An integrated injection molding method

Abstract

The application discloses an integrated injection molding method, steps comprising S1 receiving an injection molding request; S2 establishing and manufacturing a mold according to geometric reasoning; S3 injecting an injection molding part in the mold and importing mold data into a mold library, completing the integrated injection molding process. The injection molding system is used to realize the injection molding process, including receiving the injection molding request, manufacturing the mold, generating the injection molding part, and inputting the mold data, so that the whole injection molding process is completed, the speed of manufacturing the injection molding part and the precision of the injection molding part itself are improved, and the working efficiency of the injection molding and the quality of the injection molding part are improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of injection molding, and more particularly to an integrated injection molding method. Background Technology

[0002] Data shows that the widespread use of plastic products has led to increasing demands on injection molding equipment. Injection molding equipment requires higher levels of intelligence and fewer movements to shorten molding cycles and improve efficiency. However, existing injection molding methods cannot intelligently cover the entire process, typically requiring real-time monitoring and control by technicians. Furthermore, they cannot predict potential failures, resulting in low accuracy and low success rates in injection molding.

[0003] Chinese patent document CN115782105A discloses "a method, system, computer equipment and storage medium for injection molding production management". The target injection molding equipment is tested according to a pre-set equipment testing plan, and first operating data corresponding to the target injection molding equipment is collected during the equipment testing process. The first operating data includes a temperature data set and a set of equipment parameters. The set of equipment parameters is feature-classified to obtain multiple equipment evaluation indicators, and a first testing curve is constructed based on these indicators. Data mapping and matching are performed on the multiple equipment evaluation indicators based on the temperature data set to obtain temperature data corresponding to each equipment evaluation indicator, and a second testing curve is constructed based on the temperature data corresponding to each equipment evaluation indicator. The difference between the first and second testing curves is calculated to obtain a curve difference set, and a target testing curve is generated based on the curve difference set. The target testing curve is input into a pre-set operation simulation prediction model for operation state simulation calculation to obtain second operating data, and the corresponding injection molding equipment operating state is determined based on the second operating data. Based on the injection molding equipment operating state, equipment operation fault prediction is performed on the target injection molding equipment to obtain equipment operation fault prediction results, and the equipment operation fault prediction results are transmitted to a pre-set visualization terminal. However, this method cannot completely cover the entire injection molding process, and the injection molding accuracy and efficiency are relatively low. Summary of the Invention

[0004] This invention primarily addresses the technical problems of low efficiency and insufficient precision in the original injection molding process, and provides an integrated injection molding method.

[0005] The above-mentioned technical problems of the present invention are mainly solved by the following technical solutions: The present invention includes S1 receives the injection molding request; S2 establishes and manufactures the mold based on geometric reasoning; S3 generates injection molded parts through injection molding inside the mold and imports the mold data into the mold library, completing the integrated injection molding process.

[0006] Existing injection molding processes typically break down the process, with the receipt and confirmation of injection orders, mold making, and part production occurring at different work sites. Even after a part request is completed, the required mold data is not centrally recorded in a database. If similar parts are needed later, workers must redesign the mold dimensions and reprocess them, significantly impacting efficiency. Furthermore, because different processes occur at different work sites, data discrepancies after mold completion, mold damage during transport, or damage during part production all require significant time for mold transfer from different work sites to the part production site, drastically extending processing time. This patent unifies the entire injection molding process within a single system. The system controls each injection step and uses geometric reasoning to create a more detailed 3D model of the mold, improving mold precision and resulting in high-quality parts. The unified management of the entire process by the injection molding system ensures optimal process flow, improving overall efficiency. When injection molding is complete, the system records the data of each mold, so that when similar injection molded parts are needed in the future, the staff can operate the system to obtain the drawings that meet the requirements more quickly, which further speeds up the injection molding efficiency.

[0007] Preferably, in step S2, after the injection molding system confirms the injection request, the system materializes the characteristic structure of the mold to be manufactured, identifies the parting line of the injection molded part based on the structural features, generates a mold prototype by combining the type of parting line and geometric reasoning technology, and finally uses Boolean operations between mold volume blocks to complete the generation of the mold model. The system creates a mold prototype by adding parting lines based on the characteristic structure of the mold. After the mold prototype is established, Boolean operations between mold volume blocks can more precisely outline the convex surfaces, internal cavities, and irregular curved surfaces on the mold, further improving the mold's accuracy.

[0008] Preferably, in step S2, the geometric reasoning includes a geometric reasoning part and a rule-based reasoning part. The formula for the geometric reasoning is: : (N) (1) : (E) (2) Equation (1) represents the geometric reasoning part, and equation (2) represents the rule-based reasoning part, where F is the design feature. It is a feature recognition operator, T is the geometric topology, and U is the design scheme. and E is the inference operator, E is the result of rule-based inference, and P is the completed design model. It is the driving operator of CAD, which will and Through formula ⊕ After merging, you will get ( ( (T)), that is, to obtain the final mold model. Several reasoning steps mainly include the following steps: First, extract the parting line design features from the plastic part CAD model through parting line recognition technology, and infer the volume block design scheme according to the different types of parting lines to complete the geometric reasoning; then, connect the volume block design scheme with the input of the rule reasoning system to form a numerical rule set; finally, in the corresponding mold drawing and development system, encapsulate the geometric information extracted by rule reasoning and feature recognition and the corresponding styling design together to form the required model.

[0009] Preferably, in step S2, the system determines the shape characteristics of the mold by identifying the parting lines of the injection molded part. The system divides the mold parting lines into inner parting lines and outer parting lines. The outer parting line determines the shape characteristics of the outer surface of the mold model, while the inner parting line constitutes the shape characteristics of the inner cavity surface of the mold. The inner and outer parting lines are combined to form the basic shape of the mold. The parting lines of a plastic part refer to the edges that designers manually identify and determine on the plastic part model based on the three-dimensional model of the plastic part and their own mold design experience during mold cavity structure design. The parting surfaces formed by the parting lines divide the mold into a punch and a die. Mold parting lines are divided into inner and outer parting lines according to their location. Inner parting lines are caused by various through-hole structures within the plastic part. If there are no through-hole structures inside the plastic part, there are no inner parting lines. Compared to the uncertainty of the existence of inner parting lines, outer parting lines are certain to exist.

[0010] Preferably, in step S3, after injection molding is completed in the mold model, the system identifies the mold shape and, based on the shape and thickness of different positions on the mold, uses an ejector pin positioning algorithm to retrieve the ejector pins on the inner wall of the mold to eject the injection molded part from the mold, thus achieving demolding. Injection molded products typically have relatively smooth outer surfaces and complex inner surfaces. The outer surface is formed by the concave mold, while the inner surface is formed by the convex mold. Therefore, the shape of the inner surface of the plastic part will be copied onto the convex mold, and the rib-like thin convex structures on the inner surface of the plastic part will form corresponding narrow groove features on the convex mold. During injection molding, the molten plastic will fill these thin, long, narrow, and deep recesses. After cooling and solidification, the plastic is tightly stuck in them, creating significant demolding resistance and making it difficult for the plastic part to be ejected from the convex mold. To avoid this situation, in actual engineering, flat ejector pin structures are often designed at the bottom of these narrow groove areas. Ejector pin placement refers to the process of arranging ejector pins in difficult-to-demold locations within a mold, such as the bottom of narrow grooves. Mold designers typically determine the specifications and placement of ejector pins based on the specific structure of the product and their own mold design experience. According to the ejector pin placement requirements, ejector pins need to be arranged in narrow grooves, their specifications determined by the width of the groove, and their spacing determined by the length of the groove. Based on this, this patent proposes an automatic narrow groove feature recognition algorithm. This algorithm first identifies all possible faces constituting narrow grooves in the solid model of the punch; then, based on the angle between the normal and draft direction of each face, unsuitable faces are further filtered out; finally, the distance between the projection curves of the faces on a specified plane is compared with the maximum width W and minimum depth H of the narrow groove to determine whether it is a narrow groove feature. By identifying the narrow groove, the system arranges the corresponding ejector pins to eject the injection molded part from the mold, ensuring the part retains the highest possible integrity upon ejection.

[0011] Preferably, the integrated injection molding method uses asynchronous communication to process tasks. The system builds a distributed task queue, which receives real-time tasks and pending status during the entire system operation, and processes injection requests that are passed in at regular intervals. Based on the time consumption of the tasks, the tasks are synchronously arranged to enter the event queue for event processing, and tasks from all parts of the system are processed synchronously and the event processing order is arranged.

[0012] Common communication mechanisms include synchronous and asynchronous mechanisms. Synchronous mechanisms require a user to wait for a server response after submitting a request. Subsequent operations only proceed after the server provides a response. To ensure the other party can quickly respond after one party's action, both parties in a synchronous communication mechanism must remain active regardless of the response time. Asynchronous communication, on the other hand, allows a user to submit a request without waiting for a response. While the receiver processes the submitted request, the user can execute other request processes. The receiver then provides feedback after processing the user's request. Both synchronous and asynchronous mechanisms utilize event queues during request processing. In synchronous communication, requests are directly added to the event queue; in asynchronous communication, requests are added to an asynchronous queue, which waits for a certain period before being added to the event queue. Therefore, asynchronous communication allows for the orderly processing of large numbers of requests at once. Conversely, a large backlog of requests in a synchronous event queue can easily cause communication congestion, preventing the system from processing requests properly.

[0013] Preferably, in step S3, after the injection molding of the part is completed, the system stores the mold data information and generates the mold based on the size of the mold model parts and the positional relationship between different parts, and centrally records different molds into the database. Before manufacturing the injection molded part, different mold models need to be made according to different technical requirements. For the mold model, the basic structure of the injection mold model consists of several templates, screws, guide pillars, etc. Among them, template parts include the main key dimensions such as length, width, height, and loading point coordinates. At the same time, the injection mold model also needs to include the main key dimensions of other mold parts such as screws and guide pillars. These dimensions include diameter, length, loading point coordinates, and related array parameters. In different forms, models, and specifications of mold base libraries, there are mold base structures with the same shape but different size series. By parameterizing the key dimensions of each part constituting the injection mold base model and defining them as feature variables, a mold base model of a specified size can be generated by assigning specific parameter values ​​to these feature variables.

[0014] Preferably, in step S1, after the injection molding system receives an external injection request, the equipment management module within the system starts all the equipment within the system. The production monitoring module monitors the operating status of each device after startup. The system then uses the system management module to call the equipment to complete the injection molding process according to the requirements of the injection molding process. All injection molding processes are centralized within a single system, resulting in a simple user interface and stable user experience and interactivity. The production monitoring function utilizes advanced front-end components and tags, making the business logic layer code more concise, clear, and easy to maintain, thus accelerating the development speed of the injection molding machine system. After the corresponding mold is established, the system automatically simulates and tests the actual effect of the mold. Only after the mold data flows through the entire injection molding system and meets the design requirements of each part will the system use the mold model for manufacturing. This improves the management efficiency and information flow speed of the injection molding site, ensuring the normal operation of each functional module.

[0015] The beneficial effects of this invention are: by using an injection molding system to realize the injection molding process, including receiving injection requests, mold making, generating injection molded parts, and entering mold data, the entire injection molding process is completed, which improves the speed of injection molding production and the precision of the injection molded parts themselves, thereby improving the efficiency of injection molding and the quality of injection molded parts. Attached Figure Description

[0016] Figure 1 This is a flowchart of an integrated injection molding method according to the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0017] The technical solution of the present invention will be further described in detail below through embodiments and in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0018] Example: The integrated injection molding method of this example, such as Figure 1 As shown, including S1 receives the injection molding request; S2 establishes and manufactures the mold based on geometric reasoning; S3 generates injection molded parts through injection molding inside the mold and imports the mold data into the mold library, completing the integrated injection molding process.

[0019] In step S1, when the injection molding system receives an external injection request, the equipment management module in the injection molding system starts all the equipment in the system. After the equipment is started, the production monitoring module monitors the operating status of each piece of equipment. The system calls the equipment through the system management module to complete the injection molding step according to the needs of the injection molding process.

[0020] In step S2, after the injection molding system confirms the injection request, it solidifies the characteristic structure of the mold to be manufactured, identifies the parting line of the injection molded part based on the structural features, generates a mold prototype by combining the type of parting line and geometric reasoning technology, and finally uses Boolean operations between mold volume blocks to complete the generation of the mold model. Geometric reasoning includes a geometric reasoning part and a rule-based reasoning part. The formula for geometric reasoning is: : (N) (1) : (E) (2) Equation (1) represents the geometric reasoning part, and equation (2) represents the rule-based reasoning part, where F is the design feature. It is a feature recognition operator, T is the geometric topology, and U is the design scheme. and E is the inference operator, E is the result of rule-based inference, and P is the completed design model. It is the driving operator of CAD, which will and Through formula ⊕ After merging, you will get ( ( (T)), that is, obtaining the final mold model. Preferably, in step S2, the system determines the shape features of the mold by identifying the parting line of the injection molded part. The system divides the mold parting line into an inner parting line and an outer parting line. The outer parting line determines the shape features of the outer surface of the mold model, and the inner parting line constitutes the shape features of the inner cavity surface of the mold. The inner and outer parting lines are combined to form the prototype of the mold. In step S3, after injection molding is completed in the mold model, the system identifies the mold shape and, based on the shape and thickness of different positions of the mold, the system uses the ejector pins on the inner wall of the mold to eject the injection molded part from the mold to achieve demolding. After the injection molded part is completed, the system stores the mold data information and generates the mold according to the size of the mold model parts and the positional relationship between different parts, and centrally records different molds into the database. The entire integrated injection molding method uses asynchronous communication to process tasks. The system builds a distributed task queue, which receives real-time tasks and pending status during the entire system operation, and processes injection requests that are passed in periodically. Based on the task's duration, tasks are synchronously arranged to enter the event queue for event processing, and tasks from various parts of the system are processed synchronously and the event processing order is arranged.

[0021] In recent years, with the development of related technologies in the injection molding field, the design time for injection molds has been significantly reduced, playing a crucial role in improving the production efficiency of injection molded parts. However, many problems still exist in the current injection molding production process. Although mold design technology has achieved automation to a certain extent, the rich experience and knowledge of the designers directly affect whether high-quality mold designs can be achieved quickly, making it difficult to consistently guarantee mold design quality. Secondly, although a large number of mold samples exist in the production and daily life of injection molded parts, there is no effective way to obtain them. Many successful mold models contain a wealth of excellent design experience and rules, while failed mold models also contain important lessons and information. However, due to the lack of a unified database storage, it is impossible to effectively access these mold models, ultimately resulting in these valuable experiences not being effectively analyzed and utilized. Currently developed intelligent mold design systems can solve the design of molds for specific simple parts, but they lack broad applicability, and some key issues in intelligent injection mold design have not been fundamentally resolved. Furthermore, while existing injection mold design systems can retrieve and call up standard mold parts, research on the detailed structural design of each system within the injection mold is limited. The information required during mold design typically requires manual measurement and interactive input by designers, resulting in cumbersome operations and low automation. These factors contribute to the current low efficiency and precision of automation in injection molded parts production. This embodiment, however, includes a geometrically based injection mold model structure design. The mold model is the core and key to the entire injection mold design. Through feature recognition and geometric reasoning technology, a relatively accurate prototype of the mold model can be obtained. After obtaining the basic prototype, the outer parting line clarifies the model's outline, while the inner parting line delineates the internal cavity structure. The parting line further refines the details of the model based on the original prototype. A refined mold model can be established through the parting line system, which is beneficial for improving the quality and precision of subsequent injection molded parts production. When the injection molded part is produced, the ejection system begins its work. Based on the shape and thickness of the mold, the system uses an ejector algorithm to retrieve the corresponding number of ejector pins from the inner wall of the mold to assist in the rapid demolding of the injection molded part. During the injection molding process, a large number of tasks need to be processed. To help the injection molding system process these numerous requests efficiently and quickly, and to allow the monitoring module to continuously monitor the equipment's operating status during production, an asynchronous communication mechanism is used throughout the entire injection molding process. This allows each part of the injection molding system to continuously issue requests as needed while simultaneously executing its own tasks, ensuring task accuracy without hindering information exchange and significantly improving production efficiency. After the injection molded part is produced, the system creates corresponding mold files based on the relevant parts of the mold model and stores them in the database.The mold file records the dimensions of various parts within the injection mold model, as well as the positional relationships and mating methods between different parts. Injection molded parts are composed of a basic skeleton and parts. Therefore, when the database accumulates a large number of injection molded part files, when there is a new injection molded part requirement, the files in the database can be called to find similar parts. Alternatively, the drawing method for the new injection molded part model can be found based on existing injection molded part files, which greatly improves the design speed of injection molded part models and further accelerates the production speed of injection molded parts.

Claims

1. An integrated injection molding method, characterized in that, The steps include S1 receives the injection molding request. The integrated injection molding method uses asynchronous communication to process tasks. The system builds a distributed task queue, which receives real-time tasks and pending status during the entire system operation and processes injection molding requests that are passed in periodically. S2 establishes and manufactures the mold based on geometric reasoning, which includes a geometric reasoning part and a rule reasoning part. First, the parting line design features are extracted from the plastic part CAD model through parting line recognition technology, and the volume block design scheme is inferred according to the different types of parting lines to complete the geometric reasoning. Then, the volume block design scheme is interconnected with the input of the rule reasoning system to form a numerical rule set. Finally, in the corresponding mold drawing and development system, the geometric information extracted by rule reasoning and feature recognition and the corresponding styling design are encapsulated together to form the required model. S3 generates injection molded parts through injection molding within the mold and imports the mold data into the mold library, completing the integrated injection molding process. After injection molding is completed within the mold model, the system identifies the mold shape and, based on the shape and thickness of different locations within the mold, uses an ejector pin positioning algorithm to retrieve ejector pins from the inner wall of the mold to eject the injection molded parts, achieving demolding. Ejector pins need to be positioned in narrow slots. First, all possible faces that could form narrow slots are identified in the solid model of the punch. Then, based on the angle between the normal of each face and the draft direction, unsuitable faces are further filtered out. Finally, the distance between the projection curves of the faces on a specified plane is compared with the maximum width W and the minimum depth H of the narrow slot to determine whether it is a narrow slot feature.

2. The integrated injection molding method according to claim 1, characterized in that, In step S2, after the injection molding system confirms the injection request, the system materializes the feature structure of the mold to be made, identifies the parting line of the injection molded part based on the structural features, generates a mold prototype by combining the type of parting line and geometric reasoning technology, and finally uses Boolean operations between mold volume blocks to complete the generation of the mold model.

3. The integrated injection molding method according to claim 2, characterized in that, In step S2, the formula for geometric reasoning is: ： （N）（1） ： （E）（2） Equation (1) represents the geometric reasoning part, and equation (2) represents the rule-based reasoning part, where F is the design feature. It is a feature recognition operator, T is the geometric topology, and U is the design scheme. and E is the inference operator, E is the result of rule-based inference, and P is the completed design model. It is the driving operator of CAD, which will and Through formula ⊕ After merging, you will get ( ( (T)), that is, to obtain the final mold model.

4. The integrated injection molding method according to claim 2, characterized in that, In step S2, the system determines the shape features of the mold by identifying the parting line of the injection molded part. The system divides the mold parting line into an inner parting line and an outer parting line. The outer parting line determines the shape features of the outer surface of the mold model, and the inner parting line constitutes the shape features of the inner cavity surface of the mold. The inner and outer parting lines are combined to form the prototype of the mold.

5. The integrated injection molding method according to claim 1, characterized in that, In step S3, the ejector pins need to be arranged in the narrow groove, and their specifications are determined according to the width of the narrow groove, while their spacing is determined according to the length of the narrow groove. By judging the narrow groove, the system arranges the corresponding ejector pins to eject the injection molded part from the mold.

6. The integrated injection molding method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The asynchronous communication synchronously schedules tasks to enter the event queue for event processing based on their duration, synchronously processing tasks from various parts of the system and arranging the event processing order.

7. The integrated injection molding method according to claim 1, characterized in that, In step S3, after the injection molding of the part is completed, the system stores the mold data information and generates the mold according to the size of the mold model parts and the positional relationship between different parts, and centrally enters the different molds into the database.

8. The integrated injection molding method according to claim 1, characterized in that, In step S1, when the injection molding system receives an external injection request, the equipment management module in the injection molding system starts all the equipment in the system. After the equipment is started, the production monitoring module monitors the operating status of each piece of equipment. The system calls the equipment through the system management module to complete the injection molding step according to the needs of the injection molding process.

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