| US 7,594,532 B2 | ||
| Method of operation for an apparatus for making an upper and a lower mold and the apparatus therefor | ||
| Minoru Hirata, Toyokawa (Japan); Takayuki Komiyama, Toyokawa (Japan); Toshihiko Oya, Toyokawa (Japan); Tsuyoshi Sakai, Toyokawa (Japan); and Koichi Sakaguchi, Toyokawa (Japan) | ||
| Assigned to Sintokogio, Ltd., Aichi (Japan) | ||
| Filed on Jul. 31, 2007, as Appl. No. 11/882,215. | ||
| Claims priority of application No. 2006-329070 (JP), filed on Dec. 06, 2006; and application No. 2007-132328 (JP), filed on May 18, 2007. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2008/0135201 A1, Jun. 12, 2008 | ||
| This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer. | ||
| Int. Cl. B22C 15/08 (2006.01); B22D 46/00 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 164—456 [164/151; 164/155.3; 164/154.8; 164/207] | 4 Claims |
| 1. A method of controlling the operation of an apparatus for making an upper and a lower mold, the apparatus including:
a molding unit having:
a cope flask and a drag flask which hold a match plate between them;
an upper squeeze member, which is inserted in a space of the cope flask, which has no match plate, and which can form a molding
space to make the upper mold in combination with the cope flask; and a separating means which is installed on the cope flask
to separate the upper squeeze member from the match plate;
an actuator having:
an upper squeeze means to press the upper squeeze member against the match plate;
a filling frame and a lower squeeze member, both of which together can form, in combination with the drag flask, a space to
make a lower mold; and
a lower squeeze means to press the lower squeeze member against the match plate;
a driving unit which drives the upper and the lower squeeze means; and
a conveying means having a rotating frame which can rotate upward or downward in a perpendicular plane, wherein the molding
unit is moved into or out of the actuator by the rotating frame and the upper and lower squeeze members are forwarded to the
match plate by the upper and lower squeeze means, the method comprising the steps of: measuring an upper squeeze force that
the upper squeeze member receives from the upper squeeze means and a lower squeeze force that the lower squeeze member receives
from the lower squeeze means;
calculating the difference between the squeeze forces so measured;
comparing the difference between the squeeze forces with a predetermined tolerance of difference between the squeeze forces;
and
controlling the driving unit to, based on the results of the comparison, stop or slow forward movement of the upper squeeze
member or the lower squeeze member or both until the difference between the squeeze forces becomes less than the tolerance.
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