Moldlife Sense This system of cameras and sensors — available for Arburg injection molding machines from Hack Formenbau GmbH, Kirchheim unter Teck, Germany — monitors the mold area of an injection molding machine (IMM) and facilitates communication between the mold and IMM.
What’s new? The system, which at the K Show, where it was integrated into a 32-cavity mold running on an Arburg Allrounder 630 H. At the show, two cameras recorded images during the mold-separation and part-separation phases of the injection molding cycle as the press produced clear blood vials from shatterproof PET. The cameras confirmed that all molded vials were successfully removed from the mold to ensure it wouldn’t be damaged by closing on unejected parts.
Benefits The ability to monitor the complete molding cycle, and identify and locate problems. Data from Moldlife Sense is passed directly to Arburg’s Gestica machine control system via an OPC UA interface, where operators can see from graphics what’s going on. In addition to the cameras, other sensors monitor the movement of mold-guide cylinders, on guard against misalignments, while “knock sensors” monitor molding operation noise, alerting operators to changes in sounds that could indicate a problem.
Arburg Inc., Rocky Hill, Conn., 860-667-6500, www.arburg.com
Karen Hanna | Senior Staff Reporter
Senior Staff Reporter Karen Hanna covers injection molding, molds and tooling, processors, workforce and other topics, and writes features including In Other Words and Problem Solved for Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing, Plastics Recycling and The Journal of Blow Molding. She has more than 15 years of experience in daily and magazine journalism.
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