HYDRAULIC CYLINDER DEVICE FOR PLATEN SPACING INDICATION AND CONTROL

Abstract: A press has upper and lower platens which can be moved towards and away from one another. Four hydraulic leveling cylinders (30, 32, 34, 36) are mounted in a vertical orientation on the lower platen for purposes of platen parallelism control. In preferred form, each cylinder has a piston rod (50) which engages an associated post (100) on the upper platen as the platens approach one another. The piston rod (50) and associated piston (48) are formed with a longitudinal bore (60) open at the upper piston rod end, and a rigid shaft (64) is mounted in the bore with a lower end (66) extending through the bottom of the cylinder housing (44). A coil spring (72) in the interior of the piston rod (50) urges the rigid shaft (64) upwardly until a collar (74) formed on the shaft engages a stop surface, the upper shaft end then being flush with the upper piston rod end.

Description: The invention relates generally to the operation of presses, and more particularly to devices and methods for maintaining a predetermined relationship, such as parallelism, between press platens as they are moved relative to one another. Hydraulic presses are now used extensively for compression molding of large and comparatively thin plastic products and subsequent in-mold coating of such products. Such processes require very strict control of platen parallelism and very accurate separation of mold halves attached to the platens in order to produce satisfactory results. At present, such presses are sometimes required to display no more than .001-.005 inches of misalignment between press platens during compression phases of operation. During in-mold coating phases of operation, such presses may be required to separate mold halves in a well controlled manner by no more than about .001-.005 inches despite forces arising within the mold, while maintaining the same strict platen parallelism requirements. A general understanding of press parallelism control may be obtained by reference to U.S. patent number 4,076,780 which issued February 28, 1978 to Edwin D. Ditto. Special hydraulic presses have been constructed or proposed in recent years which lend themselves to stricter platen parallelism control than has previously been possible. However, there still remains in service a large number of very expensive hydraulic presses which were originally designed without a view to implementing contemporary compression molding and in-mold coating processes. Also, the general design of such earlier presses would still be preferred by many press users to more current designs, because of familiarity and known reliability, assuming that such presses could be manufactured with means providing stricter parallelism control. These earlier or standard presses commonly have a stationary lower platen and an upper moving platen which can be moved towards and away from the lower platen by means of a massive overhead ram. They are often characterized by a very robust frame which includes a pair of opposing side slabs (alternatively plates or posts) that support the cross-head from which the ram is suspended and into which forces generated during compression of work piece are reacted. Certain inner surfaces of these side slabs are commonly formed with angled guide plates which co-operate with structure on the upper platen to ensure that the upper platen approaches and retreats from the lower platen in generally parallel relationship. However, the platen guiding structure associated with such presses is inadequate to maintain the platen parallelism described above. Measures have been proposed to adapt such prior presses for very strict control of platen parallelism. These measures have commonly involved the mounting of hydraulic leveling cylinders on the lower platen, one essentially at each corner of the platen. The piston rods associated with such leveling cylinders might be attached directly to the upper plate; however, since strict parallelism control would not normally be required except during a limited range of platen movement associated with actual compression of a mold and initial separation of mold halves, it is common to provide comparatively short leveling cylinders which engage the upper platen only when the platens are separated by less than a preselected distance. Each leveling cylinder is associated with a platen spacing sensor that indicates platen separation as close to the cylinder as is conveniently possible. A microprocessor might be used to control actuation of the leveling cylinders in response to the spacing signals so as to resist downward movement of the upper platen in a manner which maintains a parallel relationship between the platens. Platen parallelism might also be cont rolled by appropriate actuation of the leveling cylinder during initial separation of mold halves. A number of sensors have been proposed for use in such platen leveling systems. One sensing arrangement involves a length of wire whose upper end is fixed to the piston rod associated with a leveling cylinder or to the upper platen and whose lower end is wound on a drum which is constantly subjected to a rotational force to ensure that the wire is always taut. Angular rotation of the drum can be detected with an appropriate potentiometer to provide a signal indicating relative platen spacing or position. Another alternative is to fix the two major components of a magnetic track and complementary sensor head to the upper and lower platen, the sensor head being mounted on a rod which places the head in contact with the magnetic track over a finite range of movement corresponding to compression phases of operation. A major problem in equipping prior presses with such leveling cylinders and sensors is that the sensors are largely exposed. In view of the type of environments in which such hydraulic presses are commonly used, it would not be unexpected for such sensors to be damaged by mobile equipment, such as forklifts or the like, commonly used in the vicinity of the press. In one aspect, the invention provides a hydraulic leveling cylinder for use in regulating the spacing between press platens. The leveling cylinder has first and second opposing hydraulic cylinder portions which separate along a predetermined axis when hydraulic fluid under pressure is applied to the leveling cylinder. The leveling cylinder might typically comprising a cylinder housing, a piston and a piston rod extending from the housing, and the first cylinder portion might typically by constituted by one end of the housing and the second cylinder portion, by an external end portion of the piston rod. A passage extends between the first and second opposing cylinder portions, and a rigid shaft is located within the passage and can move axially within the passage. The shaft has a first end portion located within the first cylinder end portion and a second end portion extending externally from the second cylinder portion. Biasing means urge the shaft to move axially towards the first hydraulic cylinder portion, and stop means prevents the first shaft end portion from moving axially under the influence of the biasing means beyond a predetermined position relative to the first hydraulic cylinder portion. Sensing means resposive to movement of the second shaft end portion generate a signal indicative of the separation of the first and second shaft end portion. In another aspect of the invention, a multiplicity of such hydraulic leveling cylinder can be operated between press platens to maintain a predetermined relationship, such as parallelism, as during compression phases of operation. In such circumstances, the signals generated by the sensors associated with the leveling cylinders will incidentally be indicative of platen spacing proximate to each hydraulic cylinder. The signals can accordingly be used to control the operation of the leveling cylinders to maintain a required relationship. Several advantages associated with a hydraulic leveling cylinder embodying the invention should be noted. First, the rigid shaft and other components required to sense platen separation are largely protected from interference because of their location within the leveling cylinder. Second, despite such internal mounting of the sensing apparatus, the sensing arrangement remains capable of detecting compression of the components of the hydraulic cylinder itself. This is very significant in compression molding processes of the type described above, where the large compressive force to which each leveling cylinder is subjected can produce a contraction of the associated piston and piston rod in the order of several thousands of an inch. In the past, such as error in measurement of the extension of a hydraulic cylinder might have been ignored; however, in applications requiring strict parallelism control, the measurement error introduced by contraction of the components of a leveling cylinder may very well approach the spacing tolerances which must be maintained between press platens, thereby potentially defeating efforts at parallelism control. These matters will be more readily appreciated from a description of a preferred embodiment below. Various additional inventive features will be apparent from the preferred embodiment and will be more specifically identified in the appended claims. The invention will be better understood with reference to drawings in which: fig.1 is an elevational view of a press incorporating platen leveling cylinders embodying the invention; fig.2 is a fragmented view of one of the leveling cylinders; fig.3 is a schematic represention of the relative placement of the leveling cylinders; fig.4 is an enlarged plan view of a sensor associated with the leveling cylinder of fig. 2; and fig.5 is a view along the lines 5-5 of fig.4 further detailing the relationship between principal components of the sensor. Reference is made to fig.1 which illustrates a conventional hydraulic press 10. The press 10 has a frame which includes an opposing pair of side slabs 12, 14 and a cross-head 16 supported by the slabs. A lower stationary platen 18 is fixed to the bottom of the frame and has a T-slotted bolster plate 22 to which a lower mold member (not shown) can be bolted in a conventional manner. An upper platen 24 is carried by a central hydraulic ram 26 suspended from the cross-head 16 and can be moved by the ram 26 towards and away from the lower platen 20. The upper platen 24 has another T-slotted bolster plate 28 to which an upper mold member (not shown) can be bolted. The upper platen 24 is guided during its movement on the side slabs 12, 14 by angled guiding surfaces formed at inner corners of the side slabs 12, 14, such as the surface 29. This guiding arrangement is adequate for conventional pressing processes, but inadequate for maintenance of the platen parallelism control required in contemporty compression molding of plastic resins. The press 10 is equipped for parallelism control by means of four hydraulic leveling cylinders 30-36 (even numbers only) and associated actuators. The leveling cylinders are mounted in generally vertical orientation inset from the corners of the lower platen 20. As apparent from the diagrammatic illustration of fig. 3, the cylinders 30-36 are in a generally rectangular arrangement with the overhead ram 26 acting centrally through the rectangle. The four cylinders 39-36 are powered by a hydraulic actuating system 38 which might include a conventional hydraulic pump (not illustrated), and servo valves 40 permit regulation of the pressure of hydraulic fluid applied to the leveling cylinders 30-36 on a cylinder-by-cylinder basis. During compression phases of operation, the leveling cylinders 30-36 would be pressurized for expansion in order to resist downward movement of the upper platen 24 under the influence of the central ram 26. A microprocessor 42 responds to spacing signals generated by each of the leveling cylinders 39-36 by controlling the servo valves 40 in a manner which maintains a parallel relationship between the platens 20,24. The details of the overall operaton of such a platen leveling system are conventional and will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. The construction of the leveling cylinder 30 which is typical of four cylinders is most apparent in fig.2. The cylinder 30 has a generally cylindrical housing 44 the bottom of which is attached to a support housing or structure 46 by means of which the cyliner 30 can be bolted to the lower platen bolster plate 22. The cylinder 30 has a piston 48 which slides in sealed relationship with the interior of the cylinder housing 44, and a piston rod 50 attached to the piston 48 and extending vertically to points external to the housing 44. A lower port 52 permits hydraulic fluid under pressure to be applied to the piston 48 for expansion of the cylinder 30, and an upper port 54 permits powered contraction of the cylinder 30. The upper external end 56 of the piston rod 50 is defined by an apertured cap 58 bolted to the body of the piston rod 50. The piston rod end 56 is normally spaced from the upper platen 24 during phases of operation other than compression, when parallelism control is not required, but positioned to engage the upper platen 24 through structures associated with the upper platen 24 when the spacing between the platens 20,24 has reduced to less than a predetermined distance. This predetermined distance or separation would normally correspond to the height of a mold expected to be compressed between the platens 20,24. The external piston rod end 56 might be fastened directly to the upper platen 24 for purposes of the invention; however, such an arrangement will in many instances be impractical as a very large cylinder would be required to accommodate the full travel of the upper platen 24. A continuous longitudinal bore 60 is formed in the piston 48 and piston rod 50, aligned with the central axis of the leveling cylinder 30 along which the cylinder 30 contracts and expands. The bore 60 will be seen to have an open end 62 at the external piston rod end 56 defined essentially by the aperture in the end cap 58. In this particular embodiment, the provision of the open bore end 62 at the external rod end 56 is important for purposes of accommodating contraction of certain post structure associated with the leveling cylinder 30. This will be discussed more fully below. A rigid shaft 64 which is instrumental in platen spacing detection is mounted in the bore 60. A lower shaft end portion 66 extends freely from the bottom housing 44 into the internal cavity of the support housing 46. Seals 67 are provided in the bottom of the cylinder housing 44 ot ensure that no leakage of hydraulic fluid occurs into the support housing 46 from about the shaft 64. An upper shaft end portion 68 is positioned adjacent the piston rod end 56. In this embodiment of the invention, a cylindrical internal compartment 70 is formed about the bore 60 adjacent the piston rod 50 external end. This compartment 70 houses a coil spring 72 through whose interior the shaft 64 extends. The coil spring 72 engages a collar 74 machined on the shaft 64, effectively acting between the piston rod 50 and the shaft 64 to urge the shaft 64 upwardly. A stop is provided to limit upward extension of the rigid shaft 64 beyond the external piston rod end 56. The stop is defined by the end cap 58 and the collar 74 fixed to the shaft 64. Engagement of these two members terminates upward travel of the rigid shaft 64 under the influence of the coil spring 72. Such mounting means ensure that the shaft 64 is always urged upwardly until the upper shaft end is flush with the active pushing surface of the piston rod 50, the external piston rod end 56. As regards selection of an appropriate coil spring 72, it is sufficient for purposes of this embodiment of the invention that the coil spring 72 be able to overcome gravitational and frictional forces applied to the rod. The manner in which the shaft 64 is mounted causes the shaft 64 to be displaced axially with axial movement of the piston rod 50. The mounting also results in axial displacement of the rigid shaft 64 relative to the piston rod 50 as the piston rod 50 itself compresses or expands axially in response to loading, as during compression phases of operation. It will be apparent that any displacement of the lower shaft end portion 66 relative to the lower platen 20 would accordingly indicate changes in platen spacing, and in particular would reflect changes in platen spacing due to contraction or expansion of the piston rod 50 as compressive force a pplied to the piston rod 50 vary. A sensor 76 is provided to detect movement of the lower shaft end portion 66 and to generate a signal indicating the position of the lower shaft end portion 66 relative to the lower platen 20. This sensor 76 has two principal components: a travelling sensor head 78 and a magnetic track 80, both conventional, the general arrangement of which will be apparent from figs. 4 and 5. The sensor head 78 is fixed to the lower shaft end portion 66 for travel therewith, while the track 80 is mounted on the lower platen, within the interior cavity of the support housing 46. The sensor head 78 is carried by a caliper-type connector 79 which is supported from an L-shaped mounting bracket 82. The bracket 82 is itself mounted on a threaded shaft section 84. One arm of the bracket 82 is sandwiched between a pair of thrust bearings 86, 88, the lower bearing 86 being biased upwardly by a coil sprung 90 that acts between the lower bearing 86 and a washer 92 retaining on the threaded shaft section 84 with a nut 94. This connection arrangement permits the sensor head 78 to remain in an operative position within the track 80 (as apparent in fig. 5) despite rotation of the rigid shaft 64 as, for example, in response to any piston rotation which might possibly occur. Signals indicating the position of the sensor head 78 relative to the track 80 (consequently the position of the lower shaft end portion 66 relative to the lower platen 20) are communicated to the microprocessor 42 which accordingly actuates the servo valves 40 to regulate platen spacing. The leveling cylinder 30 will typically be used in association with a vertical post 100 attached to the upper platen in-line with the piston rod 50. The object of the arrangement is to permit convenient adjustment of the platen separation at which the leveling cylinder 30 actively engages the upper platen 24. Accordingly, molds of different height can be accommodated by essentially replacing the post 100 with one of a different length. The provision of a post for such purposes is, however, conventional. The post 100 is structured, however, so that axial contraction of the post 100 does not deleteriously affect the sensing of platen spacing. The post 100 has a generally cylindrical body 102 with a base 104 (uppermost) which is bolted to the upper platen bolster plate 28. An apertured end cap 106 bolted to the bottom of the post 100 defined a post end surface 108 which directly engages the external piston rod end 56 during leveling operations. A longitudinal passage 110 is formed centrally in the interior of the body 102, with an open end at the post end surface 108. A rigid internal shaft 112 is located within the passage 110, an upper end 114 of the shaft 112 being fixed by means of a connection plate 116 to the base 104 and an opposing lower free end 118 terminating substantially flush with the post end surface 108. What should be noted about the post structure is that the rigid internal shaft 112 is not subjected to the compressive forces which act on the surrounding post body 102 during engagement with the leveling cylinder 30. The significance of this will become more apparent from the description immediately below of how the leveling cylinder 30 senses spacing between the platens 20, 24. Fig.2 shows the post 100 abutted with the piston rod 50 as would be the case during leveling of the upper platen 24 relative to the lower platen 20. In particular, it should be noted that the free end 118 of the internal post shaft 112 is then abutted with the upper end of the rigid shaft 64. The shaft 64 and the post internal shaft 112 in such circumstances define essentially a continuous measuring rod which displaces with the upper platen 24. It is advantageous for simplicity of design that these shaft ends be flush with the end surfaces of the piston rod 50 and post 100 in which they are located; however, it will be apparent that this is not critical to ensuring that the shaft ends properly engage. Assuming that the leveling cylinder 30 is offering no significant resistance to downard movement of the upper platen 24, the piston rod 50 is simply displaced axially downardly as the upper platen 24 approaches the lower platen 20. The lower shaft end portion 66 together with the sensor head 78 are consequently displaced dowanwardly by a corresponding amount, and changes in platen spacing are consequently sensed by the sensor head 78. Assuming, however, that the leveling cylinder 30 is hydraulically actuated to resist downward movement of the upper platen 24, both the post 100 and piston rod 50 can be expected to contract axially. As regards contraction of the post 100, contraction of the cylindrical post body 102 does not affect the central rigid shaft 112 which simply extends into the bore 60 formed in the piston rod 50. Accordingly, the post shaft 112 pushes the rigid shaft 64 downwardly by an amount corresponding to the contraction of the post 100. The sensor head 78 is similarly displaced relative to the magnetic track 80, and accordingly changes in the spacing between the platens 20,24 which result from a contraction of the past 100 are detected. As regards contraction of the piston rod 50, the rigid shaft 64 is not affected by such contraction due to its spring-mounting within the cylinder bore 60. Axial contraction of the piston rod 50 produces a corresponding downward displacement of the rigid shaft 64 relative to the post rod 50, and since this axial contraction reflects a change in platen spacing, this spacing change is sensed by the sensor 76. Expansion of the piston rod 50 itself with a reduction in loading reflects an increase in the separation between the upper and lower platens, and the spring-biasing of the rigid shaft 64 upwardly, or more generally towards the external piston rod end 56, permits the sensor 76 to detect such spacing changes. It will be appreciated that a particular embodiment of the invention has been described and that other modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

Claims: 1. A hydraulic leveling cylinder for use in regulating the spacing between press platens, characterized by:first and second opposing hydraulic cylinder portions which separate along a predetermined axis when hydraulic fluid under pressure is applied to the hydraulic leveling cylinder;a passage extending between the first and second opposing hydraulic cylinder portions and aligned with the predetermined axis;a rigid shaft located within the passage and movable axially relative to the passage, the shaft having a first shaft end portion located within the first hydraulic cylinder portion and a second shaft end portion extending externally from the second hydraulic cylinder portion;biasing means for urging the shaft to move axially towards the first hydraulic cylinder portion;stop means for stopping the first shaft end portion from moving axially under the influence of the biasing means beyond a predetermined position relative to the first hydraulic cylinder portion; andsensing means coupled to the second shaft end portion and responsive to movement of the second shaft end portion for generating a signal indicative of the separating of the first and second shaft end portion A hydraulic leveling cylinder as claimed in claim 1 characterized by:a cylinder housing, the cylinder housing defining the second hydraulic cylinder portion;a piston movable axially within the cylinder housing;a piston rod attached to the piston and aligned with the predetermined axis, the piston rod having a piston rod end portion extending from the cylinder housing and a piston rod end surface external to the cylinder housing, the piston rod defining the first hydraulic cylinder portion; andthe passage extending axially through the piston and the piston rod and having an ope n end at the piston rod end surface. 3. A hydraulic leveling cylinder as claimed in claim 2 in combination with an extension post of predetermined length which can be axially aligned with the piston rod, the extension post being characterized by:a base portion;a post end surface spaced from the base portion for abutment with the piston rod end surface;a passage formed in the interior of the post and having an open end at the post end surface;a rigid member located within the passage of the post, the rigid member having fixed end portion attached to the base portion and a free end portion so positioned at the open end of the post passage that the rigid member can engage the rigid shaft when the post end surface abuts the piston rod end surface to displace the first shaft end portion of the rigid shaft axially with compression of the post. 4. A hydraulic leveling cylinder as claimed in claim 2 characterized in that:the piston rod end portion has an internal compartment formed about the passage;the biasing means comprise a spring located within the internal compartment and acting between the piston rod end portion and the shaft. 5. A hydraulic leveling cylinder as claimed in claim 4 in which the stop means are characterized by: an end cap secured to the piston rod and defining the piston rod end surface; and,a stop member attached to the shaft and located within the internal compartment, the stop member abutting the end cap when the shaft is urged by the spring to the predetermined position. 6. A press characterized by:a first platen;a second platen;means for moving the platens relative to one another;a multiplicity of hydraulic leveling cylinders for regulating the spacing between the platens, each of the hydraulic leveling cylinders comprisinga. first and second opposing hydraulic cylinder portions which separate along a predetermined cylinder axis when hydraulic fluid under pressure is applied to the hydraulic leveling cylinder, the first hydraulic cylinder portion being fixed relative to the first press platen, the second hydraulic cylinder portion being positioned to act against the second platen at least when the first and second platens are separated by less than a predetermined distance;b. a passage extending between the first and second opposing hydraulic cylinder portions and aligned with the cylinder axis;c. a rigid shaft located within the passage and movable axially relative to the passage, the shaft having a first shaft end portion located within the first hydraulic cylinder portion and a second shaft end portion extending externally from the second hydraulic cylinder portion;d. biasing means for urging shaft to move axially towards the first hydraulic cylinder portion; e. stop means for stopping the first shaft end portion from moving axially under the influence of the biasing means beyond a predetermined position relative to the first hydraulic cylinder portion; and,f. sensing means responsive to movement of the second shaft end portion for generating a signal indicative of the separation of the first and second shaft end portion;control means for regulating the operation of the hydraulic leveling cylinders to maintain a predetermined spatial relationship between the first and second platens when the multiplicity of hydraulic leveing cylinders act against the second platen, the control means including hydraulic actuating means for applying hydraulic fluid under controllable pressure to the hydraulic leveling cylinders, the control means varying the pressure applied to each of the hydraulic leveling cylinders in response to the signals generated by the sensor means associated with the hydraulic leveling cylinders to maintain the predetermined spatial relationship. 7. A press as claimed in claim 6 in which each of the multiplicity of hydraulic leveling cylinders is characterized by: a cylinder housing, the cylinder housing defining the second hydraulic cylinder portion of the associated hydraulic leveling cylinder;a piston movable axially within the cylinder housing;a piston rod attached to the piston and aligned with the cylinder axis, the piston rod having a piston rod end portion extending from the cylinder housing and a piston rod end surface external to the cylinder housing, the piston rod defining the first hydraulic cylinder portion of the associated hydraulic leveling cylinder;the passage associated with the hydraulic leveling cylinder extending axially through the associated piston and the associated piston rod and having an open end at the associated piston rod end surface. 8. A press as claimed in claim 7 comprising a multiplicity of posts, each of the posts being associated with and axially aligned with a different one of the multiplicity of hydraulic leveling cylinders, each of the posts being characterized by:a base portion fixed relative to the second platen;a post end surface spaced from the base portion and positioned to abut the piston rod end surface of the associated hydraulic leveling cylinder;a passage formed in the interior of the post and having an open end at the post end surface;a rigid member located within the passage of the post, the rigid member having a fixed end portion attached to the base portion and a free end portion so positioned at the open end of the post passage that the rigid member engages the rigid shaft of the associated hydraulic leveling cylinder when the post end surface abuts the piston rod end surface of the associated hydraulic leveling cylinder and displaces the first shaft end portion of the rigid shaft of the associated hydraulic leveling cylinder axially with axial compression of the post. 9. A press as claimed in claim 7 in which each of the hydraulic leveling cylinders is characterized in that:the associated piston rod end portion has an internal compartment formed about the associated passage;the associated biasing means comprise a spring located within the associated internal compartment and acting between the associated piston rod end portion and the associated shaft. 10. A press as claimed in claim 9 in which the stop means associated with each of the hydraulic leveling cylinders are characterized by:an end cap secured to the associated piston rod and defining the associated piston rod end surface; anda stop member attached to the associated shaft and located within the associated internal compartment, the stop member abutting the end cap when the associated shaft is urged by the associated spring to the predetermined position.

Inventors: BALLANTYNE, RONALD
Applicants: JOHN T. HEPBURN, LIMITED
Application year: 1987
Main classification: B29C43
IPC codes: B30B15