A method of monitoring and controlling a molding clamping apparatus in an injection molding or other molding process is disclosed. The method includes creating a target strain profile, receiving a deviation limit, receiving a change in strain relating to a mold while it is closing from a first strain gauge, identifying a deviation from a target strain profile based on the output from the first strain gauge, determining that the deviation exceeds the deviation limit, and adjusting the rate or force of clamp movement. The target strain profile may have a first portion relating to a clamp closing process, a second portion relating to a filling process, and a third portion relating to a clamp opening process. The first portion relating to the clamp closing process may include an intermediate portion relating to a coining process having an intermediate clamp force setpoint.

The invention describes a method of determining a number of process parameter values within an injection mould (1F) during an injection moulding process, which method comprises the steps of determining geometric data of the injection mould (1F) and/or of a form part (1, 1′, 1″) to be manufactured, determining a virtual part-specific pressure curve (p.sub.S) of an injection moulding process, determining a part-specific event pattern (M.sub.S) on the basis of the virtual part-specific pressure curve (p.sub.S), carrying out an injection moulding process using the injection mould (1F) and determining a measured pressure curve (p.sub.m) during the injection moulding process and determining a measurement event pattern (M.sub.m) on the basis of the measured pressure curve (p.sub.m). Process parameter values are derived on the basis of the virtual event pattern and the measurement event pattern. The invention further describes a corresponding process parameter value determining apparatus and an injection mould arrangement.

A method of monitoring and controlling a molding clamping apparatus in an injection molding or other molding process is disclosed. The method includes creating a target strain profile, receiving a deviation limit, receiving a change in strain relating to a mold while it is closing from a first strain gauge, identifying a deviation from a target strain profile based on the output from the first strain gauge, determining that the deviation exceeds the deviation limit, and adjusting the rate or force of clamp movement. The target strain profile may have a first portion relating to a clamp closing process, a second portion relating to a filling process, and a third portion relating to a clamp opening process. The first portion relating to the clamp closing process may include an intermediate portion relating to a coining process having an intermediate clamp force setpoint.

A method for carrying out a cyclical manufacturing process produces parts within a predefined quality tolerance. After at least one process adjustment variable is changed, a quality feature of the parts produced with a changed process adjustment variable is checked against the range of the quality tolerance of the produced parts. A process characteristic variable zone is formed in an automated manner using at least one determined process characteristic variable variant that is process-stable and for which the process adjustment variable produces acceptable parts.

A mold release lubricant application equipment 4 comprises application portions 30A,30B for applying a mold release lubricant to glass bottle forming molds 10, 18, and an application control portion 31 for operating the application portions 30A,30B. Molds 10,18 are arranged independently along a predetermined arrangement direction A1. A plurality of sections 5 comprising molds 10, 18 are formed along the arrangement direction A1. The application portions 30A, 30B comprise lubricant application parts 38A, 38B for applying the mold release lubricant, a transport mechanisms 33A, 33B for moving the lubricant application parts 38A,38B among the plurality of the sections along the arrangement direction A1, and sensors 42A, 42B. The application control portion 31 detects abnormalities with the sensors 42A, 42B on a plurality of sections 5

A method for the automatic process monitoring and/or process diagnosis of a piece-based process, in particular a production process, in particular an injection-molding process, including the steps: a) performing an automated reference finding in order to obtain reference values (r.sub.1 . . . r.sub.n) from values (x.sub.0 . . . x.sub.j) of at least one process variable; b) performing an anomaly detection on the basis of the reference values (r.sub.1 . . . r.sub.n) found in step (a); c) performing an automated cause analysis and/or an automated fault diagnosis on the basis of a qualitative model of process relationships and/or on the basis of dependencies of various process variables on each other.

A method for controlling and/or monitoring a production plant for producing a multiplicity of articles, wherein the production plant has a machine tool; a machine tool part which interacts with the machine tool in order to produce an article; an RFID transponder connected to the machine tool part; two RFID reading devices which are arranged at a distance from one another and from the machine tool; and a control device which is connected to the RFID reading devices via data lines. The method includes determining a first location of the machine tool part at a first time with the first RFID reading device and/or with the second RFID reading device; and determining a second location of the machine tool part at a second time, which temporally follows the first time, with the first RFID reading device and/or with the second RFID reading device; and outputting at least one control signal with the control device on the basis of the first location and the second location.

An injection molding apparatus and method of fabricating a molded part are provided. The apparatus may include a barrel, a nozzle enclosing an end of the barrel and defining an opening in fluid communication with an inside of the barrel, and an extrusion screw positioned at least partially inside the barrel and rotatable relative to the barrel. The extrusion screw may include a screw tip. Relative axial movement between the barrel and the extrusion screw may open or close the opening of the nozzle to permit or prevent, respectively, material flow through the opening of the nozzle. The method may include clamping a mold, opening a nozzle, rotating the extrusion screw to pump a molten material into the mold until the mold is filled, closing the nozzle, and unclamping the mold to release a molded part.

An information processing apparatus includes a provision unit configured to provide a screen via which a plurality of condition items indicating features of a three-dimensional object can be specified, a reception unit configured to receive, via the screen, a specification of a condition item indicating an feature of an object desired to be molded by a user, and a determination unit configured to determine settings to be used for molding of the object desired to be molded by the user, based on the received specification of the condition item, wherein the settings to be used for the molding determined by the determination unit include molding settings for molding specified with respect to a molding apparatus.

A remote controller can be provided on any apparatus that employs feedback control from a native controller to add functionality to the apparatus where the native controller is not capable of providing such functionality independently.