Optimized digital proportional integral derivative controller for heating and cooling injection molding system

Abstract

Proportional integral derivative (PID) control is one of the conventional control strategies. Industrial PID control has many options, tools, and parameters for dealing with the wide spectrum of difficulties and opportunities in manufacturing plants. It has a simple control structure that is easy to understand and relatively easy to tune. Injection mold is warming up to the idea of cycling the tool surface temperature during the molding cycle rather than keeping it constant. This “heating and cooling” process has rapidly gained popularity abroad. However, it has discovered that raising the mold wall temperature above the resin’s glass-transition or crystalline melting temperature during the filling stage is followed by rapid cooling and improved product performance in applications from automotive to packaging to optics. In previous studies, optimization methods were mainly selected on the basis of the subjective experience. Appropriate techniques are necessary to optimize the cooling channels for the injection mold. In this study, a digital signal processor (DSP)-based PID control system is applied to injection molding machines. The main aim of this study is to optimize the control of the proposed structure, including a digital PID control method with a DSP chip in the injection molding machine.