3D Mold Undercut Extraction for Fewer Slide Molds
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current mold design methods face challenges in efficiently identifying and addressing undercut shapes, leading to potential unintended or non-moldable undercut shapes due to the proficiency-dependent nature of mold design, which affects the quality of molded products and manufacturing costs.
Innovation Solution
An information processing method that receives three-dimensional shape data of a molded product and a non-molded product area, extracts undercut portions, sets sliding directions for slide molds, and identifies surfaces that can be molded by a single slide mold, thereby optimizing mold design and reducing manufacturing costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a slide mold is used to form undercut shapes, then the molded product quality is improved, but the device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary analysis of the three-dimensional product data to automatically identify undercut portions before mold design begins. By pre-determining the locations and characteristics of undercut areas, the system enables planners to design slide molds only where necessary, avoiding unnecessary complexity in non-undercut areas and reducing overall mold structure complexity while maintaining product quality
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces manual, experience-based mold design with an automated information processing system that uses computer algorithms to analyze product geometry and identify undercut portions. This substitution of mechanical/design expertise with automated computational analysis reduces dependency on designer proficiency and minimizes unnecessary slide mold implementations, thereby reducing device complexity
2Manufacturing precision
If multiple slide molds are used to cover all undercut portions, then all undercut shapes are moldable, but the manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and isolates only the specific portions of the product that constitute undercut areas from the overall product geometry. By separating the undercut identification into a distinct analytical step, the system enables precise targeting of slide mold requirements only to the extracted undercut portions, avoiding the need for multiple slide molds in non-undercut areas and reducing manufacturing cost
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a digital representation (copy) of the product's three-dimensional data and performs virtual analysis to identify undercut portions. This virtual copying and analysis allows for accurate determination of slide mold requirements without physical prototyping, enabling cost-effective planning that avoids unnecessary slide molds while ensuring all undercut portions are properly addressed
3Adaptability or versatility
If manual mold design is performed by designers, then flexibility in design is maintained, but unintended or non-moldable undercut shapes occur due to proficiency dependency
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides automated feedback by analyzing the three-dimensional product data and explicitly identifying which portions are undercut and which are not. This feedback mechanism replaces subjective designer judgment with objective computational analysis, eliminating unintended or non-moldable undercut shapes caused by human error while maintaining design flexibility through programmable analysis criteria that can be adjusted for different product types
Data Source
AI summary
An information processing method of designing a mold for molding a molded product, the method includes a processing of receiving data including a molded product area indicating a three-dimensional shape of the molded product, and a non-molded product area indicating a three-dimensional shape of a non-molded product space enclosing the molded product, and a processing of extracting, from the non-molded product area, a three-dimensional space that becomes an undercut portion in a state where a first mold and a second mold forming the molded product are opened.