Apparatus and method for detecting a position of an actuator piston driving a valve pin in an injection molding system. The apparatus includes an actuator housing having a body portion, surrounding an axial bore, of a substantially non-magnetic and/or magnetically permeable material, a piston, movable within the axial bore for driving a valve pin, the piston including a magnetic member generating a magnetic field such that axial movement of the piston in the bore modifies the magnetic field according to the position of the piston relative to a detection position, and a magnetic field detector attached to an exterior surface of the body portion at the detection position for detecting the magnetic field associated with the position of the piston and generating an output signal determined by the piston position.

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.

A magnet embedded core is manufactured in a stable manner by preventing an excessive pressurizing force from being applied to the laminated iron core and performing the clamping with an appropriate pressurizing force so that the leakage of the resin out of the magnet insertion holes can be minimized, and the reduction in the geometric and dimensional precision of the laminated iron core may be suppressed. An electric die clamping device is used, such that a laminated iron core is placed on one of a fixed die and a moveable die and upon clamping by the die clamping device, the other of the fixed die and the moveable die is caused to abut onto an end surface of the laminated iron core to close openings of magnet insertion holes and pressurize the laminated iron core in a laminating direction.

In the present invention, constructed is a highly reliable system that does not allow unforeseen conditions to occur in the remote diagnosis of a clamp device. All combinations of status of a state detection switch mounted on a clamp device are anticipated in advance by a recursive method, and the states are defined with no omissions. A control unit 9 includes: a main body memory 9c that stores the ON/OFF state of a state switch together with the status of an injection molding machine main body, the clamp status and time information; and a main body communication unit 9d which is capable of short-range wireless communication. A message diagnosing a failure is stored in a smartphone 12 for all combinations of the ON/OFF state of the state detection switch for each of the following cases: whether in mold replacement mode or not; and whether a clamp device is in a clamped state or an unclamped state, or in a state other than the forgoing. The history of the ON/OFF state of the state detection switch with respect to the status of the main body and the clamp status is read from the main body memory 9c by wireless communication, and a corresponding message is displayed.

A method of estimating a normal vector to an attachment mounted to an approach frame of an apparatus for taking out a molded product and a normal vector to a die mounted to a molding machine is provided. A normal vector to a take-out head is estimated through computation using a coordinate/depth determination section and a normal vector computation section on the basis of depth data or coordinate data on three mounting members. Three or more extending portions are specified from the image, the extending portions being each a part of a fixed die or a movable die or a part of a surrounding component and extending in a direction that coincides with the open direction for the dies. A normal vector to the die is estimated through computation on the basis of the depth data or coordinate data on the specified extending portions.

A injection molding method involves measuring, using at least one external sensor, a change in a parameter of a mold side of a mold cavity, approximating a condition within the mold cavity based on the change in the parameter, such as pressure within the mold cavity or flow front position, and comparing the approximated condition to a trigger point. If the approximated condition equals or exceeds the trigger point, activating a virtual cavity sensor having an optimal pre-defined pressure-time curve, and upon activation, the virtual cavity sensor tracks an approximated condition calculated from the change in parameter measurements measured by the at least one external sensor over time. In an embodiment, results of the approximated parameter tracking can be used in conjunction with an optimal pre-defined pressure-time curve.

Disclosed herein are methods and systems for co-extruding multiple polymeric material flow streams into a mold cavity to produce a molded plastic article. At least one interior core stream of a first polymeric material is surrounded by inner and outer streams of at least one other polymeric material. The interior core stream serves as an interior layer of a resultant molded plastic article while the inner and outer streams serve as inner and outer layers, respectively, of the resultant plastic article. The interior core stream is selectively directed to flow into or past a downstream branch channel in a mold cavity. The downstream branch channel branches from a primary channel in the mold cavity at a branch junction. The branch channel defines a protrusion portion of the resultant molded plastic article. The leading edge of the interior core stream is selectively controlled in the branch channel to position the leading edge at or near to the terminal end of the branch channel without having the leading edge of the interior core stream breakthrough a flow-front of the inner and outer streams. The resultant molded plastic article includes an interior layer formed of the first polymeric material that extends into, through and to a distal end of the protrusion while still being encased by inner and outer layers formed from the inner and outer flow streams.

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).

To prevent the creation of unnecessary resin from the resin used for fixing the magnet, a device for manufacturing a magnet embedded core including a magnet embedded in resin filling a magnet insertion hole (104) extending axially in a motor core comprises a resin charging device (80) configured to charge the resin (114) in solid form into the magnet insertion hole (104), a magnet insertion device (90) configured to insert the magnet (110) into the magnet insertion hole (104), and a heating device (70) configured to heat the motor core (101) to melt the resin (114) in solid form received in the magnet insertion hole (104).

A mold clamp control method for an injection molding machine having a toggle-type mold clamping mechanism. The mold clamp control method includes: a low-pressure mold clamping step that performs position hold control by which a crosshead is held in a set holding position in a state where a toggle link has been bent, when injection-filling is started; and a compression-press step that performs speed and position control by which the crosshead is advanced toward a set advancement position from the set holding position in a state where a first output upper limit value has been provided to a driving section. Advancement of the crosshead is continued in at least part of the compression-press step in a state where a generated output of the driving section is maintained at the first output upper limit value.