KR20120086518A - Molding device utilizing film heater - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A molding device using a thin film heater is provided to partially control the temperature of each pattern section by copping the pattern sections through heating part of a film heater one on one. CONSTITUTION: A molding device comprises a first mold(100), a plurality of film heaters(200), and an insert plate(300). A cavity is formed in the first mold in determined depth. The plurality of film heaters is installed in the cavity of the first mold and heated through the power partially supplied from an external power supply. A predetermined pattern is formed on the surface of the insert plate. The temperature of the insert plate is partially controlled.

Description

Molding device utilizing film heater

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a molding apparatus, and more particularly, to a molding apparatus capable of locally controlling a temperature of a mold (ie, a member on which a molding material is located) and a temperature of a molding material introduced into the mold using a thin film heater. .

A molding apparatus is an apparatus which produces | generates a product of a specific shape in large quantities using molding materials, such as synthetic resin or a metal.

Various means / apparatuses are installed / used in the molding apparatus for temperature control of the molding material introduced therein. For example, a cooling fluid such as cooling water or cooling oil flows through the flow path formed in the mold of the molding apparatus, and the temperature of the mold, that is, the temperature of the molding material introduced into the mold, is controlled by the flowing cooling fluid.

As another method, the temperature of the mold and the temperature of the molding material can be controlled by disposing a heating element such as an electric heater in the mold.

However, the temperature control means / apparatus as described above can cause the following problems in use.

Temperature control means / elements, such as flow paths of cooling fluid or electric heaters, are arranged uniformly in a mold having a relatively large area, and thus theoretically the entire mold can be adjusted to a single temperature condition.

However, in actual process sites, the temperature of the mold will locally vary. That is, when using a cooling fluid, the temperature of the cooling fluid changes (raises) over time, and thus, the inflow zone where the cooling fluid is initially introduced, the intermediate region in which the cooling fluid flows, and the cooling of the entire region of the mold. The temperature of the discharge zone where the fluid is discharged will be different.

A molded article having uniform properties / characteristics is produced only when all regions of the molding material located on the mold are supplied with the same temperature, but for the same reason, after the molding process, heat of different temperatures is supplied to the molding materials for each region of the mold. Molded products are difficult to have uniform properties.

In particular, since the polymer resins exhibit a significantly different degree of curing with temperature and time, very thin and fine devices such as nanopatterns, biochips, or optical elements made of polymer resins are greatly affected by temperature in the molding process. . For example, in a process in which a molding material in the form of a paste or a gel is introduced into a fine pattern formed on the surface of the mold, when the temperature of the mold is lower than a set value, the space in the fine pattern is formed. The molding material begins to cure before it is completely filled with the material, and thus no molded articles having the same pattern as the fine pattern are produced.

On the other hand, the molding material introduced through the inflow port on the mold having a relatively large area moves to the pattern formation region while flowing along a predetermined path. Under such conditions, the temperature of the molding material after flowing along the flow path becomes lower than the temperature of the molding material immediately after the inflow port. To compensate for this, it is desirable that the temperature of the peripheral region of the flow path away from the inlet port is higher than the temperature of the region around the material inlet port of the mold.

However, due to the above-described causes, the temperature of the entire region of the mold is nonuniform, and it is difficult to solve the above problems because it is not possible to locally control only the temperature of the specific region.

The present invention is to solve the above problems that occur in the molding apparatus, the entire area of the mold, that is, the member (insert plate) in which the molding material is located is divided into a plurality of unit areas that can control the temperature for each unit area It is an object to provide a molding apparatus having a structure.

Molding apparatus according to the present invention for achieving the above object is a first mold and a second mold coupled to the first mold and the cavity of a predetermined depth; A plurality of film heaters disposed in the cavity of the first mold and generating heat by power separately supplied from an external power supply; And an insert plate having a predetermined pattern formed on the surface thereof, the insert plate being positioned on the plurality of film heaters in the cavity of the first mold so that the temperature of the region corresponding to each film heater can be locally controlled.

The insert plate may be divided into an outer region disposed along an edge and an separating region disposed inside the outer region and positioned between the film heater and a plurality of unit pattern portions and unit pattern portions respectively corresponding to the film heater.

Each film heater may include a power applying unit electrically connected to an external power supply unit, and a heating unit made of a single metal wire connected to the power applying unit. Preferably, the heat generating portion corresponds to any one unit pattern portion of the insert plate.

 The power applying unit of the film heater includes first and second tubes; And metal wires located within each tube, wherein the first ends of the two metal wires are electrically connected to the external power supply unit and the second ends are connected to the metal wires of the heat generating portion.

In addition, the power applying unit of the film heater; A wire located in the third tube and having one end connected to an external control unit; And a sensor connected to the other end of the wire and disposed adjacent to the heating portion.

Here, the insert plate may be integrally formed on the surface of the cavity in which a plurality of film heaters are disposed, and in this structure, the film heater may include a heating part made up of a single wire and both ends of the heating part of the external power supply unit and the heating part. It includes a power applying unit consisting of two metal wires each connected.

In the molding apparatus according to the present invention as described above, the entire region of the insert plate through which the molding process of the molding material proceeds is divided into a plurality of unit pattern regions, and each unit pattern region corresponds one-to-one with the heat generating portion of the film heater, thereby providing each unit. The temperature of the pattern region can be controlled locally. Therefore, the temperature of the molding material on all the unit pattern regions of the insert plate can be kept uniform, thereby producing a molded product having uniform characteristics.

1 is a plan view of a first mold constituting a molding apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a plan view of a film heater constituting the molding apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a plan view of the insert plate constituting the molding apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a plan view of a state in which the film heater shown in FIG. 2 and the insert plate shown in FIG. 3 are sequentially arranged in the cavity of the first mold shown in FIG.
5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 4.
6 is a schematic view of the insert plate constituting the forming apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention, as a corresponding view of FIG.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a first mold (for example, a lower mold) constituting a molding apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. For convenience, the first mold 100 may be combined with the first mold 100 to form a predetermined molding space. 2 molds (eg, upper mold) are not shown.

In the center of the first mold 100 having a predetermined area and thickness, a cavity 101 having a predetermined depth and area is formed. The cavity 101 is a space where a molding material to be described later is located. When the second mold and the first mold 100 (not shown) correspond to each other, the cavity of the second mold and the cavity 101 of the first mold 100 are formed. Correspondingly, a predetermined sealed space is formed.

A plurality of fastening holes 104 are formed at the outer portion of the cavity 101. The fastening hole 104 is formed to fix the insert plate, which will be described later, to the first mold 100. In FIG. 1, the fastening hole 104 is formed at each corner of the outer portion of the cavity 101, but the position thereof is not limited. That is, the plurality of fastening holes 104 may be formed in the edge portion of the outer portion.

Here, reference numeral 102 of FIG. 1 denotes an ejector pin guide hole.

On the other hand, although not shown in the drawings, the molding apparatus for molding the molded product further includes a second mold coupled to the first mold (100). The second mold has the same shape and structure as the first mold 100 shown in FIG. 1. However, in the second mold, a supply port connected to an external molding material supply part (not shown) is formed in a predetermined portion (eg, a center part) of the cavity, and the molding material supplied by pressure from the molding material supply part is a supply port. It is introduced into the space formed by the cavity of the first mold and the second mold through the.

2 is a plan view of a film heater constituting the molding apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The film heater 200 is a member disposed on the bottom surface of the cavity 101 of the first mold 100 shown in FIG. 1, and is provided with a power supply unit electrically connected to an external power supply unit (not shown). 210 and a heat generating unit 220 connected to the power applying unit 210.

The power applying unit 210 includes first, second and third tubes 211, 212 and 213, wherein the first and second tubes 211 and 212 are made of an insulating material, preferably polyimide. Metal wires 211-1 and 212-1 are located in the first and second tubes 211 and 212, respectively, and the first and second metal wires 211-1 and 212-1 are respectively located. The terminal (terminal which does not correspond to the heat generating unit 220) is electrically connected to an external power supply unit.

Here, the first and second metal wires 211-1 and 212-1 are made of nickel, but any metal material having excellent electrical conductivity may be used as the first and second metal wires.

The heat generating unit 220 is a portion in which a single metal wire 221 is bent several times to have a predetermined area, and both ends of the metal wire 221 are formed of the first and second metals of the power applying unit 210. Are connected to wires 211-1 and 212-1, respectively.

Here, the material of the metal wire 221 of the heat generating unit 220 is also not limited, and any metal having an excellent heat generating function, that is, an electrical resistance may be used.

Meanwhile, although not shown in FIG. 2, an insulator film is formed on the upper and lower portions of the heating part 220, that is, the metal wire 221 which is bent several times, for the electrical insulation between the first mold 100 and the insert plate which will be described later. (Eg, polyimide film) can be attached.

The plurality of film heaters 200 having such a structure includes the first mold 100 shown in FIG. 1 in a state in which the first and second metal wires 211-1 and 212-1 are connected to an external power supply unit. It is disposed on the bottom surface of the cavity 101.

On the other hand, reference numeral "213" denotes a third tube, and the third wire 213-1 is disposed therein. The first end of the third wire 213-1 is connected to a temperature sensor (not shown) adjacent to the heat generating unit 220, and the second end is connected to an external control unit (not shown).

Therefore, the temperature sensor transmits information on the temperature of the heat generating part 220 (that is, the temperature of each unit pattern region 303 of the insert plate 300 to be described later) to the control unit, and the control unit is an external power supply unit. The control unit may control the power supplied to the heat generating unit 220 through the first and second metal wires 211-1 and 212-1.

3 is a plan view of the insert plate constituting the molding apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention, in which the insert plate 300 is disposed on the film heater 200 shown in FIG. And a molding material injected into the cavity 101 of the first mold 100 and the space formed by the cavity of the second mold.

The insert plate 300 may be formed of a metal member having the same shape and area as the cavity 101 of the first mold 100 illustrated in FIG. 1.

The insert plate 300 may include an outer region 301 disposed along an edge, a plurality of unit pattern portions 303 disposed inside the outer region 301, and a separation region 302 positioned between the unit pattern portions 303. ).

The fastening hole 304 is formed at a predetermined position of the outer region 301, that is, a region corresponding to the fastening hole 104 formed in the cavity 101 of the first mold 100.

The pattern of a predetermined shape is formed in the surface of each unit pattern part 303 (for convenience, a pattern is not shown in figure). Of course, a pattern having the same shape is formed on the surface of the molded article manufactured by the pattern formed on the surface of each unit pattern portion 303.

A plurality of eject pin holes 305 are formed in some of the plurality of separation regions 302. Here, the plurality of eject pin holes 305 preferably correspond to the eject pin guide holes 102 formed in the cavity 101 of the first mold 100 shown in FIG. 1.

4 is a plan view of the film heater 200 shown in FIG. 2 and the insert plate 300 shown in FIG. 3 sequentially disposed in the cavity 101 of the lower mold 100 shown in FIG. 1. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 4. Meanwhile, in FIG. 4, each film heater 200 positioned below the insert plate 300 is illustrated in a dotted block form.

As described above, the insert plate 300 is positioned on the film heater 200 in a state in which a plurality of film heaters 200 are disposed on the surface of the cavity 101 of the first mold 100.

Here, the plurality of film heaters 200, in particular, the heating unit 220, correspond one-to-one with the plurality of unit pattern regions 303 (the upper surface of which a pattern is formed) of the insert plate 300. In addition, the metal wires 211-1, 212-1, and 213-1 of the power applying unit 210 of each film heater 200 have through holes 306 formed in the outer portion 301 of the insert plate 300. It extends to the outside of the first mold 100 through.

In this state, a plurality of fastening elements 500 (for example, bolts) are formed in the fastening hole 404 formed in the second mold 400, and the fastening hole 304 formed in the outer region 301 of the insert plate 300. And the first mold 100 and the second mold 400 are coupled to each other in a state where an airtight space is formed inside the insert plate 300 by penetrating and fixing the fastening hole 104 formed in the first mold 100. ) Is held in a fixed state in the first mold 100 and the second mold 400.

After combining the first mold 100 and the second mold 400, the space between the first mold 100 and the second mold 400 through the material inlet port 401 formed in the second mold 400, That is, a molding material in the form of a paste or gel is injected into the insert plate 300.

The injected molding material is cured on the upper surface of the insert plate 300 while flowing between the inner surface of the second mold 400 and the upper surface of the insert plate 300, thus forming a pattern formed on the surface of the insert plate 300. Molded articles having the same pattern are produced.

Thereafter, after the second mold 400 is separated, the eject pin is operated to separate and extract the molded product from the insert plate 300 (the operation and function of the eject pin are generally known in the mold field, and thus The description thereof is omitted).

As described above, the film heater 200 as illustrated in FIG. 2 is positioned below the plurality of unit pattern regions 303 of the insert plate 300. Therefore, heat generated in the heat generating part 220 of each film heater 200 is transmitted only to the corresponding unit pattern region among the plurality of unit pattern regions 303 of the insert plate 300.

The insert plate is formed by the temperature of the molding material introduced into each unit pattern region 303 of the insert plate 300 through the path of the predetermined length and the temperature of the cooling fluid introduced through the flow path of the predetermined length in the first mold 100. The unit pattern region 303 of 300 is difficult to maintain a uniform temperature.

The temperature sensor mounted on the film heater 200 includes the temperature of the unit pattern region 303 of the corresponding insert plate 300 (varied by the temperature of the molding material and the temperature of the cooling fluid) and the heat generating portion of the film heater 200. Information about the temperature of the 220 is transmitted to the control unit, and the control unit may control the power supplied to the heat generating unit 220 of the film heater 200 by controlling the external power supply unit.

As described above, in the present invention, the temperature of the corresponding unit pattern region 303 of the insert plate 300 may be adjusted by individually controlling the power supplied to the plurality of film heaters 200. Therefore, it is possible to uniformly control the temperatures of all the unit pattern regions 303 of the insert plate 300 that change according to the surrounding environment and display different values. Accordingly, the molding material in all the unit pattern regions 303 of the insert plate 300 may be cured under the same temperature conditions to produce molded articles having uniform characteristics.

FIG. 6 is a corresponding plan view of FIG. 5 and is a schematic plan view of the insert plate constituting the molding apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

The molding apparatus according to the second embodiment includes a first mold 10, a plurality of film heaters 20 disposed in a cavity of the first mold 10, an insert plate 30 positioned on the film heater 20, and The second mold 40 is coupled to the first mold 10.

In the molding apparatus according to the second embodiment, the first mold 10, the second mold 40 and the means for joining the two molds having the cavity formed therein are the first molds 100 of the molding apparatus according to the first embodiment. ), The second mold 400 and the means 500 for joining the two molds are the same, and thus duplicate description thereof will be omitted.

In addition, the film heater 20 which is a constituent member of the molding apparatus according to the second embodiment is the same as the configuration and function of the film heater 200 which is the constituent member of the first embodiment shown in FIG. .

The biggest structural feature of the molding apparatus according to the second embodiment is that the insert plate 30 is integrally formed on the cavity surface of the first mold 10 including the plurality of film heaters 20. That is, the insert plate 30 is formed in the cavity surface of the 1st metal mold | die 10 by plating fixing in the state which has arrange | positioned the many film heaters 20 on the cavity surface of the 1st metal mold | die 10. FIG.

At this time, the insert plate 30 formed through the plating fixing is the same as the insert plate 300 of the first embodiment shown in Figure 3, the outer region disposed along the edge, a plurality of unit patterns disposed inside the outer region It is divided into separation regions located between the unit and unit pattern portions.

Here, since the insert plate 30 is integrally formed with the first mold 10, a separate means for fixing the insert plate is not required, and the surface of each unit pattern portion of the insert plate 30 is plated. Of course, a pattern of a predetermined shape is formed.

On the other hand, the film heater 20 according to the present embodiment also comprises a heat generating portion and a power applying portion, but the cavity surface of the first mold 10 (a number of film heaters are arranged to form the insert plate 30) Of course, the insulator tube surrounding the metal wire constituting the power applying unit is not necessary because the plating fixing is performed on the metal sheet.

The functions and effects of the molding apparatus according to the second embodiment as described above are the same as the functions and effects of the molding apparatus according to the first embodiment.

The foregoing detailed description is illustrative of the present invention. In addition, the foregoing description shows and describes preferred embodiments of the present invention, and the present invention can be used in various other combinations, modifications, and environments. That is, it is a matter of course that changes or modifications are possible within the scope of the concept of the invention disclosed in this specification, the scope equivalent to the disclosed contents, and / or the skill or knowledge in the art.

Claims (7)

A first mold having a cavity having a predetermined depth;
A plurality of film heaters disposed in the cavity of the first mold and generating heat by power separately supplied from an external power supply; And
An insert plate having a predetermined pattern formed on a surface thereof, the insert plate being positioned on a plurality of film heaters in a cavity of the first mold, and having a locally controlled temperature of a region corresponding to each film heater. The method according to claim 1, wherein the insert plate is divided into an outer region disposed along an edge and an isolation region disposed inside the outer region and positioned between the film heater and a plurality of unit pattern portions corresponding to the film heaters, respectively. And the temperature of the unit pattern portion is independently controlled by the corresponding film heater. 3. The film heater of claim 2, wherein each film heater includes a power supply unit electrically connected to an external power supply unit, and a heat generation unit formed of a single metal wire connected to the power supply unit, wherein the heat generation unit includes any one unit pattern portion of the insert plate. And a molding apparatus, characterized in that. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the power applying unit of the film heater comprises: first and second tubes; And metal wires located within each tube, wherein the first ends of the two metal wires are electrically connected to the external power supply unit and the second ends are connected to the metal wires of the heat generating portion. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the power applying unit of the film heater comprises: a third tube; A wire located in the third tube and having one end connected to an external control unit; And a sensor connected to the other end of the wire and disposed adjacent to the heat generating portion. 2. The molding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the insert plate is integrally formed on the surface of the cavity in which the plurality of film heaters are disposed. 7. The molding apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the film heater comprises a heat generating portion made of a single wire and a power applying portion made of two metal wires each connected to an external power supply unit and a wire of the heat generating portion.

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