An injection apparatus includes (a) a barrel; (b) a nozzle at a front end of the barrel; (c) a screw in the barrel; and (d) a drive assembly including: (i) a housing having a front end coupled to the barrel; (ii) a spindle in the housing and fixed to the screw; (iii) a first motor in the housing and having a hollow first rotor through which the spindle passes. The first rotor is coupled to the spindle for driving rotation of the screw about the axis. The drive assembly further includes (iv) a second motor in the housing axially rearward of the first motor. The second motor has a hollow second rotor through which the spindle passes. The second rotor is coupled to the spindle for translating the screw along the axis in response to rotation of the second rotor relative to the spindle.

A method for verifying whether a molding insert (1a, 1b) is accurately mounted to a tooling plate (2a, 2b) comprises the steps of: a) providing a confocal sensor (3a, 3b); b) arranging the confocal sensor (3a, 3b) such that a confocal sensor reference plane (32a, 32b) as well as a tooling plate reference plane (22a, 22b) are normal to a mounting axis (21a, 21b) of the tooling plate and spaced from each other by a predetermined first distance (d1, e1); c) measuring a second distance (d2, e2) between the confocal sensor reference plane (32a, 32b) and a central impingement location (11a, 11b) on a molding surface (12a, 12b) of the molding insert (1a, 1b); d) based on the measured second distance (d2, e2) as well as based on the predetermined first distance (d1, e1), determining a third distance (d3, e3) of the central impingement location (11a, 11b) relative to the tooling plate reference plane (22a, 22b); e) comparing the third distance (d3, e3) with a predetermined target distance, and f) determining that the molding insert (1a, 1b) is accurately mounted to the tooling plate (2a, 2b) if the difference between the third distance (d3, e3) and the predetermined target distance is less than a threshold difference.

A data monitoring system for injection moulds is provided, for collecting and transmitting data produced and collected during injection processes, which includes a monitoring device (13) for monitoring a mould (1), which is provided with an integrated circuit (12), the system being provided with: a computer (17) for storing various signals from respective sensors (8) situated in the mould (1), mould-holder or the machine itself; a memory (16) for saving the data; a communication device (18) for communication the data to external reading means; a housing (11) on the mould for housing the monitoring device; a data module (10) of the mould (1), which has an integrated circuit (4) and is provided with an editable memory (5) for storing historical information concerning the mould; and a communication module (6) for communicating between the integrated circuit and an external computer for editing and reading the information.

A mold clamping device of an injection molding machine includes a mold clamping shaft fixed to a movable platen, a mold clamping ram to press the mold clamping shaft against a fixed platen, a ram position detecting member that detects a position of the mold clamping ram, an encoder detecting a position of the movable platen, a ram position control member that hydraulically controls a position of the mold clamping ram, a storage unit storing a difference value of mold closing positions of the movable platen before and after mold replacement, and a control unit. The control unit calculates the difference value when mold thickness adjustment is performed, calculates a movement position of the mold clamping ram based on a current position of the mold clamping ram and the difference value, moves the mold clamping ram to the movement position, and stops the mold clamping ram to perform mold clamping.

The invention relates to a system for monitoring the position of the closing unit of an injection-molding machine, by bypassing a light curtain that serves to secure the closing unit and the tool area of the injection-molding machine, wherein the injection-molding machine has at least one molding tool that consists of at least two parts, which tool encloses at least one mold cavity, wherein the injection-molding machine has a programmable logic controller (PLC) for controlling the movement monitoring module (MOC) for indirect position monitoring of the closing unit and of the position of the molding tool parts relative to one another, wherein distance measuring sticks are provided as sensors, the signals of which are processed in the PLC via the MOC, wherein the tool parts must maintain a spacing gap, relative to one another, after the closing pressure has been built up and the mold has been filled, during the subsequent bumping step, which gap has a specific maximal value assigned to it, with the injection-molding machine shutting off if this value is exceeded.

A molding system for encapsulating electronic devices mounted on a substrate, the molding system comprising a first mold chase with a first mold chase surface and a second mold chase with a second mold chase surface opposite to the first mold chase surface, the first and second mold chase surfaces being operative to clamp onto the substrate and to apply a clamping pressure thereto. The molding system further comprises a first sensor located at a first position for determining a first relative distance between the substrate and a mold chase facing the substrate at the first position, and a second sensor located at a second position for determining a second relative distance between the substrate and a mold chase facing the substrate at the second position. The molding system also comprises a first actuator located adjacent to the first position and a second actuator located adjacent to the second position, wherein the first and second actuators are operative to adjust the first relative distance with respect to the second relative distance for applying a uniform clamping pressure onto the substrate.

When an injection molding machine performs molding, the mold clamping force on the mold is adjusted on the basis of a mold displacement of the mold or the injection peak pressure and injection foremost position so that the molding is performed without causing flash and by an appropriate mold clamping force with which energy can be reduced. The amount of mold displacement and also the injection peak pressure and the injection foremost position are monitored during automatic operation. If there occurs no mold displacement change exceeding a threshold or if there occurs no injection peak pressure anomaly or injection foremost position anomaly exceeding thresholds, the automatic operation is continued. If the mold displacement change occurs or if the injection peak pressure anomaly and the injection foremost position anomaly occur, the operation of the injection molding machine is stopped.

According to one embodiment, a substrate processing device includes a stage configured to mount a substrate, a mold having a first surface facing an upper surface of an outer peripheral edge of the substrate and a second surface facing a side surface of an outer peripheral continuous with the upper surface of the outer peripheral edge, a mold moving mechanism configured to move the mold to bring the first surface close to the upper surface of the outer peripheral edge of the substrate and the second surface close to the side surface of the outer peripheral of the substrate, and a nozzle arranged in the mold, wherein the nozzle ejects resist.

An abnormality detection device includes a servo CPU; a physical quantity detection unit which detects a physical quantity such as a load applied on a servo motor which operates a movable part included in an injection molding machine. The abnormality detection device further includes a first storage unit directly readable/writable by the servo CPU; and a second storage unit not directly readable/writable by the servo CPU. A reference physical quantity is stored in the first and second storage units. The servo CPU outputs an instruction for stopping or decelerating the movable part in response to a first physical quantity deviation, which is a deviation between a reference physical quantity read from the first storage unit and a current physical quantity, or a second physical quantity deviation, which is a deviation between a reference physical quantity read from the second storage unit and a current physical quantity, exceeds a threshold value.

To provide a new foam molding method and injection molding machine capable of solving variation in a wall thickness and a foamed state, sensor corrosion, a complexity of sensor positioning, and the like. The above-described problem is solved by a foam molding method comprising a resin filling step of filling a mold (2), clamped by a predetermined mold clamping force (Pc), with a resin (R) at a predetermined molding injection pressure (Pi), a filling stopping step of stopping the filling of the resin (R) when, while monitoring a mold gap (Lm) of the mold (2) during the filling, a predetermined mold gap value set in advance is reached, a surface layer curing and filled resin cooling step of curing a surface layer of the resin (R) for a certain time and cooling the filled resin (R) for a certain time after the filling of the resin (R) is stopped, a volume controlling step of controlling a volume increase by reducing the mold clamping force after curing the surface layer of the resin (R) for a certain time, and a taking out step of taking out a foam-molded product by opening the mold (2) after the volume control is performed and after cooling the filled resin (R) for a certain time.