Patent ID: 8257075

Claim:
A mold assembly for forming carbon composite parts, comprising: a moldbase adapted to hold one or more mold inserts, said moldbase having one or more internal fluid lines embedded therein to facilitate a fluid based cooling of components during the formation of a carbon composite based part; a plurality of mold inserts, at least one of which is held by said moldbase, wherein said plurality of mold inserts combine to form one or more mold cavities therebetween while held by said moldbase such that one or more materials including a carbon fiber component and a resin component can be placed therein for the formation of said carbon composite based part, and wherein at least one of said plurality of mold inserts includes a permanent release coating along a surface that contacts said carbon fiber and resin components, said permanent release coating being adapted to facilitate the release of said carbon composite based part from its respective mold insert; one or more guide pins and guide pin receiving holes located on at least one of said moldbase and said plurality of mold inserts, said one or more guide pins and guide pin receiving holes being adapted to facilitate the accurate alignment of mold inserts with each other for the formation of said carbon composite based part; a plurality of ejector pins located within a plurality of respective ejector pin shafts that are formed within at least one of said plurality of mold inserts, said plurality of ejector pins being adapted to aid in the ejection of said carbon composite based part from a respective mold insert; at least one ejector pin shaft stopper that is distinct from any of the ejector pins, each ejector pin shaft stopper being fitted within an associated one of said plurality of ejector pin shafts, wherein said ejector pin shaft stopper is adapted to transfer a mechanical force from a respective ejector pin to said carbon composite part for ejection of the carbon composite part from a respective mold insert, and wherein said ejector pin shaft stopper is further adapted to prevent the substantial passage of said resin component into its respective ejector pin shaft during the formation of said carbon composite based part; and a fluid actuated ejection system adapted to provide fluid based mechanical forces to said plurality of ejector pins to facilitate the ejection of said carbon composite based part from a respective mold insert.