Movable Platen Height Adjustment via Nested Bolts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional injection molding apparatuses face challenges in maintaining the horizontal posture of movable platens during mold clamping and opening, which affects precision and can lead to inaccuracies or breakage, and existing height adjustment mechanisms are large and costly.
Innovation Solution
A compact movable platen support structure with a linear guide mechanism, featuring parallel rails, sliders, leg sections, flat plates, and adjusting bolts that allow for precise height adjustment without projecting outward, using low heat conductivity materials to minimize thermal expansion and maintain precision.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If conventional wedge-based height adjustment mechanisms are used, then the movable platen levelness can be adjusted, but the mechanism becomes large in size and complex in structure
Solution Approach 1:
The height adjustment mechanism is segmented into multiple independent adjusting bolts, each responsible for a specific leg section. This allows distributed adjustment across multiple points, achieving precise levelness correction without requiring a single large complex mechanism. Each adjusting bolt can be independently operated to fine-tune the platen's horizontal posture.
Solution Approach 2:
The adjusting bolts are positioned vertically within the leg sections, utilizing the vertical dimension for height adjustment rather than extending horizontally. This dimensional reorientation allows the adjustment mechanism to be compact in the horizontal plane while maintaining full adjustment capability, effectively reducing the overall footprint of the mechanism.
2Ease of operation
If adjusting bolts are positioned to enable height adjustment, then the movable platen levelness can be corrected, but the bolts may project outwardly increasing the mechanism size
Solution Approach 1:
The adjusting bolts are nested within the leg sections of the movable platen, with the bolt heads positioned at the top surface and the threaded portions extending downward into the leg section. This nesting arrangement allows the adjustment mechanism to be contained within the platen's own structure, eliminating outward projection while maintaining full adjustment functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of extending the adjusting bolts outward from the leg sections for adjustment, the bolts are inverted and positioned to receive adjustment force from above. The adjusting bolts are inserted from the top surface and screwed downward, reversing the conventional approach and allowing compact integration within the platen structure.
3Productivity
If the movable platen is moved horizontally without precise levelness control, then the movement can be performed, but the accuracy of the mold is adversely influenced and breakage may result
Solution Approach 1:
The levelness adjustment is performed as a preliminary action before the mold clamping operation begins. By pre-adjusting the horizontal posture of the movable platen using the adjusting bolts, the system ensures that the platen is properly leveled before actual molding work commences, preventing accuracy issues during the clamping process.
Solution Approach 2:
The adjusting bolts provide a feedback mechanism for levelness control. During operation, if the platen deviates from horizontal posture, the adjusting bolts can be repositioned to correct the deviation. This feedback-based adjustment ensures continuous maintenance of precise levelness throughout the molding process, safeguarding mold accuracy.
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 provides a compact, cost-effective, and precise height adjustment mechanism that maintains the horizontal posture of movable platens, reducing the risk of inaccuracies and breakage while minimizing thermal expansion impacts on the linear guide mechanism.
Implementation Method 1
an adjusting bolt screwed into a corresponding one of the leg sections and abutting at the distal end thereof against the flat plate
Implementation Method 2
a plurality of sliders mounted on the rail via a bearing in spaced apart relation to each other in a longitudinal direction of the rail
Implementation Method 3
a fastening bolt for, following movable platen height adjustment by the adjusting bolts, fastening a corresponding one of the leg sections to a corresponding one of the sliders by being passed through the corresponding leg section and a corresponding one of the flat plates so as to be screwed into the corresponding slider
Data Source
AI summary
A movable platen support structure includes: a linear guide mechanism via which a movable platen is provided for horizontal movement; a plurality of movable-platen height adjustment mechanisms provided in corresponding relation to leg sections of the platen, each of the height adjustment mechanisms including a flat plate placed on a corresponding slider of the guide mechanism, and an adjusting bolt screwed into the corresponding leg section of the slider and abutting at its distal end against the flat plate; and a plurality of fastening mechanisms provided in corresponding relation to the leg sections, each of the fastening mechanisms including a fastening bolt for, following the height adjustment by the adjusting bolts, fastening the corresponding leg section to the corresponding slider by being passed through the leg section and the flat plate so as to be screwed into the slider.