Disclosed herein, amongst other things is a component of a molding system (e.g. mold component, post-mold component, etc.) having a heat dissipater that is configured to impart a profiled heat removal rate on a selected portion of a molded article that generally matches a heat distribution therein.

A cooling plate assembly for an injection molding machine includes a cooling plate and a cooling fluid conduit system in the cooling plate. The cooling fluid conduit system includes a cooling fluid line extending between a cooling fluid inlet and a cooling fluid outlet. A socket is open to a front face of the cooling plate and intersects the first cooling fluid line. A cooling tube is mounted to the cooling plate, and includes a molded-article-receiving nest for receiving and cooling an injection molded article, a spigot received in the socket and blocking the first cooling fluid line, and a cooling tube conduit adjacent the molded-article-receiving nest. The cooling tube conduit extends between a cooling tube fluid inlet connected to the first cooling fluid line upstream of the socket, and a cooling tube fluid outlet connected to the first cooling fluid line downstream of the socket.

Preforms with a neck region and a preform body and having an enlarged geometry in comparison with the cavity of the injection mold are produced by injecting a polymer melt into the mold with a geometry of the cavity in the mold such that the radial extent of an inner space in the preform body thereby produced is not greater than the radial extent of the inner space in the neck region, the preforms are removed from the open mold by a removal gripper, and the preforms in the removal gripper are inflated using positive pressure such that the geometry of the inflated preform body is larger than the cavity in the injection mold.

The present invention relates to an injection mold plate for use in an injection mold for producing molded articles, comprising a plurality of handling elements arranged in columns and rows, wherein the distance r between adjacent handling elements within the rows is greater than the distance s between adjacent handling elements within the columns. According to the invention, in order to provide an injection mold plate of the type mentioned above for which the distance between adjacent handling elements can be reduced without impairing the generally required heating channel, it is proposed that a row of handling elements is formed by two groups of handling elements, wherein the following applies to the distance z between the group: z=r(1+a/n), wherein r is the distance of the handling elements within a group and n, a IN with n>1.

A post mold cooling system for cooling preforms is disclosed. The post mold cooling system includes a take-out device that is configured to remove preforms from a molding area and deliver them to a post mold cooling area, and a cooling station that is configured to cool the preforms. A first transfer device is configured to transfer the preforms between the take-out device and the cooling station, and a second transfer device is configured to transfer the preforms away from the cooling station.

Disclosed herein, amongst other things, is a post-mold system (100, 200, 300, 400, 500) for conditioning a molded article (130). The post-mold system comprises a retrieval device (110, 210, 310, 410, 510) having a receptacle (112, 212, 312, 412, 512) that is configured to retrieve the molded article (130) from a mold (132) and a conditioning device (120, 320, 420, 520). The receptacle (112, 212, 312, 412, 512) is configured to be selectively transferable between the retrieval device (110, 210, 310, 410, 510) and the conditioning device (120, 320, 420, 520). The conditioning device (120, 320, 420, 520) includes a first thermal regulator (140, 240, 440) that is configured to thermally regulate the receptacle (112, 212, 312, 412, 512) when connected thereto.

The present invention concerns a system for the further treatment of hollow body preforms produced by injection molding, comprising i) a receiving plate having at least one receiving cavity for receiving a preform, ii) a post-treatment system which has a) a post-treatment plate, b) at least one impression pin provided for changing the internal contour of the profile by either coming into contact with the inside of the preform during the post-treatment or closing the preform and acting on the inside space with a fluid under pressure, whereby the preform is inflated, and c) at least one post-treatment element which is provided for passing into the interior of a preform received in the receiving cavity or coming into contact with the preform, and iii) a movement device with which the receiving plate can be reciprocated relative to the post-treatment plate between a first position in which the impression pin is positioned within the receiving cavity, a second position in which the post-treatment element is positioned within the receiving cavity or comes into contact with a preform received therein, and a third position in which neither the impression pin nor the post-treatment element is positioned within the receiving cavity or comes into contact with a preform received therein.

Disclosed herein, amongst other things is a component of a molding system (e.g. mold component, post-mold component, etc.) having a heat dissipater that is configured to impart a profiled heat removal rate on a selected portion of a molded article that generally matches a heat distribution therein.

A cooling plate assembly includes (a) a cooling plate having a plate front surface; (b) an air channel extending within a thickness of the cooling plate; (c) a plate bore extending into the cooling plate from the plate front surface for providing fluid communication between the air channel and a cavity of a cooling tube mountable to the cooling plate; and (d) a valve within the plate bore. The valve is movable between a first position in which a first air flow passage extending within the plate bore is open for conducting air from the cavity to the air channel, and a second position in which the first air flow passage is obstructed to reduce air flow between the cavity and the air channel, and in which a second air flow passage extending within the plate bore is open for conducting air from the air channel to the cavity.

Disclosed herein, amongst other things is a component (100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000) of a molding system (402) (e.g. mold component, post-mold component, etc.) having a heat dissipater (130, 230, 330, 430, 530, 630, 730, 830, 930, 1030) that is configured to impart a profiled heat removal rate on a selected portion of a molded article (120, 220, 320, 420) that generally matches a heat distribution therein.