Baspar / Iranpolymer In high-speed applications, the time it takes for the injection molding machine to open and close the mold is a significant component of the cycle time. Like a robot arm, the movable mold clamping platen of the injection molding machine does not just move up and down, but along individual movement points. These divide the movement into phases, and this is where the key to optimization lies. For each individual phase, the iQ motion control software calculates the acceleration adapted to the respective machine settings.
The calculation is based on the tool weight, in addition to the set tool stroke and the clamping force. iQ motion control automatically adjusts at the touch of a button. The software optimizes the acceleration phases and thus increases the speed of the mold platen. This enables faster demoulding and therefore a shorter cycle time.
The injection molding machine does not require any additional energy for this increase in performance. No higher connected loads are required. The software only fully utilizes the existing potential of the machine and the drive technology, without increasing the loads on the machine and the drives.
When adjusting the opening stroke or a mold change, for example, the movement ramps are often not optimally adjusted under time pressure or a reserve is kept due to the different mold weights. With iQ motion control, both are a thing of the past. Regardless of which parameter changes, the appropriate path movement is always calculated using the physical limits and the shortest cycle time is thus achieved.
Engel demonstrated how this works in practice with a sophisticated packaging application at the K2022 in Düsseldorf. On an e-speed injection molding machine, 125 ml round containers were produced from rPET using thin-wall injection molding and with in-mould labeling in a 4-cavity mould. Analysis of the cycle time has shown that the opening and closing of the mold accounts for a particularly high proportion of the overall cycle time in this high-performance application. Without iQ motion control, the time required for the mold movement is 1.27 s. With the activated assistance system, the machine only needs 1.12 s for the mold movement. This corresponds to a time saving of 12%. The total cycle time is reduced by 5%. It drops from 3.15 to 3 s.
iQ motion control will be standard on all new electric toggle-joint injection molding machines in the e-cap and e-speed series and can be retrofitted on older machines.
