Application | Injection Molds

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WIRED INJECTION MOLD NEEDS CABLE TRACK

As manufacturing systems become more complex and require more cabling, populated cable tracks have started to gain ground in some unexpected applications. One such application involves injection molds. /////////////////////////////////////

This particular mold had no shortage of control and power cables. According to Scott Hatfield, a Prestige project manager, the hot runner system that delivers molten plastic to the mold cavities has 114 thermal zones, which required 12 separate cables to carry control signals and power. An additional 237 thermal zones in the mold required another 16 cables. Those cables all have to be managed during repeated mold open-close cycles to protect them from constant flex cycles and to keep them from getting caught in the mold. “We had never used a populated track before, but in this case it was a necessity given the number of cables and their position above the mold when it opens,” says Hatfield. Prestige worked with LAPP’s ÖLFLEX ® CONNECT team to design a pair of populated tracks that wouldmeet the requirements of this particular stack mold. The hot runner track carries four power cable assemblies based on ÖLFLEX ® FD 890 cables and four thermocouple cable assemblies based on high-flex stranded thermocouple leads. The track for the mold’s thermal system contains 13 power and control cable assemblies which contain a mix of 16 and 12 AWG flexible conduit assemblies. Eight more high-flex thermocouple cable assemblies fill out the mold track. Both the hot runner and mold tracks use a variety of LAPP’s EPIC ® rectangular connectors. Despite the number of components it contains, the populated track goes through the mold assembly process as if it was a single part. It simply bolts onto “landing pads” that Prestige milled on the top of the mold base. It disassembles for maintenance just as easily. “With individual cables, assembly and disassembly can be a real headache,” says Hatfield. “Using a populated track takes away that pain.”

Far from being hunks of steel, modern molds have sophisticated thermal controls that require both power and signal connections. Likewise, many molds have electromechanical actuators, pressure transducers and other onboard electronics that up the wire and cable count even further. The elevated wire and cable count is especially apparent on stack molds, which have two or more mold parting surfaces to maximize the number of cavities. Because these molds open on two parting surfaces, they also have greater range of motion in the pull direction than a single-face mold. Populated cable tracks can go a long way in simplifying the cable management on these complex tools. And that’s why Prestige Mold Incorporated has adopted them on a recent 192-cavity stack mold built for a medical part.

www.lappusa.com www.lappcanada.com

LAPP 29 Hanover Road, Florham Park, NJ 07932 T. 800 774 3539

THIS INNER CABLE TRACK WILL HAVE (6) CONDUIT CABLES AS SHOWN

LARGE CABLE TRACK BOX REMOVED FOR VISUAL CLARITY

POWER

POWER

POWER

T/C

THIS OUTER CABLE TRACK WILL HAVE (6) CONDUIT CABLES AS SHOWN

T/C

POWER

T/C

POWER

POWER

T/C

T/C

T/C

www.lappusa.com www.lappcanada.com

LAPP 29 Hanover Road, Florham Park, NJ 07932 T. 800 774 3539