Injection mold system for component core

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10259138-B2
Application number	US-201715417384-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 27, 2017
Priority date	Jan 27, 2017
Publication date	Apr 16, 2019
Grant date	Apr 16, 2019

Abstract

An injection mold system for injecting slurry into an internal portion of an injection mold component core is disclosed. The system may include a fill clip for injecting slurry into an internal portion of an injection mold component core including a fill member for injecting slurry into the internal portion of the injection mold component core, and a latch member for removably coupling the fill member with the injection mold component core. The system may also include a fill reservoir for collecting excess slurry from the internal portion of the injection mold component core. The fill reservoir may also redistribute the excess slurry back into the internal portion of the injection mold component core.

First claim

We claim:

1. A fill clip for injecting slurry into an internal portion of an injection mold component core, the fill clip comprising:
a fill member sized to engage a first side of the injection mold component core, the fill member having at least one slurry input for receiving the slurry and a plurality of slurry outputs positioned to output the slurry into the internal portion of the injection mold component core; and
a latch member coupled with the fill member, the latch member configured to removably couple the fill member with the injection mold component core.

2. The fill clip of claim 1 , wherein the latch member includes a metal clipping mechanism.

3. The fill clip of claim 1 , further comprising a first moldable member coupled to an inner surface of the fill member, the moldable member configured to conform to the first side of the injection mold component core.

4. The fill clip of claim 3 , further comprising a second moldable member coupled to the inner surface of the latch member, the second moldable member configured to conform to a second side of the injection mold component core, the second side opposing the first side.

5. The fill clip of claim 1 , wherein fill member includes an inner surface having a shape that corresponds to a shape of the first side of the injection mold component core.

6. The fill clip of claim 1 , wherein the latch member is sized to engage a second side of the injection mold component core, the second side opposing the first side of the injection mold component core.

7. The fill clip of claim 1 , wherein the latch member includes an inner surface having a shape that corresponds to a shape of a second side of the injection mold component core, the second side opposing the first side of the injection mold component core.

8. The fill clip of claim 1 , wherein the at least one slurry input consists of a single slurry input.

9. The fill clip of claim 1 , wherein the fill member includes a set of fluid passages spanning between the at least one slurry input and the plurality of slurry outputs, wherein the set of fluid passages are isolated from each other.

10. The fill clip of claim 1 , further comprising a hinge coupling the latch member and the fill member.

11. The fill clip of claim 1 , wherein a number of slurry outputs in the fill member corresponds to a number of slurry receipt openings on the first side of the injection mold component core, the slurry receipt openings in fluid communication with the internal portion of the injection mold component core.

12. The fill clip of claim 11 , wherein each slurry output includes a male component configured to engage a corresponding one of the slurry receipt openings, each of the slurry receipt openings including a female component.

13. The fill clip of claim 1 , wherein the fill member includes a cavity spanning between the at least one slurry input and the plurality of slurry outputs, the cavity sized to store slurry.

14. The fill clip of claim 1 , wherein the fill member and the latch member are configured to surround a primary axis of the injection mold component core when the fill member is engaged to the first side of the injection mold component core and the latch member is coupled to the fill member.

15. The fill clip of claim 1 , wherein the latch member includes acrylonitrile butadiene styrene plastic.

16. The fill clip of claim 1 , wherein the latch member and the fill member are substantially unitary.

17. The fill clip of claim 1 , further comprising at least one coupling member for coupling the latch member and the fill member.

18. The fill clip of claim 1 , wherein the fill member is sized to engage the first side of the injection mold component core at a lower surface of the first side of the injection mold component core.

19. An injection mold system for injecting slurry into a component core, the core having a first end, a second end and an internal portion between the first end and the second end, the injection mold system comprising:
a fill clip for injecting slurry into the internal portion of the component core, the fill clip including:
a fill member sized to engage a first side of the component core, the fill member having at least one slurry input for receiving the slurry and a plurality of slurry outputs positioned to output the slurry into the internal portion of the component core; and
a latch member coupled with the fill member, the latch member configured to removably couple the fill member with the component core; and

a fill reservoir configured to couple with at least one of the first end or second end of the component core, the fill reservoir for collecting excess slurry into the internal portion of the component core during an injection mold process, the fill reservoir configured to engage a top surface of the component core, the fill reservoir including:
a cavity for collecting the excess slurry; and
at least one slurry output positioned to output the excess slurry back into the internal portion of the component core.

20. A method of manufacturing a fill clip for injecting slurry into an internal portion of a component core, the method comprising:
providing a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing code representative of the fill clip, the code configured to physically generate at least:
a fill member sized to engage a first side of the injection mold component core, the fill member having at least one slurry input for receiving the slurry and a plurality of slurry outputs positioned to output the slurry into the internal portion of the injection mold component core; and
a latch member coupled with the fill member, the latch member configured to removably couple the fill member with the injection mold component core; and

physically generating the fill clip by processing the code by a computerized additive manufacturing system.

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Smith Dillon Mathew
• Packer Travis J
• Pratt James Stuart

Classifications

• B22F10/28

  Powder bed fusion, e.g. selective laser melting [SLM] or electron beam melting [EBM] · CPC title

• B28B1/24 Primary

  by injection moulding {(injection moulding of ceramic slips B28B1/265; of tubular articles B28B21/38)} · CPC title

• B22F3/225

  by injection molding · CPC title

• B33Y80/00

  Products made by additive manufacturing · CPC title

• B22F5/009

  of turbine components other than turbine blades (of turbine blades B22F5/04) · CPC title