01
Project Background
A mold factory in Zhejiang currently has 5 3200T horizontal injection molding machines. In actual production, the mold change of a single injection molding machine's pressure plate requires the coordinated operation of 2 workers, with each change taking as long as 100 minutes. Changing the mold 4 - 5 times a day has severely limited production capacity. Meanwhile, the long - term use of the pressure plate mold change method has led to frequent occurrences of screw loosening and pressure plate deformation.
How to break the deadlock? The content of the " LS3200T Injection Molding Machine Magnetic Die Change " project cooperated by a mold factory in Zhejiang and Hashida Intelligence is as follows:
02
Customer pain points and solutions
Problem 1: The mold specifications vary, the manual clamping plate operation is cumbersome, requiring repeated adjustment of the mold opening stroke, which takes a long time
Pain points: Low efficiency of pressure plate mold change and high safety risk
Illustration: The mold with screws tightened before installing the magnetic plate in this mold factory
Solution: After a professional evaluation of the injection molding machine parameters provided by the customer, the Qiaotian Intelligent Technology Team conducted on-site inspections: within 10 meters of the injection molding machine, there is a stable power supply access point, the mold operating temperature range is (-10°C~60°C), and the standard mold thickness is 80mm. After confirming the above key installation conditions and ensuring that the equipment's safety load is not overloaded, Qiaotian Intelligent provides the following magnetic mold change solution:
- Customized Magnetic Plate: Based on the injection volume of 15543CC and injection weight of 11346G of the injection molding machine, the magnetic coverage area of the magnetic plate is 2190mm×1724mm, which can be compatible with different mold mounting surface dimensions. With 224 magnetic poles distributed, it provides a magnetic attraction force of 134.4T (equivalent friction force of 20.16T), with a safety factor of 3.15 times, which can cover the customer's mold self-weight + injection impact force, preventing mold displacement during the production process.
- 3-second rapid magnetization/demagnetization: Regardless of the size and shape of the mold, it can be quickly adsorbed and fixed, completely bidding farewell to the cumbersome operation of clamping plate screws.
Illustration: The mold factory conducts mold operations after installing the magnetic plate
Problem 2: The device protocol is incompatible, making it impossible to directly link with the magnetic mold change system
Pain point: The injection molding machine lacks European standard communication and has a low degree of automation
Solution: Bridgefield Intelligent Technology technicians installed a PLC gateway on-site to perform real-time collection and protocol conversion of the mold clamping status signal and ejector pin position of the injection molding machine:
The Modbus RTU protocol is used to convert the native IO signals of the injection molding machine into the CANopen protocol compatible with the magnetic mold change system, with a data refresh cycle ≤ 100ms, ensuring no delay in command response and enabling basic interaction.
Meanwhile, a manual trigger function is integrated into the HMI interface of the magnetic mold change system. In manual mode, it also supports operators to monitor the status of the injection molding machine, the mold adsorption force curve, and position parameters in real time, manually confirm the mold change process when necessary, providing dual safeguards for greater safety.
Question 3: During communication with the client, it was learned that due to frequent accidents such as magnetic failure and mold detachment in the industry between 2018 and 2019, the client has concerns about the safety of magnetic mold change, and the upgrade plan has been repeatedly postponed.
Pain points: The mold is heavy, and customers have many safety concerns
Solution: In the case of magnetic force failure or mold detachment, apart from the factor that backplane maintenance has not formed a standardized cycle, the root cause lies in the fact that the traditional magnetic mold change system lacks the real-time monitoring ability for individual magnetic poles, making it unable to detect local magnetic force attenuation or failure in a timely manner, and there are blind spots in the overall magnetic force evaluation of the system. Based on this, Qiaotian provides the following solutions:
- Digitalization of mold management: All molds have their data information established in the system and undergo parameter measurement, with the measurement data stored in mold management. The system must have mold information when performing magnetization and demagnetization operations ;
- Dynamic safety check: Calculate the theoretical adsorption requirements based on the mold structural parameters (length and width dimensions, total mass, and centroid coordinates): First, check the minimum adsorption force required to balance the mold's self-weight, then verify the anti-overturning moment to prevent the mold from overturning, and finally compare and analyze the calculated values with the actual adsorption force data collected by the pressure sensor, ensuring that the safety factor ≥ 3 (industry standard ≥ 1.5);
- Meanwhile, the system is equipped with a built-in 64-zone pressure sensing network,224 independent magnetic pole detection systems,which can display the clamping force distribution and safety factor in real time, and even if there is a slight deviation in mold placement, it canautomatically calibrate the risk of unbalanced load;
- Redundant design: It can still maintain over 80% adsorption force when a single point fails. Ensures that the magnetic force is maintained even during a power outage, preventing accidental mold detachment and ensuring production continuity.
03
Customer Value
Since the operation of the Hashida Magnetic Die Change System, the overall production improvement of the mold factory is as follows:
- 5-fold efficiency improvement: Single mold change time reduced from 100 minutes to 20 minutes, significantly enhancing production continuity;
- Halved labor costs: The number of operators has been reduced from 2 to 1, saving 50% in costs while reducing the risk of human error;
- Comprehensive Compatibility Upgrade: Effortlessly handle multi-variety, small-batch orders, with production flexibility significantly enhanced;
2025-05-16
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