Injection Mold Plate Alignment via Thin Polymer Connection Plates
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing injection-molding tools face challenges in ensuring correct alignment of mold inserts, which can lead to wear and tear and affect the quality of molded products.
Innovation Solution
The injection-molding tool features mold plates with interconnected through holes and mold insert sockets via thinner connection plates, allowing for flexibility and compensation for variations in mold insert thickness, and can be produced using additive manufacturing with polymer materials.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If mold plates are made from a single massive steel plate, then structural strength is improved, but manufacturing complexity and flexibility are worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The mold plate is divided into multiple segments: connection plates and mold insert sockets, allowing each component to be manufactured separately and assembled together. This segmentation reduces manufacturing complexity while maintaining structural integrity through proper connection design.
Solution Approach 2:
The mold plate uses composite construction with connection plates and mold insert sockets made from different materials or manufacturing processes. The connection plates can be made from polymer materials via additive manufacturing while maintaining compatibility with metal mold inserts, combining advantages of different material systems.
2Stability of the object's composition
If mold plates are made from a single massive steel plate, then structural rigidity is improved, but adaptability to variations in mold insert thickness is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The connection plates are designed with controlled flexibility to dynamically adapt to variations in mold insert thickness. The plates can flex within certain limits to accommodate thickness variations while maintaining adequate structural rigidity for precise alignment and stable operation during injection molding.
Solution Approach 2:
The connection plate thickness is optimized to be less than half the thickness of the mold plate, creating a specific flexibility parameter range. This parameter selection allows the connection plates to accommodate mold insert thickness variations while maintaining sufficient rigidity for alignment accuracy.
3Adaptability or versatility
If connection plates are used to interconnect through holes and mold insert sockets, then flexibility and adaptability are improved, but structural strength is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The connection plates function as flexible structural elements with thickness less than half the mold plate thickness. These thin plate structures provide the necessary flexibility to accommodate variations in mold insert thickness while maintaining sufficient strength through proper material selection and geometric design.
Solution Approach 2:
The connection plates integrate multiple functions: they connect through holes to mold insert sockets, provide flexibility for thickness variations, and maintain structural strength for alignment. By merging these functions into a single component design, the system achieves adaptability without sacrificing essential structural properties.
4Ease of manufacture
If mold plates are produced by additive manufacturing with polymer materials, then ease of manufacture and flexibility are improved, but structural strength is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
Traditional mechanical machining of massive steel plates is replaced with additive manufacturing processes using polymer materials. This substitution enables complex geometries and integrated structures to be manufactured more easily while the material properties of polymers provide sufficient strength for the connection plate function.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses composite construction where polymer connection plates manufactured by additive manufacturing are combined with metal mold inserts. The polymer provides ease of manufacture and flexibility, while the metal inserts provide the necessary strength and precision for molding operations.
Data Source
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AI summary
An injection-molding tool comprising at least two separate mold plates each having a mold insert socket with a mold insert attached in the mold insert socket. Each mold plate have mutually opposite and parallel abutting side faces defining the thickness of the mold plate and a number of mutually aligned guide bushings forming through holes adapted for axially sliding one of the mold plates with respect to the other on a common guide pin in a direction perpendicular to the abutting side faces of the mold plates. The guide bushings and the mold insert socket of at least one mold plate are interconnected via one or more connection plates each extending parallel to the abutting side faces and having a thickness of less than half the thickness of the mold plate.