Claims
- 1. An injection molding apparatus comprising:
a manifold having a manifold channel for receiving a melt stream of moldable material under pressure, said manifold having a generally fixed location; a nozzle having a first nozzle portion and a second nozzle portion provided in series between said manifold and a mold gate, said first nozzle portion and said second nozzle portion having respective nozzle channels for delivering said melt stream from said manifold to a mold cavity; a nozzle tip provided at a forward end of said second nozzle portion, said nozzle tip having a generally fixed position; and a telescoping connection provided between said first nozzle portion and said second nozzle portion to allow for a continuous flow of melt therebetween; wherein thermal expansion during operation of said injection molding apparatus is absorbed by said telescoping connection.
- 2. The injection molding apparatus of claim 1, wherein a nozzle heater is coupled to said nozzle to heat said first nozzle portion and said second nozzle portion.
- 3. The injection molding apparatus of claim 1, wherein a first nozzle heater is coupled to said first nozzle portion and a second heater portion is coupled to said second nozzle portion.
- 4. The injection molding apparatus of claim 1, wherein said nozzle channels of said first nozzle portion and said second nozzle portion have generally equal diameters.
- 5. An injection molding apparatus comprising:
an injection manifold having a plurality of melt channels; at least one injection nozzle having a nozzle head portion, a nozzle flange, a first nozzle body portion including a first nozzle melt channel, and a second nozzle body portion, said second nozzle body portion having a second nozzle melt channel located along the same axis as the first nozzle melt channel; a nozzle connection located between the first nozzle body portion and the second nozzle body portion, said nozzle connection having a connection melt channel and a wall section surrounding said connection melt channel, whereby said wall section is movable inside the first nozzle melt channel; a nozzle tip having a nozzle tip melt channel at least partially coaxial with and in communication with said second nozzle melt channel; and a mold gate located adjacent the nozzle tip.
- 6. The injection molding apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said nozzle flange locates and retains said nozzle head portion in a mold plate bore that surrounds the injection nozzle.
- 7. The injection molding apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said injection manifold is retained in a stationary position by the nozzle flange.
- 8. The injection molding apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the first nozzle body portion is heated by a first heater and the second nozzle body portion is heated by an independent second heater.
- 9. The injection molding apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said first and second heaters are embedded at least partially in said first and second nozzle body portions.
- 10. The injection molding apparatus according to claim 5, wherein a single heater is located along the melt channels of the first nozzle body and the second nozzle body.
- 11. The injection molding apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the nozzle tip melt channel is at least partially coaxial with the second body melt channel.
- 12. The injection molding apparatus according to claim 1 and 5, further comprising a biasing means surrounding the telescoping connection.
- 13. The injection molding apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a biasing means surrounding the nozzle connection.
- 14. The injection molding apparatus according to claim 5, wherein at least two nozzles are coupled to the manifold and are positioned in communication with at least two mold gates of a single mold cavity.
- 15. The injection molding apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said mold cavity has a longitudinally offset portion and each of said nozzles has a different length.
- 16. The injection molding apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said nozzle connection is fixedly attached to one of the first and second nozzle body portions.
- 17. The injection molding apparatus according to claim 16, wherein said nozzle connection is made of two materials and each material has a different coefficient of thermal expansion.
- 18. The injection molding apparatus according to claim 17, wherein said nozzle connection is made of a sleeve portion and a telescoping connection.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of provisional applications U.S. Appl. No. 60/460,418, filed Apr. 7, 2003 and U.S. Appl. No. 60/468,973, filed May 9, 2003, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
Provisional Applications (2)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60460418 |
Apr 2003 |
US |
|
60468973 |
May 2003 |
US |