Movable Mold Injection Device for Optical Plastic Annealing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional injection molding processes for plastic optical products often result in high birefringence and internal stress, leading to optical property deterioration, bending, and cracking, and are challenging to scale for mass production due to complex mold requirements and unpredictable annealing processes.
Innovation Solution
An injection molding device and method that incorporates a movable mold system, allowing for simultaneous injection molding and annealing within the mold, reducing birefringence and internal stress through controlled heating and cooling processes, and enabling continuous mass production without additional complex processes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional injection molding process is used, then production efficiency is maintained, but birefringence and internal stress increase leading to poor optical properties
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the injection molding process with the annealing process into a single integrated operation. The mold includes both injection ports for material injection and heating elements for annealing, allowing both processes to occur simultaneously in the same equipment without requiring separate annealing chambers or post-processing steps.
Solution Approach 2:
The mold is designed with multi-functionality, serving both as an injection molding tool and an annealing chamber. The heating elements integrated into the mold enable it to perform both shaping and stress-relief functions, making the mold versatile and eliminating the need for separate dedicated annealing equipment.
2Manufacturing precision
If separate annealing process is performed after molding, then birefringence is reduced, but process complexity and mold requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the annealing function directly into the injection mold structure. Heating elements are integrated into the mold, and the mold cavity serves dual purposes as both the molding cavity and the annealing chamber, eliminating the need for separate annealing equipment and reducing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The mold is designed to perform multiple functions: injection molding and annealing. This multi-functional design reduces the number of separate devices needed and simplifies the overall manufacturing system while maintaining effective birefringence control.
3Productivity
If conventional injection molding is used, then mass production is achieved, but product deformation occurs due to internal stress
Solution Approach 1:
The annealing process is performed immediately after injection molding while the product is still in the mold, before the product is removed and cooled to ambient temperature. This preliminary annealing action prevents subsequent deformation by relieving internal stresses while the product is constrained by the mold, ensuring dimensional stability.
Solution Approach 2:
By merging annealing with injection molding in a single continuous process, the patent maintains high productivity through mass production capability while simultaneously improving product stability by eliminating internal stresses before the product is ejected.
4Object-generated harmful factors
If annealing is performed in high temperature chamber, then internal stress is reduced, but product deformation is caused
Solution Approach 1:
The annealing is performed preliminarily while the product is still constrained within the mold cavity. The mold walls provide physical support that prevents deformation during the thermal stress relief process, ensuring that internal stresses are reduced without causing shape changes.
Solution Approach 2:
The mold acts as an intermediary structure that provides mechanical support during annealing. The mold cavity serves as both the container for the product and the supporting structure that prevents deformation while allowing stress relief to occur through the integrated heating elements.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution effectively reduces birefringence and internal stress in plastic optical products, improving their optical properties and preventing deformation, while facilitating efficient mass production through a simplified and integrated process.
Implementation Method 1
heating and then cooling the second mold to anneal the primary molded product
Implementation Method 2
The second mold may further include a second injection port through which an additional raw material is injected
Implementation Method 3
The heating member may include at least one of induction heating element, electric heater, planar heating element, steam heating and heating wire type
Implementation Method 4
injection molding is a molding method for a thermoplastic resin in which a molten material is injected into a closed mold under high pressure
Data Source
AI summary
An injection molding device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a first mold including a first injection port through which a raw material is injected; a second mold including a heating member; a first movable mold facing the first mold or the second mold and having a first cavity formed therein; and a second movable mold facing the first mold or the second mold and having a second cavity formed therein, wherein the position of the first movable mold and the position of the second movable mold can be changed.