A shaping machine or a handling apparatus for a shaping machine comprising at least one measuring device for measuring the spacing of two selected points of the shaping machine or the handling apparatus, wherein the at least one measuring device has at least one piezoresistive micromechanical sensor.

A controller of an injection molding machine controls mold clamping of a fixed mold and a movable mold. The controller includes a servomotor drive control unit for limiting increase in driving current during driving of a mold clamping servomotor, and a moving state acquisition unit that acquires a detection signal of an encoder. The controller further includes an abnormality determination processing unit for determining that a clamping force sensor is abnormal when recognizing stoppage of movement of the movable mold during mold clamping, based on the acquired detection signal of the encoder.

Disclosed herein, amongst other things, is a control structure for a molding system (900). The control structure includes a controller (106, 934) and a valve actuator (104) for positioning a valve member (102) of a valve (101) for regulating flow of molding material in the molding system (900), wherein the controller (106, 934) is configured to monitor an operating parameter of the valve actuator (104) for indirectly appreciating an indication of a molding parameter of the molding system (900).

A brake control method for an injection molding machine includes the steps of obtaining mold clamping force information indicating the mold clamping force of a mold opening/closing mechanism and determining whether or not the mold clamping force of the mold opening/closing mechanism exceeds a predetermined value, based on the mold clamping force information. When the mold clamping force of the mold opening/closing mechanism does not exceed the predetermined value and when a servo amplifier cuts off the supply of power to a servomotor that drives the mold opening/closing mechanism, a brake mechanism for applying braking force to the mold opening/closing mechanism is actuated. On the other hand, when the mold clamping force of the mold opening/closing mechanism exceeds the predetermined value, the brake mechanism will not be actuated.

An injection molding machine includes a machine base extending lengthwise along a machine axis. The base has a platen support portion extending along a first axial portion of the base, and an injection unit support portion extending along a second axial portion of the base. The machine further includes a platen supported by the platen support portion for carrying a mold half apparatus. The machine further includes a first injection unit supported by the injection unit support portion for discharging a first melt through the platen into a first mold inlet of the mold half apparatus, and a second injection unit supported by the injection unit support portion for discharging a second melt around the platen into a second mold inlet of the mold half apparatus.

A method for determining positions of a real moulding material front during a process to be carried out with a moulding machine, wherein a simulation progression (SV) of a variable characteristic of the process is calculated, positions of a simulated moulding material front are determined from the simulation, the real process is carried out, and at least one measurement progression (MV) of the at least one characteristic variable is measured directly or indirectly, a transformation is chosen, which has at least one parameter (?V, kp, V.sub.unknown), the transformation is applied to the at least one simulation progression (SV), with the result that a transformed simulation progression (tSV) is formed, and a parameter value is determined for the parameter (?V, kp, V.sub.unknown) such that a deviation between the measurement progression (MV) and the transformed simulation progression (tSV) is minimized according to a predetermined error measure or according to an operator input.

The present invention provides an injection device which is capable of injecting a certain amount of a resin material in each injection process, while suppressing entry of air into a barrel and cost increase due to increase in the number of components. An injection device 1 according to the present invention is provided with: a resin material inlet 13; a drive unit 20 which generates a driving force for injecting a resin material from an injection port 12; a plunger 17 which is provided so as to be movable forward and backward in the axial direction of a barrel 11, and moves backward when the resin material flows into the barrel 11 and injects the resin material filled in the barrel 11 through the injection port 12 by moving forward within the barrel 11; a pusher member 18 which pushes the plunger 17 toward the injection port 12 of the barrel 11; a driving force transmission unit 21 which transmits the driving force generated in the drive unit 20 to the pusher member 18; and a control unit 25 which controls these constituent units so that the inflow of the resin material into the barrel 11 is started and measurement of the resin material is completed when the load received by the drive unit 20 from the pusher member 18 located at a specified position reaches a predetermined value.

An abnormality detection device for detecting an abnormality of a movable part provided in an injection molding machine includes: a through hole formed in the movable part or in an adjacent member arranged adjacent to the movable part; and a microphone installed inside the through hole to collect sound generated by the movement of the movable part.

A technique for providing assistance in setting the time to increase the clamping force is provided. A control device of an injection molding machine includes a clamping control part and a monitoring part. The clamping control part is configured to change, in a filling step of filling the inside of a mold device with a molding material during clamping, a set value of clamping force from a first set value to a second set value that is larger than the first set value, at a predetermined pressurizing timing in the middle of the filling step. The monitoring part is configured to monitor changes in the actual value of the clamping force due to changes in the set value of the clamping force.

A controller of an injection molding machine controls mold clamping of a fixed mold and a movable mold. The controller includes a servomotor drive control unit for limiting increase in driving current during driving of a mold clamping servomotor, and a moving state acquisition unit that acquires a detection signal of an encoder. The controller further includes an abnormality determination processing unit for determining that a clamping force sensor is abnormal when recognizing stoppage of movement of the movable mold during mold clamping, based on the acquired detection signal of the encoder.