APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR FORMATION OF MULTI-REGION ARTICLES

• US 20160096296A1
• Filed: 10/07/2014
• Published: 04/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IDEAL Industries Lighting, LLC (Ideal Industries Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: CREE Incorporated (Wolfspeed, Inc.)
• Inventors: Raleigh, Craig, Wilcox, Kurt, Balles, Michael G., Hubertz, Craig S.
• Granted Patent: US 10,207,440 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 2045/0027 Gate or gate mark locations
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 45/162 using means, e.g. mould parts, for transferring an injected part between moulding stations
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 45/2673 with exchangeable mould parts, e.g. cassette moulds B29C45/1756 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 45/2681 with rotatable mould parts
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 45/2735 for non-coaxial gates, e.g. for edge gates
• CPC Class Codes: B29L 2011/0016 Lenses

Abstract

An injection-molding apparatus for article formation. The injection-molding apparatus includes a single mold base supporting at least one grouping of a plurality of shape-forming configuration sets. Each set includes at least one cavity and is shaped for forming one of first-formed, intermediate-formed and last-formed regions of the article in the cavities by a corresponding one of injection-molding shots. Each cavity retains each article region formed by the preceding injection-molding shot(s). The single mold base includes a movable part which moves internally within the single mold base with respect to a stationary part such that relative positions of the shape-forming configurations are advanced for each set to form a subsequent article region in the cavities. Each subsequent injection-molding shot may at least partially over-mold the article region formed in the preceding shot. Each subsequent shot may be prior to full cooling of the article region formed in the previous shot.

Claims

1. An injection-molding apparatus for article formation, the apparatus comprising a single mold base supporting at least one grouping of a plurality of shape-forming configuration sets each shaped for forming one of first-formed, intermediate-formed and last-formed regions of the article, the formed article regions being retained in the single mold base at least until completion of the last-formed region.

2. The injection-molding apparatus of claim 1 wherein:

each shape-forming configuration set includes at least one cavity, the formed article regions being retained within the cavity;

the single mold base comprises a movable part which moves internally within the single mold base with respect to a stationary part such that relative positions of the shape-forming configurations are advanced for each set to form a subsequent article region in the cavities.

3. The injection-molding apparatus of claim 2 wherein:

the single mold base defines an axis;

the movable part supports the cavities and is rotatable about the axis to form subsequent article regions in each cavity.

4. The injection-molding apparatus of claim 2 wherein all of the cavities supported by the movable part are identical.

5. The injection-molding apparatus of claim 1 wherein the plurality of shape-forming configuration sets includes at least three sets.

6. The injection-molding apparatus of claim 1 wherein each shape-forming configuration set is a pair of shape-forming configurations.

7. The injection-molding apparatus of claim 6 wherein, of each pair, the shape-forming configurations supported by the stationary part are cavities each shaped for forming one of the at least three article regions.

8. The injection-molding apparatus of claim 1 wherein the shape-forming configuration sets are configured such that each subsequent injection-molding shot at least partially over-molds the article region formed in the preceding shot.

9. The injection-molding apparatus of claim 8 wherein each of the formed regions of the article includes at least a portion of one of final surfaces of the article.

10. The injection-molding apparatus of claim 8 configured such that each subsequent shot is prior to full cooling of the article region formed in the previous shot.

11. The injection-molding apparatus of claim 1 further comprising barrels delivering injection-molding shots to the single mold base, one of the barrels being for delivering thermoplastic material for forming the last-formed article region, the other of the barrels being for forming article regions prior to the last-formed.

12. The injection-molding apparatus of claim 11 wherein the barrel for the last-formed article region delivers thermoplastic material for the corresponding injection-molding shot at a higher pressure than the injection-molding shots delivered by the other barrels.

13. The injection-molding apparatus of claim 1 further comprising at least one grouping of nozzles each for forming one of the article regions, one nozzle of the at least one grouping being for forming the last-formed article region and being positioned for delivering the corresponding injection-molding shot at a lateral edge of the finished article.

14. The injection-molding apparatus of claim 13 wherein the other of the nozzles are for forming first-formed and at least one intermediate-formed article regions, each of these nozzles being positioned for delivering thermoplastic material to such position which is over-molded with at least one of the subsequently-formed article regions.

15. The injection-molding apparatus of claim 1 wherein:

the single mold base comprises a stationary part and a movable part which moves internally within the single mold base with respect to the stationary part;

one of the movable and stationary parts supports identical shape-forming configurations of each set; and

the other of the movable and stationary parts supports shape-forming configurations each shaped for one of the article regions.

16. The injection-molding apparatus of claim 15 wherein each set is a pair with both shape-forming configurations being cavities.

17. The injection-molding apparatus of claim 1 wherein the article is a lens member for transmitting LED light therethrough, the lens member comprising a lens portion and a flange thereabout, the lens portion having inner and outer surfaces.

18. The injection-molding apparatus of claim 17 wherein the shape-forming configurations are shaped such that each lens region formed in one of the injection-molding shots includes at least a portion of one of the inner and outer surfaces of the lens member.

19. The injection-molding apparatus of claim 17 wherein the shape-forming configurations are shaped such that the last injection-molding shot forms the flange of the lens member for engagement by an ejection system.

20. An injection-molding apparatus for article formation, the apparatus comprising a single mold base supporting a plurality of groupings each of a plurality of shape-forming configuration sets for simultaneous formation of first-formed, at least one intermediate-formed and last-formed article regions each for one of a plurality of the articles.

21. The injection-molding apparatus of claim 20 wherein each set includes at least one cavity retaining each article region formed by at least one preceding injection-molding shot.

22. The injection-molding apparatus of claim 21 further comprising a valve-gate system for balancing each injection-molding shot for equal filling of the cavities, the plurality of the groupings being an even number of the groupings.

23. The injection-molding apparatus of claim 20 wherein the plurality of the groupings comprises eight of the grouping of at least three shape-forming configuration pairs for simultaneously forming eight of each of at least three article regions, thereby simultaneously forming one of the regions for each of at least twenty-four articles.

24. The injection-molding apparatus of claim 20 wherein each of the articles is a lens member for transmitting LED light therethrough, each lens member comprising a lens portion and a flange thereabout, the lens portion having inner and outer surfaces.

25. A method for article formation, the method comprising the steps of:

providing an injection-molding apparatus comprising a single mold base supporting at least one grouping of a plurality of shape-forming configuration sets, each being shaped according to one of a plurality of regions of an article, the single mold base comprising an internal movable part;

forming a first-formed region of the article delivering an injection-molding shot to the respective shape-forming configuration set;

advancing the movable part such that the shape-forming configuration retaining the first-formed article region is paired with the shape-forming configuration shaped for the subsequent intermediate-formed region of the article;

delivering an injection-molding shot which forms the intermediate-formed article region and at least partially over-molds the article region formed in the preceding injection-molding shot;

further advancing the movable part within the single base such that the shape-forming configuration retaining the first-formed and the at least one intermediate-formed article region is paired with the shape-forming configuration corresponding to a subsequent one of the article regions; and

at least partially over-molding the at least one formed intermediate-formed article region with the subsequent one of the article regions by delivering a subsequent injection-molding shot.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein each injection-molding shot is delivered to a corresponding shape-forming configuration pair prior to full cooling of the article region formed in a preceding injection-molding shot.

27. The method of claim 25 wherein the subsequent one of the article regions includes a last-formed article region.

28. The method of claim 25 wherein:

the injection-molding apparatus further comprises at least one grouping of nozzles, each nozzle for delivering an injection-molding shot forming one of the first-formed region, at least one intermediate-formed region and the last-formed region of the article;

the nozzles for forming first-formed and at least one intermediate-formed article regions are each positioned for delivering a corresponding injection-molding shot at a position which is over-molded with at least one of the subsequently-formed article regions; and

the nozzle for forming the last-formed article region is positioned for delivering the corresponding injection-molding shot at a lateral edge of the finished article.

29. The method of claim 25 wherein the step of forming a first-formed region of the article, the step of delivering a subsequent injection-molding shot and the step of at least partially over-molding the at least one intermediate-formed article region are performed simultaneously.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein each injection-molding shot for over-molding at least one formed article region is delivered prior to full cooling of the article region formed in the preceding injection-molding shot.