IPC분류정보
국가/구분 |
United States(US) Patent
등록
|
국제특허분류(IPC7판) |
|
출원번호 |
US-0951882
(2010-11-22)
|
등록번호 |
US-8877117
(2014-11-04)
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발명자
/ 주소 |
- Fields, Randal L.
- Wardlow, Bruce A.
- Brunson, David A.
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출원인 / 주소 |
- R&D Tool & Engineering Co.
|
대리인 / 주소 |
|
인용정보 |
피인용 횟수 :
1 인용 특허 :
18 |
초록
▼
An injection blow molding (IBM) system and method for consistently maintaining the surface temperature of the parison molds within a desired range. Implementation of this system/method can result in more consistent production of higher quality parisons and molded articles. Additionally, this system/
An injection blow molding (IBM) system and method for consistently maintaining the surface temperature of the parison molds within a desired range. Implementation of this system/method can result in more consistent production of higher quality parisons and molded articles. Additionally, this system/method reduces the discretion required by the IBM operator and shifts the burden of consistently making high-quality parisons and molded articles onto the designer of the IBM tooling.
대표청구항
▼
1. An injection blow molding process comprising: (a) injection molding a polyolefin resin at an injection station to form a plurality of parisons, wherein said injection station comprises a split parison mold assembly shiftable between an open position and a closed position, wherein said split paris
1. An injection blow molding process comprising: (a) injection molding a polyolefin resin at an injection station to form a plurality of parisons, wherein said injection station comprises a split parison mold assembly shiftable between an open position and a closed position, wherein said split parison mold assembly presents first and second parison cavity surfaces that, when said split parison mold assembly is in said closed position, cooperatively define a plurality of parison cavities within which said resin is received;(b) simultaneously with step (a), passing a heat transfer fluid through a plurality of heat transfer channels defined within said injection station so as to regulate the temperature of at least a portion of said parison cavity surfaces, wherein each of said parison cavity surfaces comprises a neck-forming surface for defining the exterior shape of the necks of said parisons and a body-forming surface for defining the exterior shape of the bodies of said parisons, wherein during said injection molding the surface temperature of at least 70 percent of the total surface area of said body-forming surfaces is maintained within 20° F. of a target body surface temperature;(c) transferring said parisons from said injection station to a blowing station; and(d) blow molding said parisons at said blowing station to form a plurality of molded articles,wherein said passing of step (b) includes passing at least a portion of said heat transfer fluid through heat transfer channels defined within first and second die sets of said injection station,wherein said split parison mold assembly is coupled to said first and second die sets. 2. The process of claim 1, wherein said target body surface temperature is in the range of 190 to 230° F. 3. The process of claim 1, wherein said target body surface temperature is 210° F. 4. The process of claim 3, wherein during said injection molding of step (a) the temperature of at least 80 percent of the total surface area of said body-forming surfaces is maintained within 10° F. of said target body surface temperature. 5. The process of claim 1, wherein during said injection molding of step (a) the temperature of at least 90 percent of the total surface area of said body-forming surfaces is maintained within 5° F. of said target body surface temperature, wherein said target body surface temperature is in the range of 205 to 215° F. 6. The process of claim 1, wherein during said injection molding of step (a) the temperature of at least 70 percent of the total surface area of said neck-forming surfaces is maintained within 20° F. of a target neck surface temperature, wherein said target neck surface temperature is at least 10° F. less than said target body surface temperature. 7. The process of claim 6, wherein said target body surface temperature is 210° F., wherein said target neck surface temperature is at least 25° F. less than said target body surface temperature. 8. The process of claim 1, wherein during said injection molding of step (a) the temperature of at least 90 percent of the total surface area of said body-forming surfaces is maintained between 205 and 215° F. and the temperature of at least 90 percent of the total surface area of said neck-forming surfaces is maintained between 75 and 150° F. 9. The process of claim 1, wherein said split parison mold assembly comprises first and second body mold halves coupled to said first and second die sets respectively, wherein said first and second body mold halves present said body-forming surfaces, wherein said first and second body mold halves optionally define one or more heat transfer channels, wherein the ratio of the total volume of said heat transfer channels defined within said die sets to the total volume of heat transfer channels defined in said body mold halves is at least 1:1. 10. The process of claim 1, further comprising routing said heat transfer fluid from a single temperature control unit to said injection station, wherein all of said heat transfer fluid supplied to said injection station first passes through said single temperature control unit and enters said injection station at substantially the same temperature. 11. The process of claim 1, further comprising repeating steps (a) through (d) at least 100 times sequentially. 12. An injection blow molding process comprising: (a) injection molding a polyolefin resin into a plurality of parisons at an injection station, wherein said injection molding comprises— (i) introducing said polyolefin resin into a plurality of parison cavities defined within said injection station,(ii) introducing a heat transfer fluid into a plurality of heat transfer channels defined within said injection station, wherein at least 75 volume percent of said heat transfer fluid introduced into all of said heat transfer channels is introduced at an inlet temperature that is within 20° F. of a common target inlet temperature for all of said heat transfer channels;(b) transferring said parisons from said injection station to a blowing station; and(c) blow molding said parisons into molded articles at said blowing station,wherein said injection station comprises first and second die sets shiftable between an open position and a closed position,wherein said injection station further comprises a split parison mold assembly coupled to said first and second dies sets and operable to define said parison cavities when said dies sets are in said closed position,wherein at least a portion of said heat transfer channels are defined within said first and second die sets,wherein the ratio of the total volume of said heat transfer channels defined in said dies sets to the total volume of said heat transfer channels defined within said split parison mold assembly is at least 1:1. 13. The process of claim 12, wherein said target inlet temperature is in the range of 40 to 150° F. 14. The process of claim 13, wherein at least 90 volume percent of said heat transfer fluid introduced into said heat transfer channels is introduced at an inlet temperature that is within 10° F. of said target inlet temperature. 15. The process of claim 14, wherein said target inlet temperature is in the range of 50 to 100° F. 16. The process of claim 12, wherein all of said heat transfer fluid introduced into said heat transfer channels is introduced at the same temperature. 17. The process of claim 12, further comprising controlling the temperature of said heat transfer fluid in a single temperature control unit prior to introducing said heat transfer fluid into said heat transfer channels. 18. An injection blow molding process comprising: (a) injection molding a resin into a first group of parisons at an injection station utilizing a first split parison mold assembly to define the exterior shape of said first group of parisons;(b) blow molding said first group of parisons into a first group of molded articles at a molding station;(c) replacing at least one component of said first split parison mold assembly to thereby provide a second split parison mold assembly;(d) injection molding said resin into a second group of parisons at said injection station utilizing said second parison mold assembly to define the exterior shape of said second group of parisons; and(e) blow molding said second group of parisons into a second group of blow molded articles at said blow molding station,wherein said first and second groups of parisons have different exterior shapes,wherein said injection molding of steps (a) and (d) includes passing a heat transfer fluid through a plurality of heat transfer channels defined within said injection station,wherein the temperature of said heat transfer fluid introduced into said injection station is substantially the same during said injection molding of steps (a) and (d),wherein said injection station comprises upper and lower die sets shiftable between an open position and a closed position,wherein said first and second split parison mold assemblies are coupled to said die sets,wherein at least 20 percent of the total volume of said heat transfer channels associated with said injection station of steps (a) and (d) is defined within said die sets. 19. The process of claim 18, wherein said first group of molded articles exhibits at least one undesirable characteristic, wherein said second parison mold assembly is configured to eliminate said undesirable characteristic in said second group of molded articles, wherein said blow molding of steps (b) and (e) utilizes the same blow mold assembly to define the external shape of said first and second groups of molded articles. 20. The process of claim 19, wherein said undesirable characteristic includes excessive wall thickness, inadequate wall thickness, and/or non-uniform wall thickness. 21. The process of claim 18, wherein said blow molding of step (b) utilizes a first blow mold assembly to define the external shape of said first group of molded articles, wherein said injection blow molding process further comprises replacing said first blow mold assembly with a second blow mold assembly having a substantially different configuration than said first blow mold assembly, wherein said blow molding of step (e) utilizes said second blow mold assembly to define the external shape of said second group of molded articles, wherein said first and second groups of molded articles have substantially different configurations. 22. The process of claim 18, wherein said first and second parison mold assemblies present respective first and second parison neck-forming surfaces for defining the external shape of the necks of the parisons in said first and second groups of parisons respectively, wherein said first and second parison mold assemblies present respective first and second parison body-forming surfaces for defining the external shape of the bodies of the parisons in said first and second groups of parisons respectively, wherein during said injection molding of steps (a) and (d) the surface temperature of at least 70 percent of the total surface area of said first and second parison body-forming surfaces is maintained at a temperature within 20° F. of a target body surface temperature. 23. The process of claim 22, wherein said target body surface temperature is 210° F. 24. The process of claim 22, wherein during said injection molding of steps (a) and (d) the surface temperature of at least 90 percent of the total surface area of said first and second parison body-forming surfaces is maintained in the range of 205 to 215° F. 25. The process of claim 24, wherein during said injection molding of steps (a) and (d) the temperature of at least 90 percent of the total surface area of said parison neck-forming surfaces is maintained between 75 and 150° F. 26. The process of claim 18, wherein at least 50 percent of the total volume of said heat transfer channels associated with said injection station of steps (a) and (d) is defined within said die sets.
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