Intelligent molding environment and method of configuring a molding system
First Claim
1. A memory device for a molding machine, the memory device associated with mold set-up data relating to an article to be molded, the mold set-up data including information pertaining to at least one of:
- a fill profile for the article to be molded; and
set point control for a mold.
8 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An intelligent molding system (FIG. 2) is provided that makes use of data directly associated with a molding environment or particular mold (50, 52). Accessible data, typically stored locally in an in-mold memory device (76, 78) or input via an HMI (86), identifies parameters germane to mold set-up and machine operation. Upon receiving such data, a machine controller (80) operates to configure a molding machine (10) to an initial set-up defined by the data considered close to an optimal operating condition for the mold. Mold set-up data can include information relating to a fill profile for a molded article that is partitioned into different zones having different thicknesses and geometries. Weighting factors for the various zones compensate for differing cooling and flow characteristics. The memory (76, 78) can also be used to store historical data pertaining to mold operation, settings and alarms.
86 Citations
28 Claims
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1. A memory device for a molding machine, the memory device associated with mold set-up data relating to an article to be molded, the mold set-up data including information pertaining to at least one of:
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a fill profile for the article to be molded; and
set point control for a mold. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A mold component containing a memory device having mold set-up data relating to an article to be molded, the mold component set-up data including information pertaining to at least one of:
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a fill profile for the article to be molded; and
set point control for a mold. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An injection molding machine comprising a mold having a memory device containing associated mold set-up data relating to an article to be molded, the mold set-up data including information pertaining to at least one of:
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a fill profile for the article to be molded; and
set point control for a mold. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28)
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14. A method of controlling the operation of an molding machine, the method comprising:
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having a machine controller access a memory device to obtain mold set-up data relating to an article to be molded, the mold set-up data including information pertaining to at least one of;
a fill profile for the article to be molded; and
set point control for a mold; and
configuring operating parameters of the molding machine based on at least one of the fill profile and the set point control data. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A computer program element comprising computer program code means to make a machine controller of a molding machine execute procedure to:
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access a memory device to obtain mold set-up data relating to an article to be molded, the mold set-up data including information pertaining to at least one of;
a fill profile for the article to be molded; and
set point control for a mold; and
configure operating parameters of the molding machine based on at least one of the fill profile and the set point control data. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25)
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Specification