Plastic article or earthenware shaping or treating: apparatus – Control means responsive to or actuated by means sensing or... – Feed control of material en route to shaping area
Reexamination Certificate
2002-09-06
2004-06-29
Heitbrink, Tim (Department: 1722)
Plastic article or earthenware shaping or treating: apparatus
Control means responsive to or actuated by means sensing or...
Feed control of material en route to shaping area
C264S040100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06755636
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an injection apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in an injection molding machine, a screw is disposed within a heating cylinder of an injection apparatus such that it can rotate and can advance and retreat. By operating a drive mechanism, the screw can be rotated, and can be advanced and retreated. In a metering process, the screw is rotated, whereby a resin which is supplied from a hopper into the heating cylinder is melted through application of heat and transferred forward, and the molten resin is stored in a space located ahead of a screw head attached to the front end of the screw. In an injection process, the screw is caused to advance, whereby the molten resin, which is stored in the space located ahead of the screw head, is injected from an injection nozzle into the cavity of a mold apparatus so as to fill the cavity.
FIG. 1
is a conceptual view of a conventional injection apparatus.
In
FIG. 1
, reference numeral
11
denotes a heating cylinder. A screw
12
is disposed within the heating cylinder
11
such that it can rotate and can advance and retreat (move leftward and rightward in FIG.
1
).
An unillustrated injection nozzle is attached to the front end (left-hand end in
FIG. 1
) of the heating cylinder
11
, and a nozzle hole is formed in the injection nozzle.
The rear end (right-hand end in
FIG. 1
) of the heating cylinder
11
is attached to a front injection support
61
, and a rear injection support
62
is disposed a predetermined distance away from the front injection support
61
. The front injection support
61
includes a box-like body
61
a
and a cover
61
b
. Rods
63
extend between the front injection support
61
and the rear injection support
62
, for maintaining a predetermined distance therebetween. The front injection support
61
, the rear injection support
62
, and the rods
63
constitute an injection frame.
A circular connection member
64
is integrally attached to the rear end of the screw
12
via a coupler
59
. A cylindrical support member
65
is attached to the connection member
64
by use of bolts bt
1
. The connection member
64
and the support member
65
constitute a rotary slide member
68
, which unitarily rotates with the screw
12
. A male spline
92
is formed on the outer circumferential surface of a rear end of the support member
65
.
In order to transmit rotation to the rotary slide member
68
, a cylindrical rotary member
78
is disposed while surrounding the rotary slide member
68
, and a female spline
93
is formed on the inner circumferential surface of the rotary member
78
. The female spline
93
has an axial length equivalent to the stroke of the screw
12
. The rotary member
78
is supported by bearings b
1
and b
2
in such a manner as to be rotatable relative to the front injection support
61
.
An electrically operated metering motor
70
is disposed. In a metering process, the metering motor
70
is operated to rotate the rotary slide member
68
, whereas, in the injection process, the metering motor
70
generates reverse torque to stop the rotation of the rotary slide member
68
. The metering motor
70
includes an unillustrated stator, an unillustrated rotor disposed radially inward of the stator, an output shaft
74
, and an encoder
70
a
attached to the output shaft
74
and adapted to detect the rotational speed of the metering motor
70
, and is controlled on the basis of a detection signal output from the encoder
70
a
. Each of the stator and the rotor includes a core, and a coil wound onto the core.
An output gear
75
, a counter drive gear
76
, a counter driven gear
77
, and the rotary member
78
are disposed between the metering motor
70
and the rotary slide member
68
. The output gear
75
is attached to the output shaft
74
. The output gear
75
and the counter drive gear
76
are engaged with each other. The counter drive gear
76
and the counter driven gear
77
are engaged with each other. The counter driven gear
77
is attached to the rotary member
78
by use of bolts bt
3
.
The output gear
75
, the counter drive gear
76
, the counter driven gear
77
, and the rotary member
78
transmit to the rotary slide member
68
rotation generated through operation of the metering motor
70
. For such operation, the rotary slide member
68
is disposed in such a manner as to be nonrotatable and axially movable relative to the rotary member
78
; and the outer circumferential surface of the connection member
64
and the inner circumferential surface of the rotary member
78
are in slidable contact with each other. That is, the female spline
93
formed on the inner circumferential surface of the rotary member
78
is spline-engaged with the above-described male spline
92
to be slidable relative thereto.
Accordingly, when the output shaft
74
is rotated through operation of the metering motor
70
, rotation is transmitted to the rotary slide member
68
via the output gear
75
, the counter drive gear
76
, the counter driven gear
77
, and the rotary member
78
, whereby the rotary slide member
68
is rotated in the regular direction or in reverse as needed, and thus the screw
12
is rotated accordingly. When the metering motor
70
is stopped and is caused to restrain the output shaft
74
by force of restraint, the rotary slide member
68
is caused to stop rotating, so that the screw
12
is caused to stop rotating.
A ball screw
83
, which includes a ball screw shaft
81
and a ball nut
82
and serves as a direction-of-motion changing section, is disposed rearward (rightward in
FIG. 1
) of the front injection support
61
. The ball screw shaft
81
includes a small-diameter shaft portion
84
, a large-diameter threaded portion
85
, a connection portion to be connected to an injection motor
90
, etc. which are sequentially formed from the front end of the ball screw shaft toward its rear end. An annular flange member
89
is externally fitted to the shoulder between the shaft portion
84
and the threaded portion
85
.
The electrically operated injection motor
90
is fixed to the rear injection support
62
via a load cell
96
. The injection motor
90
is operated in the injection process. Rotation generated by the injection motor
90
is transmitted to the threaded portion
85
. The above-described ball screw
83
converts a rotary motion generated by the injection motor
90
to a rectilinear motion accompanied by rotation; i.e., to a rotary, rectilinear motion, and transmits the rotary, rectilinear motion to the rotary slide member
68
.
Thus, the ball screw shaft
81
is supported, at its front end by bearings b
7
and b
8
, in such a manner as to be rotatable and axially immovable relative to the rotary slide member
68
, and is rotatably engaged with and supported by the ball nut
82
at its center. That is, the rotary slide member
68
is disposed in such a manner as to be rotatable relative to the ball screw
83
and axially movable relative to the rotary member
78
.
An unillustrated male screw is formed on a front end part of the shaft portion
84
, and a bearing nut
80
is disposed while being engaged with the male screw. The bearing nut
80
, together with a protrusion
65
a
formed on the inner circumferential surface of the support member
65
, positions the bearing b
7
.
The ball nut
82
is fixedly attached to the rear injection support
62
via the load cell
96
. The load cell
96
detects an injection force and a dwell pressure.
Accordingly, when rotation generated through operation of the injection motor
90
in the regular or reverse direction is transmitted to the ball screw shaft
81
via the connection portion, the ball screw shaft
81
is caused to advance or retreat while rotating, since the threaded portion
85
and the ball nut
82
are engaged with each other.
In the injection process or a like process, in which the rotary slide member
68
is caused to advance or retreat without rotation, stoppage of the operation of the
Heitbrink Tim
Squire Sanders & Dempsey L.L.P.
Sumitomo Heavy Industrie's, Ltd.
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