How to improve the production efficiency of consumer electronics products through injection molds?

1, Mold design: paradigm transformation from "experience driven" to "data driven"
Pre modeling of flow analysis
Traditional mold development relies on trial mold correction, while modern enterprises can simulate the entire process of melt filling, cooling, warping, etc. in the mold design stage through simulation software such as Moldflow. For example, a mobile phone manufacturer reduced the number of trial molds from 5 to 2 through CAE simulation, shortening the development cycle by 40%. Simulation technology can also accurately predict the position of the weld line, eliminate appearance defects by adjusting the gate layout, and reduce post-processing steps.
Popularization of hot runner system
Hot runner technology maintains the temperature of the melt by heating the runner plate, eliminating the generation of nozzle material. Taking the production of smart watch cases as an example, after using hot runner molds, the proportion of single-mode water nozzle material decreased from 15% to 2%, and the crushing time was reduced by 60%. At the same time, due to the improvement of temperature uniformity, the product yield increased to 99.2%.
Innovation of conformal cooling water circuit
3D printing technology enables the cooling water circuit to conform to the curved surface design of the mold cavity. After adopting conformal cooling, the cooling time of a certain AR eyeglass frame mold was shortened from 18 seconds to 12 seconds, and the daily output of single-mode increased by 33%. More importantly, uniform cooling eliminates internal stress in the product and solves the problem of frame deformation caused by traditional straight water channels.
2, Process control: precision manufacturing system with millisecond level response
Multi level injection speed control
Consumer electronics casings need to balance appearance and structural strength, which requires the injection process to achieve a "slow fast slow" multi-stage variable speed. For example, a tablet computer shell mold adopts a five segment injection curve: the first segment fills the gate with 50mm/s to avoid overheating and decomposition of the melt; Quickly fill the mold at a speed of 300mm/s in the middle section to prevent weld marks; Reduce the final section to 80mm/s and maintain pressure to eliminate shrinkage defects. This process increases the surface glossiness of the product by 2 levels and controls the injection cycle within 3.2 seconds.
Model temperature closed-loop control system
Mold temperature fluctuations exceeding ± 3 ℃ can lead to product size deviations. A certain earphone charging case mold achieves dynamic compensation of mold temperature through the linkage of infrared temperature sensor and electric heating coil. When the temperature of the mold cavity rises to 82 ℃, the system automatically starts the cooling cycle; Switch heating mode when the temperature drops to 78 ℃. This closed-loop control increases the CPK value of the product size from 1.33 to 1.67, meeting the requirements of precision assembly.
Application of Low Pressure Injection Molding Technology
In response to the trend of thinning (such as reducing the thickness of the phone frame to 0.4mm), low-pressure injection molding can reduce the impact of the melt on the mold. A folding screen mobile phone hinge mold uses an injection pressure of 0.8MPa, combined with high-speed filling (450mm/s), to ensure that the melt fully fills the microstructure while avoiding burrs. Compared to traditional high-pressure injection molding, the mold life is extended by three times and the maintenance frequency is reduced by 80%.
3, Intelligent Integration: Digital Twin from Single Machine to Production Line
Collaboration between robotic arm and visual inspection
A smart watch strap production line integrates a six axis robotic arm and an AI vision system: the robotic arm extracts products at a rate of 0.3 seconds per piece, and the vision system synchronously detects surface scratches, burrs, and other defects. Real time feedback of detection data to the injection molding machine, automatic adjustment of process parameters. This system reduces the manpower of a single line from 8 people to 2 people, and increases the product throughput rate from 92% to 98.5%.
Penetration of digital twin technology
A TWS earphone charging case mold simulates 100000 opening and closing cycles in a virtual space through a digital twin platform. The system predicts the wear position of the mold guide column and uses SKD61 wear-resistant steel in advance at the corresponding part of the solid mold. In actual production, the lifespan of the mold has been extended from 500000 times to 800000 times, and maintenance costs have been reduced by 40%.
Central feeding system upgrade
A consumer electronics injection molding workshop has deployed an intelligent central feeding system: it identifies raw material batches through RFID tags and automatically matches process parameters; The color masterbatch machine dynamically adjusts the ratio according to the production plan, with an error controlled within ± 0.5%; The dryer is linked with the injection molding machine, and automatically starts feeding when the temperature of the material cylinder reaches the set value. This system reduces the color change time from 2 hours to 20 minutes and lowers the raw material waste rate from 3% to 0.8%.