Methods for determining zone types of heating zones in an injection molding system
An injection molding system is disclosed. The injection molding system includes: a hot runner including: a plurality of heaters arranged into one or more defined heating zones within the hot runner; and at least one temperature sensor associated with each heating zone, and a system controller coupled to the plurality of heaters, the system controller being configured to: for each heating zone: determine a first control gain value associated with the heating zone; determine a total heater power of heaters associated with the heating zone; calculate a relative weight associated with the heating zone based on the first control gain value and the total heater power; and determine a zone type associated with the heating zone based on the relative weight.
1 . An injection molding system, comprising:
a hot runner including:
a plurality of heaters arranged into one or more defined heating zones within the hot runner; and
at least one temperature sensor associated with each of the heating zones, and
a system controller coupled to the plurality of heaters, the system controller being configured to:
for each of the heating zones:
determine a first control gain value associated with the heating zone;
determine a total heater power of the respective heaters associated with the heating zone;
calculate a relative weight associated with the heating zone based on the first control gain value and the total heater power; and
determine a zone type associated with the heating zone based on the relative weight.
2 . The injection molding system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one temperature sensor comprises a thermocouple.
3 . The injection molding system of claim 1 , wherein the zone type associated with the heating zone comprises one of: a manifold heating zone; a nozzle tip heating zone; a sprue bushing heating zone; a barrel heating zone; a probe heating zone; or a shooting pot heating zone.
4 . The injection molding system of claim 1 , wherein calculating the relative weight associated with the heating zone comprises computing a gain-power product of the first control gain value and the total heater power.
5 . The injection molding system of claim 4 , wherein the system controller is further configured to determine a sorted list of the heating zones based on ordering the heating zones by their respective gain-power products.
6 . The injection molding system of claim 5 , wherein the system controller is further configured to parse the sorted list of the heating zones at delineator values thereof.
7 . The injection molding system of claim 1 , wherein the system controller is further configured to identify a plurality of the heating zones in which at least a part of a manifold of the hot runner is located.
8 . The injection molding system of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of temperature controllers, wherein each of the temperature controllers is associated with a respective one of the heating zones and is operably connected to at least one of the heaters.
9 . The injection molding system of claim 8 , wherein each of the temperature controllers comprises a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller.
10 . The injection molding system of claim 9 , wherein the first control gain value comprises a proportional gain value of the PID controller.
11 . A processor-implemented method for operating an injection molding machine having a hot runner, the method comprising:
for each of a plurality of defined heating zones within the hot runner having at least one temperature sensor associated therewith:
determining a first control gain value associated with the heating zone;
determining a total heater power of heaters associated with the heating zone;
calculating a relative weight associated with the heating zone based on the first control gain value and the total heater power; and
determining a zone type associated with the heating zone based on the relative weight.
12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the at least one temperature sensor comprises a thermocouple.
13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the zone type associated with the heating zone comprises one of: a manifold heating zone; a nozzle tip heating zone; a sprue bushing heating zone; a barrel heating zone; a probe heating zone; or a shooting pot heating zone.
14 . The method of claim 11 , wherein calculating the relative weight associated with the heating zone comprises computing a gain-power product of the first control gain value and the total heater power.
15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising determining a sorted list of the heating zones based on ordering the heating zones by their respective gain-power products.
16 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising parsing the sorted list of the heating zones at delineator values thereof.
17 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising identifying a plurality of the heating zones in which at least a part of a manifold of the hot runner is located.
18 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising operably connecting a plurality of the heaters associated with each of the heating zones to a temperature controller for the heating zone.
19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein each of the temperature controllers comprises a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller.
20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the first control gain value comprises a proportional gain value of the PID controller.