Plastic and nonmetallic article shaping or treating: processes – Recycling of reclaimed or purified process material – Of gaseous process material
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-16
2001-10-09
Heitbrink, Jill L. (Department: 1732)
Plastic and nonmetallic article shaping or treating: processes
Recycling of reclaimed or purified process material
Of gaseous process material
C239S431000, C264S237000, C264S328140, C425S526000, C425S534000, C425S535000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06299804
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an air cooling system to be used in connection with a preform molding machine which makes advantageous use of air amplifiers to cool the molded preforms and to a method of using same.
Index type injection molding machines with part cooling features at a variety of stations are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,728,409; 5,830,404; 5,750,162; and 5,817,345. The cooling of preforms on an index block using a part removal and cooling robot is shown in copending U.S. patent applications Ser. No. 09/167,699, filed Oct. 7, 1998, to Ing et al. entitled Cooling Device Attached to Index Machine; Ser. No. 09/215,819, filed Dec. 18, 1998, to Kutalowski entitled Cooling Device Attached to Index Machine; Ser. No. 09/261,880, filed Mar. 3, 1999, to Domodossola et al. entitled Turret Cooling Block for an Index Machine; and Ser. No. 09/263,393, filed Mar. 5, 1999, to Kozai et al. entitled Cooling Device Attached to Index Machine, all of which are assigned to the assignee of the instant patent application, and all of which are incorporated by reference herein. None of these patents and patent applications however teach the use of an air amplifier or applying different cooling conditions at different index block stations.
Cooling preforms by means of blowing air on their surfaces after the preform has been removed from a mold is shown in Japanese patent publication 7-171888 to Sumitomo. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 5,232,715 to Fukai teaches blowing air over the outside of a preform while it is held on a cooling mandrel. In both of these prior art examples, the preforms have been removed from the mold and are being cooled in a downstream piece of equipment. In order for the preforms to be removed from the mold without damage, sufficient cooling must take place in the mold to allow damage free ejection. Thus, a cycle time penalty has been accepted in order to do downstream cooling.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,913 to Krishnakumar shows blowing air over the outside of preforms while they are still on injection molding cores that are mounted on a turret block. The air blowing nozzles are at a fixed distance from the preforms. The Krishnakumar patent lacks any teaching of an air amplifier or how different cooling effects can be achieved at different areas of a preform surface.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved preform cooling apparatus and method.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved preform cooling apparatus and method which has an improved ability to cool gate, body and neck areas of a preform.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide an improved preform cooling apparatus and method which allows an earlier ejection from mold cores.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide an improved preform cooling apparatus and method which reduce crystallinity.
The foregoing objects are attained by the preform cooling apparatus and method of the present invention.
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method of cooling molded preforms. The apparatus and method make advantageous use of air amplifiers to create a flow of cooling air over the molded preforms. In a first embodiment of the present invention, the air amplifiers are mounted to a part removal and cooling robot. In a second embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of air amplifier stations are positioned about an index block to cool the molded preforms. In a third embodiment of the present invention, a vacuuming system is provided to improve the adherence of the air flow created by the air amplifiers to the exterior surfaces of the molded preforms. In a fourth embodiment of the present invention, the air amplifiers are mounted to a movable plate and each amplifier has an internal bore sized to receive a molded preform to be cooled.
The method of the present invention broadly comprises forming a plurality of molded preforms having neck, body and gate areas on a set of mold cores, moving the molded preforms to a position remote from a molding station, and blowing cooling air over exterior surfaces of the molded preforms while the molded preforms are positioned on the mold cores. The blowing step comprises generating a flow of cooling air using at least one air amplifier.
Other details of the air cooling apparatus and method of the present invention, as well as other objects and advantages attendant thereto, are set forth in the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numerals depict like elements.
REFERENCES:
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patent: 4449913 (1984-05-01), Krishnakumar et al.
patent: 4472131 (1984-09-01), Ryder
patent: 5232641 (1993-08-01), Williamson et al.
patent: 5232715 (1993-08-01), Fukai
patent: 5402938 (1995-04-01), Sweeney
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Brand Tiemo D.
Domodossola Robert
Saggese Steve
Vlaicu Dan Stefan
Bachman & LaPointe P.C.
Heitbrink Jill L.
Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd.
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