in the injection cylinder, and raising and lowering the injection cylinder A cylinder drive section, a screw drive section that rotates and moves the screw forward and backward, a control section that controls the cylinder drive section and the screw drive section, and a top surface of the upper plate so as to surround the nozzle, A box-shaped cover having a door that can be opened and closed, and an open/close sensor that detects the opening and closing of the door, the cylinder so that the control unit performs a purge operation to discharge the resin material in the injection cylinder. The driving part and the screw driving part are controlled, and the descent of the injection cylinder is restricted until the open/close sensor detects that the door has been opened and then closed after the purge operation is completed. and

According to the present invention, the cylinder driving section and the screw driving section are controlled so as to perform a purge operation for discharging the resin material in the injection cylinder. The lowering of the injection cylinder is restricted until the open/close sensor detects that the door has been opened and then closed after the purge operation is completed. From this, if opening and closing of the cover door is not detected after the purge operation, it can be inferred that the tray remains placed inside the cover. Therefore, by restricting the lowering of the injection cylinder while the tray is placed inside the cover, it is possible to prevent the purge material accumulated in the tray from adhering to the nozzle and the nozzle from hitting the tray.

In the present invention, when the opening/closing sensor does not detect that the door has been opened and then closed until the opening/closing monitoring time elapses after the purge operation is completed, the resin material is taken out. to be notified . By doing so, since it takes a certain amount of time to open the door after the purge operation is completed, unnecessary notification can be avoided by not announcing until the opening/closing monitoring time has elapsed. can.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the control section notifies by emitting an alarm sound and stops the alarm sound when the open/close sensor detects that the door is opened. By doing so, it is possible to notify the operator at a remote location that the resin material has been taken out. Furthermore, since the alarm sound is stopped by the act of opening the door, which accompanies the removal of the tray, for example, a key operation for stopping the alarm sound can be omitted.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the control unit notifies by displaying an alarm display, and erases the alarm display when the open/close sensor detects that the door is closed after being opened. By doing so, the operator can visually recognize that it is necessary to take out the resin material. Furthermore, since the alarm display is erased by the act of taking out the tray, such as opening the door and then closing it, key operation for erasing the alarm display, for example, can be omitted.

In the present invention, the control unit acquires the amount of resin material discharged by the purge operation, and when the integrated value of the amount of discharge is equal to or less than a discharge allowable threshold when the purge operation ends, the purge is performed. It is preferable to allow a new purge operation following an operation, and to restrict new purge operations when the cumulative emission amount is greater than the emission allowable threshold. By doing so, it is possible to continuously perform the purge operation until the integrated value of the discharge amount of the resin material is exceeded, and it is possible to effectively improve the working efficiency.

In the present invention, when the opening/closing sensor detects that the door is opened after the purge operation is completed, or that the door is opened and then closed, the controller detects the integrated value of the discharged amount. is preferably reset. By doing so, the integrated value of the discharged amount of the resin material is reset by the action associated with taking out the tray, so that the integrated value can be reliably reset.

According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the operation from being started while the tray for receiving the resin material is placed.

1 is a front view of a vertical injection molding machine according to one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. It is a figure explaining the functional block of the vertical type injection molding machine of FIG. FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the vicinity of the cover of the vertical injection molding machine of FIG. 1; FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an alarm display displayed on the vertical injection molding machine of FIG. 1; FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing an example of processing executed by a control unit of the vertical injection molding machine of FIG. 1; FIG.

A vertical injection molding machine according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5. FIG.

FIG. 1 is a front view of a vertical injection molding machine according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating functional blocks of the vertical injection molding machine of FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the vicinity of the cover of the vertical injection molding machine of FIG. 1. FIG. FIG. 3(a) shows a state in which the door of the cover is open, and FIG. 3(b) shows a state in which the door of the cover is closed. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of an alarm display displayed by the vertical injection molding machine of FIG. FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing an example of processing executed by the control section of the vertical injection molding machine of FIG.

A vertical injection molding machine 1 according to the present embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 injects a molten resin material into a cavity formed by clamping an upper mold 2 and a lower mold 3 and cools the A molded article is obtained by solidification.

A vertical injection molding machine 1 has an injection unit 10 for injecting a resin material on a machine base 5, and an upper mold 2 and a lower mold 3, which are brought into contact with each other to generate a mold clamping force. It has a mold clamping unit 20 and a display operation unit 30 for performing.

The injection unit 10 has an injection cylinder 11 provided with a nozzle 11 a directed downward, and a screw 12 accommodated in the injection cylinder 11 . The injection unit 10 also has an electric motor for raising and lowering the injection cylinder 11 and a drive section 13 having an electric motor for rotating and moving the screw 12 forward and backward within the injection cylinder 11 . The drive unit 13 is connected to a control unit 40 which will be described later, and operates according to control signals from the control unit 40 . The driving portion 13 corresponds to a cylinder driving portion and a screw driving portion.

The mold clamping unit 20 includes a holding plate 21 as a flat upper plate to which the upper mold 2 is attached to the lower surface 21a, and a lower plate to which the lower mold 3 to which the upper mold 2 is clamped is attached to the upper surface 22a. and a rotary table 22 of . A cavity is formed by clamping the upper mold 2 and the lower mold 3 together. A plurality of lower molds 3 are attached to the rotary table 22 , and by rotating, the plurality of lower molds 3 are sequentially transported to a position facing the upper mold 2 . The mold clamping unit 20 has actuators (not shown) for opening and closing the upper mold 2 and the lower mold 3 and taking out the product.

An injection cylinder 11 is arranged above the holding plate 21 . A through hole 21b is formed in the center of the holding plate 21 and has a size that allows the nozzle 11a of the injection cylinder 11 to be inserted therein. The upper portion of through hole 21b is formed in a mortar shape. A nozzle 11a is inserted through the through hole 21b, and the molten resin material is injected into the cavity while the nozzle 11a is in contact with the upper mold 2. As shown in FIG.

The mold clamping unit 20 has a cover 23 provided on the upper surface 21c of the holding plate 21 so as to surround the nozzle 11a. The cover 23 has a cover body 24 and a door 25 . The cover body 24 is formed in a cubic box shape and has an opening 24a in the front. The upper surface of the cover body 24 is provided with an opening through which the injection cylinder 11 is inserted. The door 25 is attached to the cover body 24 so as to open and close the opening 24a. The cover 23 is provided with an opening/closing sensor 26 such as a microswitch for detecting opening/closing of the door 25 . The open/close sensor 26 transmits a signal corresponding to the opening/closing of the door 25 to the control unit 40, which will be described later. Based on the signal from the open/close sensor 26, the controller 40 can recognize that the door 25 is opened and closed.

The display operation unit 30 has a display section 31 for displaying information related to the vertical injection molding machine 1 and an operation section 32 for inputting operations. The display unit 31 and the operation unit 32 are connected to the control unit 40 which will be described later. The display unit 31 displays various screens on the display area based on the control signal from the control unit 40 . The display unit 31 also includes a buzzer (not shown) that emits an alarm sound. The alarm sound may be a melody, message voice, or the like. The operation unit 32 has a plurality of keys, and transmits a signal to the control unit 40 according to the operation input to each key. The display/operation unit 30 may have a touch panel as the operation unit 32, and may have a software switch configured by combining a touch panel superimposed on the display area of the display unit 31 and icons displayed thereon.

The vertical injection molding machine 1 also has a control section 40 that controls the overall operation. The control unit 40 includes, for example, a microcomputer for built-in equipment having a CPU, ROM, RAM, EEPROM, and various I/O interfaces. The control unit 40 controls the operation of each driving device such as the driving unit 13 of the injection unit 10 and the actuator (not shown) of the mold clamping unit 20 in each process such as the mold closing process, the injection process, the mold opening process, and the product removal process. do.

The control section 40 controls the drive section 13 of the injection unit 10 to perform a purge operation for discharging the resin material from the injection cylinder 11 . In this embodiment, the purge operation means the following operation. That is, the injection unit 10 is raised (retracted) so that the nozzle 11a of the injection cylinder 11 is separated from the mold. Then, in this state, the screw 12 is rotated and retracted in the same manner as metering (“plasticizing operation”), or the screw 12 is advanced (“injection operation”), or the plasticizing operation and the injection operation. It refers to an action that combines In addition, blanking is also included in the purge operation. “Dry shot” is an operation of retracting and advancing the screw 12 within the injection cylinder 11 without supplying the resin material to the front of the screw 12 . In the purge operation, the discharge amount of the purge material can be calculated based on the inner diameter of the injection cylinder 11 and the advance distance of the screw 12 . Alternatively, the number of times the purge operation is performed may be used as the discharge amount of the purge material.

When performing the purge operation, the operator inputs an operation to the operation unit 32 to raise the injection cylinder 11 to a position where the nozzle 11a is separated from the mold and vertically separated from the holding plate 21 . Then, as shown in FIG. 3A, the door 25 of the cover 23 is opened and the tray T for receiving the purge material is placed inside the cover body 24. Then, as shown in FIG. After that, as shown in FIG. 3(b), the door 25 is closed. The tray T is arranged so as to vertically face the nozzle 11a. After placing the tray T in the cover, a purge operation is performed. The tray T may be placed in the through hole 21b of the holding plate 21. FIG.

The control unit 40 controls the drive unit 13 to perform a purge operation for discharging the resin material inside the injection cylinder 11 . After the purging operation is completed, the control unit 40 keeps the injection cylinder 10, except for the purging operation, until it is detected by the open/close sensor 26 that the door 25 has been opened and then closed (hereinafter simply referred to as "opening/closing of the door 25"). 11 or screw 12 movement is restricted. The control unit 40 may be configured to restrict at least the lowering (advancing) of the injection cylinder 11 .

In addition, the control unit 40 acquires (calculates) the discharge amount of the purge material. Then, when the integrated value M of the discharge amount of the purge material is equal to or less than the discharge allowable threshold value Sp at the time when the purge operation is completed, the control unit 40 permits a new purge operation following the purge operation, and When the integrated value M of the purge material discharge amount is greater than the discharge allowable threshold value Sp, a new purge operation is restricted. Then, when the open/close sensor 26 detects opening/closing of the door 25 after the purge operation is completed, the control unit 40 resets the integrated value M of the discharge amount of the purge material. The controller 40 may reset the integrated value M when the open/close sensor 26 detects that the door 25 is opened.

Further, when the opening/closing of the door 25 is not detected by the opening/closing sensor 26 within the opening/closing monitoring time Tk (for example, 60 seconds, any value can be set) after the purge operation is completed, the control unit 40 , is configured to notify removal of the purge material.

Specifically, the control unit 40 notifies by emitting an alarm sound from the buzzer of the display unit 31 . Then, when the open/close sensor 26 detects that the door 25 is opened, the control unit 40 stops the alarm sound. Alternatively, the control unit 40 may notify by displaying an alarm display 60 shown in FIG. 5 on the display unit 31 simultaneously with the alarm sound. The controller 40 clears the alarm display 60 when the open/close sensor 26 detects that the door 25 is opened or closed. The alarm sound and alarm display 60 may be stopped/erased by a predetermined operation input (for example, pressing an off key or a reset switch).

Next, an example of the operation according to the present invention in the control unit 40 of the vertical injection molding machine 1 of this embodiment described above will be described with reference to FIG.

When the operator inputs an operation to activate the purge operation, the control unit 40 executes the purge operation (S110) and waits until the purge operation is completed (N in S120). When the purge operation is completed (Y in S120), the timing is started (S130), and the discharge amount of the purge material and its integrated value M are calculated (S140). When the integrated value M of the discharge amount of the purge material is equal to or less than the discharge allowable threshold value Sp (Y in S150), it is determined whether or not opening/closing of the door 25 is detected (S160). When the opening/closing of the door 25 is detected (Y in S160), the integrated value M of the discharge amount of the purge material is reset and the process ends (S290). If the opening/closing of the door 25 is not detected (N at S160), it is determined whether or not an operation has been input to the operation unit 32 (S170). If no operation is input to the operation unit 32 (N in S170), the process returns to detecting opening/closing of the door 25 (S160). When an operation is input to the operation unit 32 (Y at S170) and the operation is an operation for activating the purge operation (Y at S180), the purge operation is executed again (S110). When the operation input to the operation unit 32 is an operation other than the operation for activating the purge operation (N in S180), a message is displayed on the display unit 31 to the effect that operations other than the purge operation are restricted (S190). , and returns to the detection of opening/closing of the door 25 (S160).

When the integrated value M of the discharge amount of the purge material is greater than the discharge allowable threshold value Sp (N in S150), the control unit 40 determines whether or not the opening/closing monitoring time Tk has elapsed since the purge operation was completed. (S200). If the opening/closing monitoring time Tk has not elapsed (N in S200), it is determined whether the opening/closing of the door 25 has been detected (S210). When the opening/closing of the door 25 is detected (Y in S210), the integrated value M of the discharge amount of the purge material is reset and the process ends (S290). If the opening/closing of the door 25 is not detected (N in S210), it is determined whether or not an operation has been input to the operation unit 32 (S220). If no operation is input to the operation unit 32 (N in S220), the process returns to determining whether the opening/closing monitoring time Tk has elapsed (S200). When an operation is input to the operation unit 32 (Y in S220), a message is displayed to the effect that all operations involving the movement of the injection cylinder 11 and the screw 12, including the purge operation, are restricted (S230), and again, Returning to the determination of the passage of the opening/closing monitoring time Tk (S200).

When the opening/closing monitoring time Tk has elapsed (Y in S200), the control unit 40 emits an alarm sound and displays the alarm display 60 to notify removal of the purge material (S240). Then, it waits until it is detected that the door is opened (N at S250), and when it is detected that the door is opened (Y at S250), the alarm sound is stopped (S260). After that, it waits until it is detected that the door is closed (N at S270), and when it is detected that the door is closed (Y at S270), the alarm display 60 is erased (S280). Then, the integrated value M of the discharge amount of the purge material is reset, and the process ends (S290).

As described above, the vertical injection molding machine 1 of the present embodiment performs a purge operation for discharging the resin material inside the injection cylinder 11 . The descent of the injection cylinder 11 is restricted until the open/close sensor 26 detects that the door has been opened and then closed after the purge operation is completed. From this, it can be inferred that the tray T remains placed inside the cover 23 when opening/closing of the door 25 of the cover 23 is not detected after the purge operation. Therefore, by restricting the lowering of the injection cylinder 11 with the tray T placed inside the cover 23, the purge material accumulated in the tray T may adhere to the nozzle 11a, or the nozzle 11a may hit the tray T. can be suppressed.

Further, when the opening/closing of the door 25 is not detected by the opening/closing sensor 26 until the opening/closing monitoring time Tk elapses after the purge operation is completed, the removal of the purge material is notified. By doing so, since it takes a certain amount of time to open and close the door 25 after the purge operation is completed, unnecessary notification is avoided by not announcing until the opening/closing monitoring time Tk has elapsed. be able to.

In addition, an alarm sound is emitted to notify the user, and when the open/close sensor 26 detects that the door 25 is opened, the alarm sound is stopped. By doing so, the removal of the purge material can be notified even to an operator at a remote location. Furthermore, since the alarm sound is stopped by the act of opening the door 25, which accompanies the removal of the tray T, for example, a key operation for stopping the alarm sound can be omitted. The alarm sound may be stopped only by key operation.

In addition, the alarm display 60 is displayed to inform the operator, and when the open/close sensor 26 detects that the door 25 has been opened and then closed, the alarm display 60 is erased. By doing so, the operator can visually recognize that it is necessary to take out the purge material. Furthermore, since the alarm display 60 is erased by the act of taking out the tray T, such as opening the door 25 and then closing it, for example, a key operation for erasing the alarm display 60 can be omitted. The alarm display may be cleared only by key operation.

It also acquires the discharge amount of the purge material. Then, when the integrated value M of the discharge amount of the purge material is equal to or less than the discharge allowable threshold value Sp at the time when the purge operation is completed, a new purge operation following the purge operation is permitted. When the integrated value M of the purge material discharge amount is greater than the discharge allowable threshold value Sp, a new purge operation is restricted. By doing so, the purge operation can be continuously performed until the integrated value M of the discharge amount of the purge material exceeds the discharge allowable threshold value Sp, and the work efficiency can be effectively improved. By setting the allowable discharge threshold value Sp to be equal to or less than the discharge amount of the purge material in one purge operation, the elapse of the open/close monitoring time Tk is confirmed each time the purge operation is executed, and the purge is performed by an alarm sound or the like. It is possible to notify the removal of materials.

Further, when the opening/closing of the door 25 is detected by the opening/closing sensor 26 after the purge operation is completed, the integrated value M of the discharge amount of the purge material is reset. By doing so, the integrated value M of the discharge amount of the purge material is reset by the action associated with the removal of the tray T, so the integrated value M can be reliably reset.

In addition to the above-described embodiments, for example, the operation of calculating the discharge amount of the purge material and notifying the take-out of the purge material is omitted, and after the purge operation is completed, the opening and closing of the door 25 is detected by the open/close sensor 26. A configuration may be adopted in which only the operation for restricting the downward movement of the injection cylinder 11 is performed.

Although embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to these examples. A person skilled in the art can add, delete, or change the design of the above-described embodiment as appropriate, or combine the features of the embodiment as appropriate, as long as it has the gist of the present invention. Included within the scope of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Vertical injection molding machine, 2... Upper mold, 3... Lower mold, 5... Machine base, 10... Injection unit, 11... Injection cylinder, 11a... Nozzle, 12... Screw, 13... Drive unit, 20... Mold clamping unit 21 holding plate (upper plate) 21a lower surface 21b through hole 21c upper surface 22 rotary table (lower plate) 22a upper surface 23 cover 24 cover main body 24a Opening 25 Door 26 Open/close sensor 30 Display operation unit 31 Display unit 32 Operation unit 40 Control unit 60 Alarm display T Tray M Integrated value Sp Discharge Allowable threshold, Tk: Open/close monitoring time

Claims (5)

a flat upper plate on which the upper mold is attached on the lower surface;
a lower plate to which a lower mold that forms a cavity by being clamped with the upper mold is attached to the upper surface;
an injection cylinder positioned above the top plate and having a downward-facing nozzle at its tip;
a screw housed in the injection cylinder;
a cylinder drive unit that raises and lowers the injection cylinder;
a screw drive unit that rotates and moves the screw forward and backward;
a control unit that controls the cylinder drive unit and the screw drive unit;
a box-shaped cover having an openable and closable door provided on the upper surface of the upper plate so as to surround the nozzle;
an open/close sensor for detecting opening/closing of the door;
The control unit controls the cylinder drive unit and the screw drive unit to perform a purge operation for discharging the resin material in the injection cylinder, and the door is opened by the open/close sensor after the purge operation is completed. regulating the descent of the injection cylinder until it is detected that it is closed after being opened;
The controller notifies removal of the resin material when the open/close sensor does not detect that the door has been opened and then closed until the opening/closing monitoring time elapses after the purge operation is completed. A vertical injection molding machine characterized by 2. The vertical type according to claim 1, wherein the control unit notifies by emitting an alarm sound, and stops the alarm sound when the open/close sensor detects that the door is opened. Injection molding machine. 2. The control unit notifies by displaying an alarm display, and erases the alarm display when the open / close sensor detects that the door has been opened and then closed. Item 3. The vertical injection molding machine according to item 2. The control unit acquires the amount of resin material discharged by the purge operation, and when the integrated value of the amount of discharge is equal to or less than a discharge allowable threshold when the purge operation ends, a new resin material following the purge operation is obtained. and a new purge operation is restricted when the integrated value of the discharge amount is greater than the discharge permission threshold value. The vertical injection molding machine described in . When the open/close sensor detects that the door is opened after the purge operation is finished, or that the door is opened and then closed, the control unit resets the integrated value of the discharged amount. The vertical injection molding machine according to claim 4 , characterized by:

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