JPH11123744A - Injection-molding mold assembly - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an injection-molding mold assembly which is equipped with an inspection device for detecting the defect of an optical pattern without detaching a stamper from the mold cavity. SOLUTION: A stamper 9 fixed t a cavity 7 for forming the base is imaged by a camera 22 and a defect in the image of the stamper is decided by an image processor and decision result is fed back to a molding machine by a feedback device. The camera 22 is fixed to the tip of an arm 31 and the other end of the arm 31 is vertically fixed to a connection lever 33 axially supported by a driver 32 fixed in the outer periphery part 4a of the bottom plate of a movable mold. The camera 22 is turned from the inside of the mold to the outside thereof around the connection lever 33. Further, the camera 22 is synchronized with on-off action of the molding machine by the driver 32. The camera 22 is turned to the inside of the mold at time of mold opening and retreated to the outside of the mold at time of mold clamping.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention detects a defect of a stamper for reversing and molding fine irregularities of an optical disk or a fine pattern (hereinafter referred to as an optical pattern) such as a fine prism of a display device for a surface light source. TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an injection molding die device provided with an inspection device to perform inspection.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A stamper is used to mold an optical disk, a light guide plate or the like from a master plate by electroforming to a mold cavity to form an optical pattern.

In general, the stamper is as thin as several millimeters in thickness, and the optical pattern is very fine, several tens of microns. The stamper must be replaced with a new one from a mold.

Conventionally, the stamper is periodically removed from the mold and visually inspected, or after molding, the molded article (optical disk or light guide plate, etc.) is inspected visually or by an inspection device in the next step. The results were fed back as stamper quality information, and it was decided whether to replace the stamper. In addition, the stamper has been replaced after a certain number of molding shots, regardless of the quality of the stamper.

[0005]

As shown in the above-mentioned conventional example, the stamper is removed from the mold, the wear and scratches on the optical pattern are confirmed, and if there is no problem, the stamper is replaced with a new one. The attaching and detaching work of the stamper is quite troublesome work, and requires a fairly troublesome work such as positioning even after attaching to the mold. Furthermore, since the processing is performed during the molding, the processing efficiency is reduced, and manual operations are required for confirmation and replacement, which hinders labor saving.

The present invention provides an injection mold apparatus provided with an inspection device for detecting a defect in an optical pattern of a stamper without removing the stamper from a mold cavity in order to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks. The task is to

[0007]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to achieve the above-mentioned object, and is an injection molding apparatus having an inspection device for inspecting a defect of an optical pattern of a stamper fixed to a mold cavity. In the mold device, the inspection device is an imaging device that captures the optical pattern, a fixing device that fixes the imaging device to a mold outer peripheral portion, and processes an image input by the imaging device, and the optical pattern is processed. An image processing device that detects a defect of, and the result of the image processing device,
The molding machine is provided with a feedback device for feedback.

The fixing device includes an arm for moving the imaging device from inside the mold to outside the mold, and driving means for driving the arm, wherein the driving means is synchronized with a mold opening and closing operation of the molding machine. When the mold is opened, the imaging device is moved into the mold, and when the mold is closed, the imaging device is moved out of the mold.

[0009]

1 and 2 show an embodiment of the present invention.
It will be described based on

As shown in FIG. 1, a mold plate 101 and a mold clamp plate 102 of an injection molding machine 100 (hereinafter, referred to as a molding machine) are arranged in front and rear in parallel to face each other. It is guided by four tie bars 103 and can be moved in the front-rear direction by a mold clamping cylinder 104. An injection device 105 is provided behind the mold platen 101.

Referring to FIG. 2, an injection mold apparatus 110 is provided.
Is formed by a fixed mold 1 and a movable mold 2. Movable mold 2
Is composed of a movable mold plate 3, a movable mounting plate 4, a movable cavity plate 5, and an ejector block 6. The movable cavity plate 5 includes a bottom surface forming cavity 7 and an end surface forming cavity 8. An ejector block 6 is inserted into the upper and lower end surfaces of the bottom surface forming cavity 7 so as to be able to advance and retreat. Bottom forming cavity 7
, A stamper 9 is placed with the optical pattern 10 facing upward, and the end face of the stamper 9 is sandwiched between the bottom face forming cavity 7 and the end face forming cavity 8. The stamper 9 is positioned at a predetermined position by the positioning block 11.

The fixed mold 1 includes a fixed-side mounting plate 12, a fixed-side mold plate 13, and a fixed-side cavity plate 14. The fixed mold plate 13 has a gate portion (not shown), and the cavity is filled with a molten thermoplastic resin at a high pressure.

The inspection device 120 includes an imaging device 20 and a fixing device 30.

An image pickup device 20 includes an illumination device 21 for irradiating an optical pattern of a stamper 9, a camera 22 for capturing reflected light from the optical pattern, and an image processing technology for processing an optical pattern image captured by the camera 22. And a feedback device 24 for feeding back the result determined by the image processing device 23 to the molding machine 100.

The fixing device 30 includes an arm 31 and a driving device 3.
The camera 22 is fixed to the arm 31 so as to face the optical pattern 10 of the stamper 9 fixed to the bottom surface forming cavity 7 at the tip end 31a.
The connecting rod 33 is connected to 1a. Camera 22
Means that the camera 22 obstructs the mold clamping operation from the inside of the mold (D) (position facing the optical pattern 10 of the stamper 9) to the outside of the mold (E) (at the time of mold clamping) around the connecting rod 33. (A position where it does not work). The connecting rod 33 is
The driving device 32 is pivotally supported at a substantially central portion in a mold opening and closing direction. The driving device 32 is fixed to an outer peripheral portion 4 a of the movable-side mounting plate 4 (outside the movable-side mold plate 4). Drive device 32
Are synchronized with the opening / closing operation of the molding machine 100 to synchronously rotate the connecting rod 33. Therefore, the arm 31 is
00, synchronized with the opening and closing operation, and when opening the mold, the camera 22
Is rotated to a position facing the stamper 9 (preferable photographing position of the stamper 9). When the mold is closed, the camera 22 is rotated so as to avoid the camera 22 from the position facing the stamper 9 to the outside of the mold.

In the present embodiment, the detecting device 120
Although it is fixed to the movable-side mounting plate 4 by the fixing device 30, it can be fixed to the fixed-side mounting plate 12. In that case, the mounting direction of the camera 22, the rotating direction of the camera 22, and the like are different.

Next, the main operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. First, the rotation state of the camera 22 by the driving device 32 will be described. (1) When closing the mold (the movable mold 2 moves forward and the movable mold 2 and the fixed mold 1 are in close contact with each other), the driving device 32 The camera 22 is in a state of avoiding outside the mold (E) (a position where the camera does not interfere with the mold opening / closing operation). Therefore, in this state, the camera 22 is
Can not shoot.

(2) When the mold is opened (the state after the movable mold 2 is retracted, the movable mold 2 and the fixed mold 1 are separated, and the molded product 15 is taken out of the mold), the driving device 32 drives the camera 22. But,
The stamper 9 is rotated to a position facing the stamper 9 (a position substantially corresponding to the center axis of the optical pattern 10 of the stamper 9).
9 is started.

Next, the defect detection procedure will be described with reference to FIG.

(3) The stamper image photographed by the camera 9 is used to determine a defect (abrasion, deformation, scratch, breakage, etc. of the pattern) of the optical pattern 10 of the stamper 9 by an image processing technique. .

(4) If a defect is found as a result of the determination in (3), the result of the determination is fed back to the molding machine 100, the molding machine 100 is stopped in the released state, and a warning of the replacement of the stamper 9 is issued. Emits.

(5) If no defect is found as a result of the determination in (3), the process returns to the state of (1) and molding is continued.

Conventionally, the stamper 9 has been periodically removed from the mold and visually inspected. In this case, the stamper 9 is removed from the mold, and the wear and scratches of the optical pattern 10 are confirmed.
If there is no problem, the work of attaching and detaching the stamper 9 to return the mold to the mold again is quite troublesome work, and even after mounting on the mold, it requires quite troublesome work such as positioning. Furthermore, since the processing is performed during the molding, the processing efficiency is reduced, and manual operations are required for confirmation and replacement, which hinders labor saving. Therefore,
As in the present application, there has been a demand for a technique capable of confirming the stamper 9 without removing it from the mold. Also, in the case where the molding machine is to be automatically operated at night in the future, a technique for automatically inspecting the stamper for defects and automatically replacing the stamper is indispensable.

In the present application, the feedback device 24 accurately determines whether or not the stamper 9 needs to be replaced.
By feeding back the stamper 9, the quality of the stamper 9 can be maintained, and the quality of the molded product can be improved.

[0025]

According to the present invention, since the operation of confirming whether or not the stamper needs to be replaced is mechanized, the processing efficiency of the molding machine can be improved, and the efficiency of the stamper confirmation operation can be improved and labor can be saved. Further, the replacement of the stamper can be performed reasonably and economically.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an injection molding machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the injection mold apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a top view of the injection molding apparatus when the mold is opened (showing a state in which the camera faces a stamper). (A
-A)

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the injection molding apparatus when the mold is opened (showing a state in which the camera faces a stamper). (A
-A)

FIG. 5 is also a top view of the injection molding apparatus when the mold is clamped (showing a state in which the camera has avoided the outside of the mold). (A-
A)

FIG. 6 is also a top view of the injection molding apparatus when the mold is clamped (in a state where the camera is avoided outside the mold). (A-
A)

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an inspection procedure of the inspection apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 7 Bottom Forming Cavity (Mold Cavity) 9 Stamper 10 Optical Pattern 20 Inspection Device 110 Injection Molding Device 19 Camera (Imaging Device) 4a Outer Periphery of Movable Mounting Plate (Mold Edge) 30 Fixing Device 22 Image Processing device 100 Molding machine 23 Feedback device

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An injection molding apparatus provided with an inspection device for inspecting a defect of an optical pattern of a stamper fixed to a mold cavity, the inspection device comprising: an imaging device for photographing the optical pattern; A fixing device that fixes the imaging device to the outer periphery of the mold, an image processing device that processes an image input by the imaging device, and detects a defect of the optical pattern, and a result of the image processing device is sent to a molding machine. An injection mold apparatus having a feedback device for feedback. 2. The fixing device according to claim 1, further comprising: an arm for moving the imaging device from inside the mold to outside the mold; and driving means for driving the arm. 2. The injection molding die apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the imaging apparatus is moved into the mold synchronously when the mold is opened, and is moved out of the mold when the mold is clamped. 3.