JP7360869B2 - Injection molding machines and injection molding systems - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an injection molding machine that has a rotary table to which a plurality of molds are attached, and that injects a resin material into the molds in which insert parts are installed to form a molded product.

Patent Document 1 discloses a conventional vertical injection molding machine. The vertical injection molding machine of Patent Document 1 rotates a rotary table to alternately move two lower molds attached to the rotary table to positions facing one upper mold, thereby molding the molds in the vertical direction. Open and close. In this vertical injection molding machine, while one lower mold and upper mold are being clamped, an insert part is installed in the other lower mold by an automatic machine. Then, the rotary table is rotated to clamp the lower mold in which the insert part is installed and the upper mold to form a molded product in which the insert part and the resin material are integrated.

International Publication No. 2016/063979

In such an injection molding machine, a throw-off operation is performed in which a molded product is molded only from a resin material without installing an insert part in the lower mold. The throw-off operation may be performed, for example, when starting up an injection molding machine or during a worker's break time. A molded product formed by a throwaway operation (a throwaway product) has a larger amount of resin material than the molded product that becomes a product by the volume of the insert part. Therefore, there is a possibility that the time for cooling the resin material (cooling time) is insufficient, and the resin material filled in the mold may not be sufficiently solidified. As a result, the molded product or runner may remain in the mold without being properly removed from the mold. Therefore, workers changed the settings of the injection molding machine so that the cooling time during the dumping operation was longer than the cooling time during the product molding operation. However, when starting the product molding operation after finishing the dumping operation, the operator sometimes forgets to reset the cooling time setting. As a result, the product may be molded with a long cooling time, resulting in a longer cycle time and lower production efficiency of the molded product.

Additionally, if there is a large variation in the volume of the insert parts, the amount of resin material used for the insert part with the smallest volume may be significantly different from the amount of resin material used in the case of the insert part with the largest volume. Therefore, in any case, in order to sufficiently solidify the resin material, the cooling time has been set in accordance with the case of the insert part having the minimum volume (that is, the case where the resin material has the maximum volume). Therefore, in the case of insert parts with the largest volume, the cooling time becomes longer than necessary, reducing the production efficiency of molded products.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an injection molding machine that can effectively suppress a decrease in production efficiency of a molded product in which an insert part and a resin material are integrated.

In order to achieve the above object, an injection molding machine according to the present invention includes a fixed die plate to which a fixed die is attached, a movable die plate to which a movable die is attached, the fixed die and the movable die. an injection device for injecting a resin material into a cavity formed by a mold, the injection molding machine molding a molded product in which the resin material and an insert part are integrated, Obtaining insert part information regarding the insert part from an automatic machine installed in the fixed side mold or the movable side mold, and setting a cooling time for the resin material injected into the cavity according to the insert part information. The invention is characterized in that it has a control device configured to change.

In the present invention, the insert part information is information indicating whether the insert part is installed in the fixed side mold or the movable side mold, and the control device is configured such that the insert part information is information indicating whether the insert part is installed in the fixed side mold or the movable side mold. is installed in the fixed side mold or the movable side mold, the insert molding cooling time is set as the cooling time, and the insert part information indicates that the insert part is installed in the fixed side mold or the movable side mold. When indicating that the mold is not installed in the mold, it is preferable to set a discard cooling time longer than the insert molding cooling time as the cooling time.

In the present invention, the insert component information is information regarding the volume of the insert component, and when the insert component information indicates that the volume of the insert component is large, the control device may set the cooling time to a value for a large insert component. When a cooling time is set and the insert component information indicates that the volume of the insert component is small, it is preferable to set a cooling time for small insert components that is longer than the cooling time for large insert components as the cooling time.

In the present invention, it is preferable that, when preparations for molding the molded product are completed, the control device transmits information to the automatic machine to the effect that the preparations have been completed.

According to the present invention, insert part information regarding the insert part is acquired from an automatic machine that installs the insert part in a fixed side mold or a movable side mold, and the cooling time of the resin material injected into the cavity is determined according to the insert part information. Change settings. Based on this, for example, it is possible to set an appropriate cooling time for the resin material injected into the cavity to solidify, depending on the insert part information regarding the insert part, such as the presence or absence of the insert part and the volume of the insert part. Can be done. Therefore, reduction in production efficiency of molded products can be effectively suppressed.

1 is a front view of an injection molding machine and an automatic machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a plan view of the injection molding machine and automatic machine of FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating functional blocks and a storage device of the injection molding machine of FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of the operation of the injection molding machine of FIG. 1. FIG.

An injection molding machine according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

1 and 2 are a front view and a plan view of an injection molding machine and an automatic machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3(a) is a diagram illustrating functional blocks of the injection molding machine of FIG. 1. FIG. 3(b) is a diagram illustrating a storage device included in the control device of the injection molding machine shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of the operation of the injection molding machine of FIG. 1.

The injection molding machine 1 of this embodiment injects and fills a plasticized resin material into a cavity 84 formed by an upper mold 81 and a lower mold 82, and cools and solidifies the resin material and insert parts. An integrated molded product is molded (insert molded). Note that this embodiment shows an example of a configuration in which the present invention is applied to an injection molding machine that opens and closes an upper mold 81 and a lower mold 82 in the vertical direction. In addition to this, the injection molding machine has a fixed die plate to which a fixed die is attached and a movable die plate to which a movable die is attached, and which opens and closes the fixed die and movable die in the horizontal direction. The present invention may also be applied.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the injection molding machine 1 includes a mold clamping device 10 that clamps an upper mold 81 and a lower mold 82, an injection device 20 that injects a resin material into a cavity 84, and a mold. It has a control device 30 that controls the tightening device 10 and the injection device 20. The injection molding machine 1 operates in cooperation with an automatic machine 50 consisting of, for example, a six-axis articulated robot. The automatic machine 50 takes out the molded product from the lower mold 82 and installs the insert part K in the lower mold 82 at a molded product take-out station P2, which will be described later. The injection molding machine 1 and the automatic machine 50 constitute an injection molding system.

The mold clamping device 10 includes a rotary table 11 and a movable die plate 12 arranged vertically facing the rotary table 11. The mold clamping device 10 also includes a rotary drive mechanism 13 that drives the rotary table 11 to rotate clockwise intermittently by a predetermined angle, and an upper mold 81 and a lower mold 82 by the rotary table 11 and the movable die plate 12. The mold clamping drive mechanism 14 generates mold clamping force by clamping the mold in the vertical direction. The rotary table 11 corresponds to a fixed die plate. The upper mold 81 corresponds to a movable mold, and the lower mold 82 corresponds to a fixed mold.

Two lower molds 82 are attached to the upper surface 11a of the rotary table 11 at intervals of 180 degrees. Note that three or more lower molds 82 may be attached to the upper surface 11a of the rotary table 11. When the two lower molds 82 are to be described separately, they will be referred to as lower molds 82A and 82B. The two lower molds 82 are positioned at two work stations: an injection station P1 and a molded article removal station P2. An upper mold 81 is attached to the lower surface of the movable die plate 12.

The injection station P1 is an injection position where the upper mold 81 and the lower mold 82 are clamped and a plasticized resin material is injected and filled into the cavity 84. Further, at the injection station P1, a predetermined pressure (holding force) is applied to the resin material in the cavity 84, and the upper mold 81 and the lower mold 82 are is cooled over a cooling time C. In this embodiment, at the injection station P1, a molded product made of only a resin material (a throwaway product) and a molded product in which the resin material and the insert part K are integrated are molded. The molded product take-out station P2 is located at the 6 o'clock position when the injection station P1 is set to the 0 o'clock position, and is a molded product take-out position for taking out the molded product from the lower mold 82. The molded product removal station P2 is also a component installation position where the insert component K is installed in the lower mold 82.

The injection device 20 is arranged so as to be movable horizontally relative to the mold clamping device 10. The injection device 20 includes a heating cylinder 21 and a screw (not shown) accommodated in the heating cylinder 21. The injection device 20 touches the nozzle 21a of the heating cylinder 21 to the lower mold 82 (or upper mold 81) in the injection station P1, advances the screw, and injects and fills the cavity 84 with plasticized resin material. . Further, after injecting and filling the resin material into the cavity 84, the injection device 20 pushes the screw forward to apply a holding force to the resin material in the cavity 84.

The control device 30 controls the operation of the injection molding machine 1 as a whole. The control device 30 includes a microcomputer. The control device 30 controls the operations of the rotational drive mechanism 13 and the mold clamping drive mechanism 14 of the mold clamping device 10, and various drive mechanisms such as the injection device 20. The control device 30 cooperates with an automatic machine 50.

Specifically, in the molding operation, the control device 30
(1) Controlling the rotational drive mechanism 13 to move the plurality of lower molds 82 installed on the rotary table 11 to the injection station P1 and the molded product removal station P2,
(2) controlling the mold clamping drive mechanism 14 to clamp the upper mold 81 and the lower mold 82 in the injection station P1;
(3) controlling the injection device 20 to inject and fill the plasticized resin material into the cavities 84 of the clamped upper mold 81 and lower mold 82;
(4) controlling the injection device 20 to apply a holding force to the resin material within the cavity 84;
(5) The mold clamping drive mechanism 14 is controlled to open the clamped upper mold 81 and lower mold 82 after the cooling time C has elapsed since the completion of holding pressure.

Further, the control device 30
(6) Receive the table rotation timing signal Sa indicating the timing at which the rotary table 11 can rotate from the automatic machine 50;
(7) Obtain insert part information Jk from the automatic machine 50 from the insert part information signal Sb indicating whether or not the insert part K is installed in the lower mold 82;
(8) A molded product removal timing signal Sc indicating the timing at which the molded product should be taken out from the lower mold 82 in the molded product removal station P2 is transmitted to the automatic machine 50.

In this embodiment, the insert component information signal Sb is a signal indicating whether or not the insert component K is installed based on the voltage level (H level/L level), but is not limited to this. The insert component information signal Sb may be, for example, a message format signal used in a predetermined communication protocol. The table rotation timing signal Sa and the molded product removal timing signal Sc are also similar to the insert component information signal Sb.

Further, the control device 30 has a storage device 31 composed of, for example, a nonvolatile memory or a hard disk device. The storage device 31 has an insert molding cooling time storage area 311 and a discard cooling time storage area 312.

The insert molding cooling time storage area 311 stores the insert molding cooling time C1, which is set as the cooling time C during the insert molding operation. In the throw away cooling time storage area 312, the throw away cooling time C2, which is set as the cooling time C during the throw away operation, is stored. The waste cooling time C2 is longer than the insert molding cooling time C1 (C2>C1).

Next, an example of the molding operation in the injection molding machine 1 of this embodiment described above will be described with reference to FIG. 4.

Immediately before the start of the molding operation, the lower mold 82A is located at the molded article removal station P2, and the lower mold 82B is located at the injection station P1. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the injection molding machine 1 performs a throw-off operation for molding a throw-off product made only of a resin material once, and thereafter repeatedly performs the insert molding operation. Note that the throw-off operation may be performed multiple times.

First, the automatic machine 50 sends a table rotation timing signal to the control device 30 of the injection molding machine 1 without installing the insert part K in the lower mold 82A at the molded product take-out station P2 in order to perform a dumping operation. Sa is transmitted (S110). Further, the automatic machine 50 transmits an insert component information signal Sb (insert component not installed) to the control device 30 (S120). The control device 30 receives the table rotation timing signal Sa from the automatic machine 50 and also receives the insert part information signal Sb, and acquires the insert part information Jk (no insert part installed).

Upon receiving the table rotation timing signal Sa, the control device 30 controls the rotation drive mechanism 13 to rotate the rotary table 11 by 180 degrees (S130). As a result, the lower mold 82A is moved from the molded product take-out station P2 to the injection station P1, and the lower mold 82B is moved from the injection station P1 to the molded product take-out station P2.

The control device 30 executes a throw-off operation when the insert part information Jk acquired immediately before is "no insert part installed" indicating that the insert part K is not installed in the lower mold 82A. Based on the judgment, the discard cooling time C2 stored in the discard cooling time storage area 312 is set as the cooling time C (S140).

When the lower mold 82B is moved to the molded product removal station P2, the control device 30 transmits a molded product removal timing signal Sc to the automatic machine 50 (S150). Then, the control device 30 executes a dumping operation using the upper mold 81 and the lower mold 82A located at the injection station P1 (S160). Specifically, the control device 30 controls the mold clamping drive mechanism 14 to clamp the upper mold 81 and the lower mold 82 in which the insert part K is not installed, and controls the injection device 20. Then, a plasticized resin material is injected and filled into the cavities 84 of the clamped upper mold 81 and lower mold 82. The control device 30 controls the injection device 20 to apply a holding force to the resin material filled in the cavity 84 . Then, the control device 30 cools and solidifies the resin material in the cavity 84 during a discarded cooling time C2 set as the cooling time C. As a result, a throwaway product made only of the resin material and not including the insert part K is molded. After the cooling time C2 has elapsed, the control device 30 controls the mold clamping drive mechanism 14 to open the clamped upper mold 81 and lower mold 82. When the control device 30 receives the mold opening completion signal from the mold clamping drive mechanism 14, it recognizes that the mold opening has been completed.

Further, when the automatic machine 50 receives the molded product removal timing signal Sc, the automatic machine 50 takes out the molded product from the lower mold 82B located at the molded product removal station P2 (S170). Note that at this point, no molded product is being molded using the lower mold 82B, so there is no molded product to be taken out.

Then, in order to execute the molding operation of insert molding, the automatic machine 50 installs the insert part K in the lower mold 82B at the molded product removal station P2 (S180), and sends a table rotation timing signal to the control device 30. Sa is transmitted (S190). Further, the automatic machine 50 transmits an insert component information signal Sb (insert component installed) to the control device 30 (S200). The control device 30 receives the table rotation timing signal Sa from the automatic machine 50 and also receives the insert component information signal Sb, and acquires the insert component information Jk (insert component installed).

When the mold opening is completed and the control device 30 receives the table rotation timing signal Sa from the automatic machine 50, the control device 30 controls the rotation drive mechanism 13 to rotate the rotary table 11 by 180 degrees (S210). As a result, the lower mold 82B is moved from the molded product take-out station P2 to the injection station P1, and the lower mold 82A is moved from the injection station P1 to the molded product take-out station P2.

The control device 30 executes the molding operation of insert molding when the insert part information Jk acquired just before is "insert part installed" indicating that the insert part K has been installed in the lower mold 82B. Then, the insert molding cooling time C1 stored in the insert molding cooling time storage area 311 is set as the cooling time C (S220).

When the lower mold 82A is moved to the molded product removal station P2, the control device 30 transmits a molded product removal timing signal Sc to the automatic machine 50 (S230). Then, the control device 30 executes the insert molding operation using the upper mold 81 and the lower mold 82B located at the injection station P1 (S240). Specifically, the control device 30 controls the mold clamping drive mechanism 14 to clamp the upper mold 81 and the lower mold 82 in which the insert part K is installed, controls the injection device 20, The cavities 84 of the clamped upper mold 81 and lower mold 82 are injected and filled with plasticized resin material. The control device 30 controls the injection device 20 to apply a holding force to the resin material filled in the cavity 84 . Then, the control device 30 cools and solidifies the resin material in the cavity 84 during the insert molding cooling time C1 set as the cooling time C. As a result, a product in which the resin material and the insert part K are integrated is molded. After the insert molding cooling time C1 has elapsed, the control device 30 controls the mold clamping drive mechanism 14 to open the clamped upper mold 81 and lower mold 82. When the control device 30 receives the mold opening completion signal from the mold clamping drive mechanism 14, it recognizes that the mold opening has been completed.

Moreover, when the automatic machine 50 receives the molded product removal timing signal Sc, it takes out the molded product from the lower mold 82A located at the molded product removal station P2 (S250). At this time, the cast-off product formed in the cast-off operation is taken out.

Then, the automatic machine 50 installs the insert part K in the lower mold 82A at the molded product removal station P2 in order to continue the molding operation of insert molding (S260). After this, steps S190 to S260 described above are repeatedly executed. In addition, when performing a discarding operation a plurality of times before performing a molding operation of insert molding, the above steps S110 to S170 are repeatedly performed a plurality of times before proceeding to the above step S180.

As described above, according to the injection molding machine 1 of this embodiment, the insert part information Jk regarding the insert part K is acquired from the automatic machine 50 that installs the insert part K in the lower mold 82. Then, the setting of the cooling time C of the resin material injected into the cavity 84 is changed according to the insert part information Jk. Specifically, the insert component information Jk is information indicating whether or not the insert component K is installed in the lower mold 82. Then, when the insert component information Jk indicates that the insert component K is installed in the lower mold 82, the insert molding cooling time C1 is set as the cooling time C. Alternatively, when the insert part information Jk indicates that the insert part K is not installed in the lower mold 82, the cooling time C is set to a discard cooling time C2 which is longer than the insert molding cooling time C1. By doing this, it is possible to make the cooling time C when molding a disposable product with a relatively large amount of resin material longer than the cooling time C when molding a product with a relatively small amount of resin material. Depending on the component information Jk, an appropriate cooling time C for solidifying the resin material injected into the cavity 84 can be set. Therefore, it is possible to prevent forgetting to reset the setting of the cooling time C, and effectively suppress a decrease in product production efficiency.

In the embodiment described above, the insert component information Jk was information indicating whether or not the insert component K was installed in the lower mold 82, but it is not limited to this. For example, the insert component information Jk may be information regarding the volume of the insert component K. In this configuration, in the automatic machine 50, for example, the weight of the insert part K is measured, and based on the measured weight, it is determined whether the volume of the insert part K is larger than the volume standard value or less than the volume standard value. Then, the determination result is included in the insert part information Jk. Then, in the molding operation of insert molding, when the insert part information Jk indicates that the volume of the insert part K is large (larger than the volume reference value), the cooling time for large insert parts is set as the cooling time C. Alternatively, when the insert component information Jk indicates that the volume of the insert component K is small (below the volume reference value), a cooling time for small insert components that is longer than a cooling time for large insert components is set as the cooling time C. By doing this, the cooling time C when molding a product with a small volume of insert parts K (i.e., a product with a relatively large amount of resin material) can be reduced by reducing the cooling time C when molding a product with a large volume of insert parts (i.e., with a relatively small amount of resin material). (product) can be made longer than the cooling time C when molding the product. Thereby, it is possible to set an appropriate cooling time C for solidifying the resin material injected into the cavity 84 according to the insert component information Jk. Therefore, by setting the cooling time C depending on whether the volume of the insert part K is large or small, it is possible to effectively suppress a decrease in product production efficiency. Note that the volume of the insert part K is divided into multiple stages (for example, large, medium, and small), and the cooling time corresponding to each stage (cooling time for large insert parts < cooling time for medium insert parts < cooling time for small insert parts) time) may be set.

In the embodiment described above, in the injection molding machine 1, for example, the temperature of the heating cylinder 21, the temperature of the upper mold 81 and the lower mold 82, the residence time (thermal history) of the resin material, etc. , it is determined whether the preparation for molding a molded article (product) in which the resin material and the insert part are integrated is completed (that is, whether the throw-off operation is completed or not). Then, when the preparation for molding the product is completed, information to the effect that the preparation has been completed may be transmitted to the automatic machine 50. By doing so, the automatic machine 50 can determine whether or not it is necessary to install the insert part K based on the information. Therefore, the injection molding machine 1 and the automatic machine 50 can be linked more efficiently.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to these examples. For example, the present invention may be applied to a molding machine such as a die-casting machine, and a person skilled in the art may appropriately add, delete, or change the design of the above-mentioned embodiments, or the features of the embodiments. Appropriate combinations of these are also included within the scope of the present invention as long as they do not go against the spirit of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Injection molding machine, 10... Mold clamping device, 11... Rotary table, 11a... Upper surface, 12... Movable die plate, 13... Rotation drive mechanism, 14... Mold clamping drive mechanism, 20... Injection device, 21... Heating cylinder, 21a... Nozzle, 30... Control device, 31... Storage device, 311... Insert molding cooling time storage area, 312... Discard cooling time storage area, 50... Automatic machine, 81... Upper mold, 82, 82A, 82B... Lower Side mold, 84... Cavity, Jk... Insert part information, Sa... Table rotation timing signal, Sb... Insert part information signal, Sc... Molded product removal timing signal, C... Cooling time, C1... Insert molding cooling time, C2... Discarded cooling time

Claims (3)

A fixed die plate to which a fixed die is attached, a movable die plate to which a movable die is attached, and an injection device that injects a resin material into a cavity formed by the fixed die and the movable die. An injection molding machine that molds a molded product in which the resin material and the insert part are integrated,
Obtaining insert part information regarding the insert part from an automatic machine that installs the insert part in the fixed side mold or the movable side mold, and cooling the resin material injected into the cavity according to the insert part information. a control device configured to change the time setting;
The insert component information is a signal indicating in a voltage level whether the insert component is installed in the fixed mold or the movable mold,
The control device includes:
When the insert part information indicates that the insert part is installed in the fixed mold or the movable mold, setting an insert molding cooling time as the cooling time,
When the insert part information indicates that the insert part is not installed in the fixed side mold or the movable side mold, setting a discard cooling time longer than the insert molding cooling time as the cooling time, Extrusion molding machine. The injection molding machine according to claim 1 , wherein the control device transmits information to the automatic machine to the effect that the preparation has been completed when the preparation for molding the molded product is completed. A fixed die plate to which a fixed die is attached, a movable die plate to which a movable die is attached, and an injection device that injects a resin material into a cavity formed by the fixed die and the movable die. an injection molding machine that molds a molded product in which the resin material and the insert part are integrated;
An injection molding system comprising: an automatic machine for installing the insert part in the fixed mold or the movable mold,
The injection molding machine is configured to acquire insert part information regarding the insert part from the automatic machine, and change settings for a cooling time of the resin material injected into the cavity according to the insert part information. has a control device,
The insert part information is information regarding the volume of the insert part,
The automatic machine measures the weight of the insert part, determines whether the volume of the insert part is larger than the volume standard value or less than the volume standard value based on the measured weight, and stores the result as the insert part information. Included in
The control device includes:
When the insert part information indicates that the volume of the insert part is larger than the volume reference value , setting a cooling time for large insert parts as the cooling time,
When the insert part information indicates that the volume of the insert part is less than or equal to the volume reference value , the injection molding system sets a cooling time for small insert parts that is longer than the cooling time for large insert parts as the cooling time.

Images