An injection molding apparatus comprising a manifold, an actuator having a piston that divides an enclosed actuator housing into upstream and downstream actuator drive chambers, the piston having an internal piston chamber and a piston bore that communicates flow of the drive fluid between one of the upstream or downstream actuator drive chambers and the internal piston chamber, a flow rate controller adapted to enable flow of drive fluid between one of the upstream or downstream actuator drive chambers and a source of drive fluid at a first low rate of flow over a selected first portion of the stroke length of the piston and at a second high rate of flow over a selected second portion of the stroke length of the piston.

A method of monitoring and controlling a sequential valve gate molding 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 first valve gate from a first strain gauge, identifying whether a deviation exists from a first portion of the target strain profile based on the output from the first strain gauge, determining whether any existing deviation exceeds the deviation limit, and adjusting the position of a first valve gate pin in the first valve gate if it does. The method may further include control of subsequent valve gates. Multiple strain gauges may be used to control a single valve gate, and/or each strain gauge may control more than one valve gate.

An injection molding apparatus comprising an injection molding machine, a manifold, a closure valve pin, a first actuator having a linear or axial driver, a second actuator comprising a rotor interconnected to either the closure valve pin or to a second valve pin such that either the closure valve pin or the second valve pin is rotatably driven in unison with the rotor around the rotation axis, the closure pin or second pin being disposed and rotatable within the flow of injection fluid flowing through a flow channel leading to a mold cavity.

A method of performing an injection cycle having a duration comprising: beginning the injection cycle with the valve pins associated with two or more nozzles in a gate closed position, selecting a first one of the two or more nozzles and controllably driving its associated valve pin from the gate closed position to a selected first axial upstream position, upon downstream flow of the injection fluid through a cavity the preselected distance, controllably driving the valve pin associated with the other of the two or more nozzles to a selected second axial position upstream, holding or controllably driving the valve pin associated with the first one of the two or more nozzles in or to one or more reduced flow axial upstream positions that are partially closed.

Apparatus and methods for storage and transmission of recipe data (process parameters) for the molding of articles in an injection molding apparatus. A controller includes a flow control microcontroller (MCU) that receives recipe data from a recipe storage microcontroller (MCU) mounted to a mold of an injection molding machine, the recipe storage MCU storing the recipe data defining process parameters for the molding of articles in the mold. The flow control MCU executes instructions for controlling valve pin motions according to the recipe data. In one embodiment, a human operator interface is provided for transmitting data to and/or from at least one of the recipe storage and flow control MCU's, allowing the operator to monitor, modify and/or control the process parameters during a molding cycle and/or to create a modified or new recipe for subsequent storage on the recipe storage MCU.

A method and apparatus for the sequential injection moulding of plastic material into the mould cavity or by using a plurality of controlled open-close injectors, wherein the sequentially injected plastic material originates in mould flow fronts in different directions whose collision generates at least one weld line on the moulded article. The sequential injection is actuated with specific modes according to which the opening of the at least one of said injectors is anticipated or delayed with respect to other injectors and/or at least one of the injectors is closed partly and/or at least one of the injectors is gradually opened only partly. Such specific modes are managed to control and define the shape and/or the position of the weld line on the moulded article.

An injection molding apparatus comprising an injection molding machine, a manifold, a closure valve pin, a first actuator having a linear or axial driver, a second actuator comprising a rotor interconnected to either the closure valve pin or to a second valve pin such that either the closure valve pin or the second valve pin is rotatably driven in unison with the rotor around the rotation axis, the closure pin or second pin being disposed and rotatable within the flow of injection fluid flowing through a flow channel leading to a mold cavity.

An apparatus for controlling the rate of flow of a fluid mold material comprising: a manifold, an actuator interconnected to a valve pin, a position sensor that senses position of the valve pin, a controller that controls movement of the actuator according to instructions that instruct the actuator to drive the valve pin upstream at one or more selected intermediate velocities in response to receipt by the controller of a signal from the position sensor that the valve pin is disposed in the one or more intermediate upstream gate open positions.

An apparatus for controlling the rate of flow of a fluid mold material comprising: a manifold, an actuator interconnected to a valve pin, a position sensor that senses position of the valve pin, a controller that controls movement of the actuator according to instructions that instruct the actuator to drive the valve pin upstream at one or more selected intermediate velocities in response to receipt by the controller of a signal from the position sensor that the valve pin is disposed in the one or more intermediate upstream gate open positions.

An apparatus for controlling the rate of flow of mold material to a mold cavity, the apparatus comprising: an injection molding machine and a manifold; an actuator interconnected to a valve pin having a tip end; a valve system in fluid communication with the actuator to drive the actuator at one or more rates of travel, the valve system having a start position, one or more intermediate drive rate positions and a high drive rate position, the start position holding the valve pin in a gate closed position; a controller that instructs the valve system to move from the start position to the one or more intermediate drive rate positions and to remain in the one or more intermediate drive rate positions for one or more corresponding predetermined amounts of time.