JPH04112025A - Automatic changing system for mold - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform the carrying in and out of a mold simply correctly by providing a device adapted for reading the code and a monitoring device adapted for detecting the present position of the mold within the system, and setting the present position data file of the mold and the carrying in data file of the mold in a main control device via a mold code. CONSTITUTION:In an automatic changing system for a mold, a main control device 22 is equipped with the present position data file 30 of a mold and the carrying in data file 32 of an old changed mold. The present position data file 30 of the mold is set by inputting and storing the mold code that is read by a mold code reading device 36 provided on the carrying in and out gate 34 of the mold, and the present position of each mold detected by a mold monitoring device 38. The carrying in place data file 32 of the mold serves to calculation-set the carrying in place of the old mold on the basis of the present position of the mold, changing data, and the like, to be selected to an empty shelf in the proximity of a storage shelf in which a new mold to be used next is accommodated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an automatic mold changing system in an injection molding machine.

[Conventional technology]

Generally, in an injection molding machine, the mold is replaced when the product is changed, but this mold replacement requires a large amount of manpower and time.

For this reason, especially in high-mix, low-volume production, an automatic system is generally employed that is configured to automatically replace the molds in sequence according to the product production schedule. Hereinafter, such an automatic system will be briefly explained with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 12, the automatic mold exchange system basically consists of a plurality of injection molding machines 1° (IOA, IOB...), a plurality of mold storage devices 12 (12A, 12B...), The mold changing device 14 and the controller 16 respectively.
．． 18 and the main controller 22 connected via 20. The main controller 22 includes a personal computer 22.
A1 storage device 22b and a control section 22c are provided, and the control section 22c stores data such as the type of mold used in accordance with the production schedule of the product and the time sequence of each operation via the input device 24. As a result, the movement trajectory of the mold changing device 14 is illustrated by the broken line in the figure, and the storage shelf 1 of the mold storage device 12A is inputted and registered.
The new mold in 2Ax is automatically replaced with the injection molding machine 10A, and the old mold installed in the injection molding machine 10A is automatically carried into the storage shelf 12Bx of the mold storage device 12B. be done.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, the conventional automatic system described above has the following problems.

That is, first of all, the required data of the mold is manually entered into the automatic system as described above, but conventionally, this input is done via the current position of the mold, that is, the mold storage shelf number. It was composed of However, this is complicated because the mold operator has to memorize each storage shelf number corresponding to each mold, and often causes problems due to erroneous memory, i.e. There were some drawbacks, such as the mold being different from the specified mold. Moreover, as the variety of molded products increases and the number of lots decreases, the number of replacement molds increases, and this problem becomes more severe.

Therefore, in order to solve the above problem, that is, to identify the new mold to be replaced, an identification code is provided on the mold, and a device 26 or 28 (first
It has been proposed to provide an injection molding machine or a mold changer with an injection molding machine (see Figure 2).

However, in the former method, the mold is identified after it is introduced into the injection molding machine, which requires post-processing time if the mold is not the specified one; Because the reading device is installed on a mobile object, the communication method becomes complicated and the device becomes expensive.
It wasn't satisfying.

Furthermore, if you do not provide an identification code for the mold and try to process the storage location and type of the mold using only those data, errors will often occur in the data input process when introducing the mold into the system. This method also does not provide an effective solution.

Next, the storage shelf into which the old mold that has been replaced and brought in from the injection molding machine is conventionally stored in the empty shelf (usually (the storage shelf where the new mold was stored) or the nearest empty shelf for the injection molding machine, that is, the empty shelf at the position where the travel distance is the shortest in each mold changing operation from the injection molding machine of the mold changing device. The shelf was configured to be selected.

However, as will become clear from the disclosure regarding the selection method according to the present invention, which will be described later, the conventional selection method
The overall travel distance of the mold changing device for a series of mold changes was not set to be the shortest. In other words, the conventional method for selecting a destination for old molds has the drawback of unnecessarily extending the operation time of the mold changing device, thereby reducing the efficiency of the entire system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily and accurately carry a mold into a system, and to improve the efficiency of the system by shortening the operating time of a mold changing device. The purpose is to provide an automatic mold exchange system.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the automatic mold exchange system according to the present invention includes an injection molding machine, a mold storage device, a mold exchange device, and a main control device, and the system includes an injection molding machine, a mold storage device, a mold change device, and a main control device, and the system includes an injection molding machine, a mold storage device, a mold change device, and a main control device. In an automatic mold exchange system configured to automatically replace old and new molds in an injection molding machine in sequence based on mold data and time sequence, the system includes a reading device that reads the code of the mold. A monitoring device that detects the current position of the mold is installed, a mold current position data file that registers the current position of the mold in the main control device, and a mold that carries in the old mold that was replaced from the injection molding machine. The present invention is characterized in that a mold delivery destination data file for selecting a storage shelf in a storage device in priority order is set via a mold code.

In this case, the mold delivery destination data file can be composed of a table for selecting an empty shelf near the storage shelf where a new mold to be used next for the injection molding machine is stored.

[Effect]

The mold is input via a mold current position data file. That is, since it is input via the mold code, the operation is simple.

Moreover, in this case, since the current position of the mold is registered, no mistakes will be made.

Further, the destination of the old mold is selected in priority order via the mold destination data file.

As a result, as will be explained in detail in the examples below, the overall travel distance of the mold changing device is set to the shortest,
Therefore, the operating time of the mold changing device is reduced and the efficiency of the system is improved.

〔Example〕

Next, an embodiment of the automatic mold exchange system according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. For convenience of explanation, the same reference numerals are given to the same components as in the conventional structure shown in FIG. 12, and detailed explanation will be omitted.

First of all, the automatic mold changing system according to the present invention is basically the same as the conventional structure shown in FIG. That is, in FIG. 1, the mold exchange system includes a plurality of injection molding machines 10 (IOA, IOB...1ON),
A plurality of mold storage devices 12 (12A, 12B...12
N), a mold changing device 14, and a main control device 22 to which these are connected via controllers 16, 18, and 20, respectively. Data such as the type of mold to be used and the time sequence of each operation are input and registered in advance into the control unit 22c of the main controller 22 via the input device 24 in accordance with the product production schedule. ing. As a result, as illustrated by the broken line in the figure, the movement locus of the mold exchange device 14 can be changed, for example, by the mold storage device 12.
The new mold in the storage shelf 12Ax of A is automatically exchanged to the injection molding machine 10A, and the old mold installed in the injection molding machine 10A is transferred to the storage shelf 1 of the mold storage device 12B.
It will be automatically imported into 2Bx. However, in the automatic mold exchange system of the present invention, the main controller 22 is provided with a current position data file 30 of the mold and a data file 32 of the destination of the replaced old mold.

First, the current mold position data file 30 will be explained. This data file 30 consists of the mold code read by the mold code reader 36 installed at the mold loading/unloading gate 34 and the mold monitoring installed in the system. It is set by inputting and registering the current position of each mold detected by the device 38.

Therefore, according to the present invention, mold data can be easily input using the mold code. Moreover, in this case,
Since the current position of the mold (for example, the number of the injection molding machine or the mold storage shelf) is clearly registered, the input is performed accurately. In addition, since the mold code reading device of the present invention is fixedly installed at the mold drawer gate,
This has the advantage that the device is simple and reading is accurate.

Next, the mold destination data file 32 will be explained. This data file 32 is calculated and set to select the delivery destination of the base mold as either a new mold to be used next or an empty shelf near the storage shelf where it is stored, based on the current position of the mold, exchange data, etc. It is something to do. And this selection method (
Hereinafter referred to as case ■), the effect of the above-mentioned conventional ``method of selecting the delivery destination to the storage shelf where the new mold was carried out (case ■)'' and the conventional ``mold It is most simple and effective to explain in comparison with the method of selecting an empty shelf at a position where the travel distance of the replacement device is the shortest (case III), so below, for each of the above cases ■, ■, and ■. , the overall travel distance of each mold changing device will be explained by performing a simulation.In case (3), if empty shelves with the shortest travel distance exist on the left and right, the left column is usually given priority.

In FIG. 2, a mold storage device 12 having five storage shelves 1 to 5 and 6 to 10 is arranged on both sides of an injection molding machine 10, and the interval between each storage shelf is L, and Storage shelf 5
．． 6 and the mold mounting position in the injection molding machine 10 are set to 4L and 5L, respectively. and,
In this device, the mold E currently installed in the injection molding machine 10 is replaced with the molds A, B, C, and D stored in storage shelves 4.6.7.5 in sequence. Assuming the case, first replace the mold E-A (operation 1).
The operation locus of the mold changing device 14 at this time is indicated by the reference numeral (I) in each case I, If, and H. ), (II), and (III). Note that in this case, routes (n) and (III) are the same. The travel distance of the mold changing device 14 is 12L, IOL, and IOL in each case I, II, and ■, respectively.
It is clear that she will become an office lady.

FIGS. 3(a), (b), and (C) show sequentially A−B(
Each case 11 of each old mold ESA, B, and C when replacing with operation 2), B→C (operation 3), and CD (operation 4),
This figure shows the loading storage shelf in (2). in this case,
As can be seen from the chart, the travel distances of the mold changing device 14 are, for example, 12L, 12L, 12L, and 9L in each operation 1.2.3.4 of case (2) in FIG. 4, respectively.

FIG. 4 compares the travel distance of the mold changing device 14 during each operation 1.2.3.4 and all operations 1.2.3.4 of each case I, n, and ■ determined in this way. It is displayed so that it can be done. As can be seen from the figure, in Case I, that is, according to the present invention, the overall travel distance of the mold changing device is set to be the shortest compared to Cases ① and ③, ie, the conventional device.

Next, Fig. 5(a), (b), (C) to Fig. 10(a)
, (b), and (c) show various changes in the initial storage shelf arrangement (hereinafter referred to as initial conditions) for molds A, B, C, and D in the automatic mold exchange system shown in Fig. 2. 3A, 3B, and 3C respectively in the case of FIG. FIG. 11 is a chart showing a comparison of the overall travel distance during all operations 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the mold changing device 14, which are determined from the above-mentioned charts.

In FIG. 11, the initial conditions are shown as ■ in the case of FIG. 3, and as ■ to ■ in the cases of FIGS. 5 to 10 in sequence. As can be seen from the diagram, in Case I, that is, according to the present invention, compared to Cases ■ and ■, that is, the conventional device, the overall travel distance of the mold changing device is set to be the shortest under any of the initial conditions ■ to ■. I know it will happen.

As described above, according to the present invention, the mold can be input using the code number, so the input operation can be performed easily. Moreover, in this case, since the current position of the mold is registered, there is no possibility of erroneous operation. Furthermore, since the overall travel distance of the mold changing device when changing molds is set to the shortest, the operating time of the mold changing device can be shortened and the efficiency of the system can be improved. Furthermore, the system of the present invention has the advantage that since the mold code reading device is fixedly installed on the mold drawer gate, the device is simple and the reading can be performed accurately.

Although the present invention has been described above with reference to preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and many design changes can be made without departing from the spirit thereof.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the automatic mold exchange system according to the present invention includes an injection molding machine, a mold storage device, a mold exchange device, and a main control device, and the automatic mold exchange system according to the present invention includes Based on mold data and time sequence,
In an automatic mold exchange system configured to automatically replace old and new molds in an injection molding machine in sequence, the system is equipped with a reader that reads the code of the mold and a monitoring device that detects the current position of the mold. , a mold current position data file that registers the current position of the mold in the main controller, and a file that selects, in priority order, the storage shelf in the mold storage device into which the old mold that has been replaced and carried out from the injection molding machine will be carried in. By setting the mold delivery destination data file through the mold code, first of all, it becomes possible to input mold data to the system through the code number, making the input operation easy. I can do it. Moreover, in this case, since the current position of the mold is registered, erroneous operations will not occur. Next, when replacing the mold, the overall travel distance of the mold changing device is set to be the shortest, so the operating time of the mold changing device is shortened, and the efficiency of the system can be improved. Further, the system of the present invention has the advantage that since the mold code reading device is fixedly installed on the mold drawer gate, the device is simple and the reading can be performed accurately.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the automatic mold exchange system according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an operation system diagram for explaining the mold exchange operation in the automatic mold exchange system shown in FIG. 1, Figures 3 (a), (b), and (c) are explanatory diagrams showing each case in the operation system shown in Figure 2, and the storage shelves where the old molds are delivered after replacement for each operation. Figure 3 (a), (
Explanatory diagram showing the travel distance of the mold changing device with respect to the destination storage shelf shown in b) and (C), FIGS. 5(a) and (b)
, (c) to FIG. 10 (a), (b), and (C) are respectively FIG. 3 (a) and FIG.
Explanatory diagrams corresponding to (b) and (C), Figure 11 is Figure 3 (
a), (b), (C) and Fig. 5 (a), (b), (
C) - An explanatory diagram showing the overall travel distance of the mold changing device regarding the destination storage shelves shown in Figures 10 (a), (b), and (C), respectively, and Figure 12 shows the conventional automatic mold changing FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a system. 0, IOA~ION...Injection molding machine 2.12A~12N...Mold changing device 4...Mold changing device 6.18.20...Controller 2...Main controller 22a...・PC 2b...
-Storage device 22c...Control unit 4...Input device 0...Mold current position data file 2...Destination data file 4...Mold drawer gate 6...Mold code reading Device 8... Mold monitoring device F ■ ■ G. ■G. F Engineering G. d ■ G. Procedural Amendment (Hōri October 6, 1990)

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) Equipped with an injection molding machine, a mold storage device, a mold exchange device, and a main control device, based on mold data and time sequence input and registered in advance in the main control device,
In an automatic mold exchange system configured to automatically replace old and new molds in an injection molding machine in sequence, the system is equipped with a reading device that reads the code of the mold and a monitoring device that detects the current position of the mold. , selects in priority order the current mold position data file that registers the current position of the mold in the main control device, and the storage shelf in the mold storage device into which the old mold that has been replaced and carried out from the injection molding machine will be carried in. An automatic mold exchange system characterized in that a mold delivery destination data file is set via a mold code. (2) The mold delivery destination data file is a table for selecting an empty shelf near a storage shelf in which a new mold to be used next for the injection molding machine is stored. exchange system.