The Casting of Polyurethane (low pressure, self cleaning head) for Shoe Soles and Technical Parts using a Robot Guided Mixing Head with Small Shot Volume and Granulate Filler Dosing System

摘要

Probably the most important factor for the survival of footwear manufacturers as well as manufacturers of technical parts made out of polyurethane (PU) in industrialized countries such as the US is to reduce the manual labor content of their products, increase the productivity whilst at the same time minimizing the amount of PU waste that it produces in the form of flash, injection runners and dump-shuts. To increase the quality is important for improved business, as well as waste reduction in case of second quality or scrap-products. Such companies are also obliged at the same time to reduce and control the quantity of harmful emissions that are produced during their everyday business. By the use of robot guided mixing head new dimensions for the filling process of complicated contours, articles like shoe soles, are poured perfect now. A precise low-pressure pouring of polyester or polyether PU-systems, incorporated with state of the art environmentally friendly technology will be described. The low-pressure mechanical self cleaning mixing head can be mounted on a six-axis robot and can be maneuvered through a multitude of pre-determined positions or paths whilst simultaneously dispensing extremely precise shot volumes.