Method and apparatus for post-mold cooling a molded article
View Patent ↗Disclosed, amongst other things, is a method of post-mold cooling of a molded article, the molded article having just been molded within mold halves, the method comprising: receiving, in a post-mold device, the molded article; subjecting the molded article to post-mold cooling, the post-mold cooling including: implementing a first post-mold cooling process portion in the post-mold cooling device at a first temperature; and implementing a second post-mold cooling process in the post-mold cooling device portion at a second temperature, said second post-mold cooling temperature being greater than said first post-mold cooling temperature; determining a switch point; triggering at the switch point, a transition from the first post-mold cooling process portion to the second post-mold cooling process portion.
1. A method of post-mold cooling of a molded article, the molded article having just been molded within mold halves, the method comprising:
receiving, in a post-mold device, the molded article from within the mold halves;
subjecting the molded article to post-mold cooling process in the post-mold device, the post-mold cooling process including:
controlling the temperature of coolant media to a first temperature using a temperature control device;
implementing a first post-mold cooling process portion in the post-mold cooling device at the first temperature; and
controlling the temperature of the coolant media to a second temperature using the temperature control device;
triggering at a predetermined switch point, a transition from the first post-mold cooling process portion to a second post-mold cooling process portion; and
implementing the second post-mold cooling process portion in the post-mold cooling device at the second temperature, said second temperature being greater than said first temperature.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising balancing cooling rates between said first temperature and said second temperature is executed such that the molded article reaches the target exit temperature at a point of time that substantially coincides with removal of the molded article from post-mold cooling.
3. The method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein said switch point comprises a temperature value; and wherein the method further comprises determining a temperature associated with operation of a post-mold device.
4. The method in accordance with claim 3 , wherein said determining comprises receiving a signal ( 403 ) from a sensor ( 402 ), the signal ( 403 ) indicative of the temperature associated with operation of a post-mold device ( 15 ).
5. The method in accordance with claim 4 , wherein said sensor ( 402 ) comprises a single sensor ( 402 ), and wherein said post-mold device ( 15 ) implements a multi-position post-mold cooling function; and wherein the method further comprises, based on said signal ( 402 ), determining a temperature value associated with each position of the multi-position post-mold cooling function.
6. The method in accordance with claim 5 , wherein said post-mold device ( 15 ) implements a multi-position post-mold cooling function; and wherein said sensor ( 402 ) comprises a plurality of sensor ( 402 ), each of the plurality of sensors being associated with a given holder ( 50 ) in a given position of the multi-position post-mold cooling function.
7. The method in accordance with claim 5 , wherein said sensor ( 402 ) comprises a plurality of sensor ( 402 ), each of the plurality of sensors being associated with a given holder ( 50 ) of the post-mold device ( 15 ).
8. The method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein said switch point comprises an indication of a point in time.
9. The method in accordance with claim 8 , wherein said indication of a point of time comprises one of a time value, a value representative of a number of positions of the post-mold cooling cycle and a combination thereof.
10. The method in accordance with claim 1 , further comprising selecting the first temperature such as to decrease a temperature differential between a just-molded article and cooling media.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first post-mold cooling process portion is implemented at an instance of time before the second post-mold cooling process portion.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein said determining of the switch point is executed prior to executing the post-mold cooling.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein said determining of the switch point comprises appreciating a pre-set switch point.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein said transition is implemented by means of switching one of a temperature or the rate of flow of the cooling media.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein said transition is implemented by means of switching the type of cooling media from the first type of coolant media to a second type of coolant media.