An apparatus for controlling the rate of flow of fluid mold material comprising: a manifold, a valve pin having a pin axis, a pin connector and a stem, the valve pin being drivable into and out of open and closed positions relative to the gate, an electric actuator comprising an electric motor comprised of a motor housing that houses a drive shaft having a drive gear and a drive axis, a transmission comprised of a transmission gear having a gear axis, the drive gear, the transmission gear and the valve pin being drivably interconnected and arranged such that the drive axis and the gear axis are non-coaxially mounted or disposed relative to each other and the valve pin is drivable linearly along the pin axis, wherein one or the other of the motor housing or the transmission housing are removably attached to a top clamping or mounting plate that is mounted upstream of the manifold and fixedly interconnected to a mold.

Upper and lower temperature control plates of upper and temperature control plate members are attacked so as to interpose a manifold body of a manifold therebetween. Upper and lower oil flow circuits provided in the respective upper and lower temperature control plates control the temperature of the manifold body heated by a plurality of coil heaters to a temperature suitable for preventing carbonization of a molten resin flowing in a flow-dividing type flow path of the manifold body.

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.

An apparatus for controlling the rate of flow of fluid mold material comprising: a manifold, a valve pin having a pin axis, a pin connector and a stem, the valve pin being drivable into and out of open and closed positions relative to the gate, an electric actuator comprising an electric motor comprised of a motor housing that houses a drive shaft having a drive gear and a drive axis, a transmission comprised of a transmission gear having a gear axis, the drive gear, the transmission gear and the valve pin being drivably interconnected and arranged such that the drive axis and the gear axis are non-coaxially mounted or disposed relative to each other and the valve pin is drivable linearly along the pin axis, wherein one or the other of the motor housing or the transmission housing are removably attached to a top clamping or mounting plate that is mounted upstream of the manifold and fixedly interconnected to a mold.

An injection molding apparatus (10) comprising an actuator (940, 941, 942) comprised of a driver (940dr, 941dr, 942dr) receiving electrical energy or power from an electrical drive (940d, 941d, 942d), the electrical drive (940d, 941d, 942d) comprising an interface that receives and controllably distributes electrical energy or power in controllably varied amounts during the course of an injection cycle to the driver (940dr, 941dr, 942dr), the electrical drive (940d, 941d, 942d) being housed within or by an actuator housing (940h, 941h, 942h) or being mounted on or to the housing (940h, 941h, 942h), the housing (940h, 941h, 942h) and the electrical drive (940d, 941d, 942d) being mounted on, to or in close proximity to the heated manifold (40), a cooling device (940mc, 940mc1, 940mc2, 941mc, 942mc) disposed between the heated manifold (40) and the housing (940h, 941h, 942h) adapted to substantially isolate or insulate at least the electrical drive (940d, 941d, 942d) from substantial communication with heat emanating or emitted from the heated manifold (40).

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.

An actuator assembly comprising a piston interconnected to a valve pin, the piston being driven by drive fluid controlled by a restriction valve, a pressure sensor adapted to sense pressure of the drive fluid disposed within an upstream drive chamber or within an upstream drive fluid channel connecting the drive chamber and the restriction valve, the pressure sensor sending and a controller receiving a signal indicative of the sensed pressure, the controller operating to execute a display of a visually recognizable format corresponding to the sensed pressure or an algorithm to control movement of the piston.

An injection molding apparatus comprising: An actuator having a driver receiving electrical energy or power from an electrical drive, the electrical drive comprising an interface, the electrical drive being housed within or by and actuator housing or being mounted on or to the housing, the housing and the electrical drive being mounted on, to or in close proximity to the heated manifold, a cooling device disposed between the heated manifold and the housing adapted to substantially isolate or insulate at least the electrical drive from communication with heat emanating from the heated manifold or to heat sink or absorb heat communicated or communicable to the electrical drive from the heated manifold or both.

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.