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VALVE GATE OPEN LAG TIME IN CONVENTIONAL HOT RUNNER SYSTEM

Conference Paper · March 2018

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 VALVE GATE OPEN LAG TIME IN CONVENTIONAL HOT RUNNER SYSTEM
Jinsu Gim, Bongju Kim, and Byungohk Rhee
Polymer processing laboratory at Ajou University, Suwon, Republic of Korea
Jaehyuk Choi, Sungjun An, and Kyongho Jung
LG Electronics Production engineering research institute, Pyeongtaek, Republic of Korea
Abstract
To optimize the sequence valve gating, CAE simulation
and sequence controller setting should consider dynamic
characteristics of valve gate. The gate open lag time is the
time gap between the beginning and the end of gate open. In
this work, the gate open lag time was measured in various
conditions. Melt temperature influences the gate open lag
time with the shear force on the gate pin surface. The gate
open lag times were not same as the others, and the average
time was about 200 msec, which was almost 10% of the
filling time. The gate open lag time did not show a
noticeable change in the stabilized continuous process. The
moment of gate open should be appropriately determined
because it influenced the halo surface defect, especially on
the polished surface. To set the moment of the gate open to
the desired sequence, the gate open lag time can be applied
to the sequence controller setting.
Introduction
Hot runner system is used extensively in injection
molding process because it could reduce material
consumption, improve automation and enhance productivity
[1–4]. For large parts such as automotive bumpers and TV
back covers, each gate of hot runner system can be
controlled independently to open the sequence valve gating.
It helps elimination of weld line and reduction of nozzle
pressure [1–4].
Optimization of the sequence valve gating requires
many trial-and-errors because melt delivery system in the
manifold is a kind of "communicating tubes" [1] and
pressure and flow rate through a gate, are intertwined with
other valve gates. Once the timing of a gate is modified,
pressure and flow rate of the others alter. The previous
researchers tried to achieve an optimum sequence by CAE
analysis. Many commercial CAE programs provide the
function to optimize the sequence valve gating [5–10].
Usually, CAE programs for the injection molding
process assume that valve gate opens and closes
immediately. However, actual valve gates take time to open
and close completely. Therefore, even if CAE analysis
calculated an optimal valve gate sequence, substantial
amount of pressure and flow rate of the gates would be
different from the CAE result.
Even if some CAE programs have the function to set
the position and the speed of valve pin [11–13], it is for the
different purpose. This feature is provided to simulate the
speed control of valve pin. Recently, technology to actively
control the speed of valve pin has been developed to
enhance part quality. Despite the advantages of the active
valve control technology, it is still difficult to achieve an
optimum condition due to the intertwined nature of gates in
hot runner system. The function to set the speed of valve pin
in the CAE programs may help to optimize the control
condition of the active control system. However, to utilize
the function complex modeling and mesh generation
process are required with the information of valve pin
position or speed profile. Even if the function could be used
to simulate the delayed gate opening of conventional hot
runner system, it is necessary to provide the valve pin profile
information, which should be measured in each gate.
In this work, the response of valve gates in a
conventional hot runner system for a large part (40 inches
TV back cover) was measured and analyzed at various
conditions such as melt temperature and filling time. The
process parameters influencing the gate open lag time were
examined. Also, gate sequence control with and without the
gate open lag time was tested for the part surface quality and
was simulated by CAE analysis. The effect of consideration
of the lag time on product quality was analyzed. A method
to apply the gate open lag time to CAE analysis and hot
runner sequence controller were suggested.
Experiment and Equipment
If the operating time of valve pin from the completely
closed position to the completely open position is short
enough and negligible compared with the filling time, it
could be regarded as the valve pin opens and closes
immediately. However, the lag time should be considered in
the control of valve pin if the operating time is much bigger
than negligible level. Therefore, it is necessary to check how
much time it takes to open a valve gate completely. The gate
open lag time can be defined as the time from the beginning
to the end of valve pin open. A limit switch was installed at
the back of the pneumatic cylinder to measure the gate open
lag time. The switch detects the end position of the valve pin
open. By measuring the time between the valve open
starting signal and the limit switch signal, the gate open lag
time was measured.
Table 1. Reference condition for injection molding trial.
LG Chemical PC-ABS
Resin
LUPOY GN 5000SFL
Filling time 2.6 sec
Holding time/pressure
4 sec / 50 bar
(Machine pressure)
Coolant temperature 60 ºC
255-260-250-240-235 ºC
Barrel temperature
(Nozzle) ↔ (Hopper)
Manifold temperature 260 ºC
Figure 1. 40 in TV back cover and gate locations.
Table 2. Reference timer sequence condition of valve gates.
Gate # Open time Close time Re-open time
G2 0 sec 2.3 sec 2.8 sec
G3 1.9 - -
G4 2.1 - -
G5 2.1 - -
G6 1.9 - -
G7 1.3 2.8 -
G8 2.1 - -
G9 1.9 - -
G10 2.1 - - Figure 2. Gate open lag times of the valve gates.

A DAQ system was built to acquire and process signals
from the limit switch and valve gate controller. The DAQ
system consisted of NI cDAQ-9178 Chassis, NI 9401 digital
signal input/output module, and NI USB 6008. The screw
forward signal was fed to the system as the timing reference.
The program for control and measuring was developed in NI
LabVIEW. The DAQ system had an additional function to
control the valve gates.
The molded part was a 40 inches TV back cover, and
the mold had ten hot runner gates, as shown in Figure 1. The
valve pin diameter of the main gate was 8 mm, and the
others were 6 mm. Table 1 and Table 2 show the reference
injection molding condition and the reference hot runner
sequence condition each.
As shown in Figure 2, each gate showed gate open lag
time from 150 msec to 300 msec, which was approximately
10% of the total filling time. This result means that if a
solenoid valve of a valve gate receives the open signal at 1.5
sec, the valve gates open entirely at 1.65–1.8 sec. The
difference of the gate open lag times among the gates was
about 6% of the filling time. The scale of the gate open lag
time could influence the melt front pattern in the filling stage.
In the continuous process, deviation of the gate open lag
time was approximately 2.5% for a gate, which is 0.2% of
the filling time. The variation of the gate open lag time
among cycles could be negligible in comparison with the
filling time. Therefore, the gate open lag time was stable in
the stabilized continuous process.

The injection molding machine used for the experiment
was LS-Mtron hydraulic injection molding machine LG
1800S-i150 with 1,800 ton of clamping force and 125 mm
of the screw diameter. The resin was PC-ABS LUPOY GN
5000SLF by LG Chemical, and it was dried sufficiently
before the experiment.
Gate Open Lag Time
30 cycles of test injection molding process
corresponding to the reference process condition were
performed to estimate the amount of the gate open lag time.
For the process stabilization, 20 cycles had been proceeded
before the test.
The viscosity of the melt in the manifold would
influence the gate open lag time. The melt viscosity would
affect the movement of the valve pin by exerting the shear
force on the valve pin surface. At the beginning moment of
valve pin movement, shear rate of melt on the valve pin
surface is zero. Therefore, the zero-shear viscosity would
influence valve pin movement. The temperature of the
manifold and barrel was in 4 conditions; the reference
temperature, and temperatures of 10ºC, 15ºC, and 30ºC
lower than the reference temperature. After 30–60 minutes
of 10–20 stabilization cycles, the gate open lag time at a melt
temperature was measured. As shown in Figure 3, the gate
open lag time increases as melt temperature decreases.
Especially at the condition 4, the gate open lag time
increased significantly. As shown in Figure 4, the zero-shear
viscosity of the resin in each condition rises as much as 42%,
73% and 240% from the reference condition (Condition 1,
melt temperature 260ºC). The difference of the zero-shear
viscosity in the condition 3 and 4 is much larger than the
others. The zero-shear viscosity in the condition 3 and 4
could explain the significant increase of the gate open lag
time. Therefore, the zero-shear viscosity of melt influences
the gate open lag time.
Figure 3. Gate open lag time change with melt temperature.
Figure 4. Zero-shear viscosity of LUPOY GN5000SFL [13].
Figure 5. Surface defects (a) near the gate 6 and (b) near the
gate 9.
Influence of gate open lag time
The gate open lag time was nearly constant when melt
temperature stabilized. Therefore, advancing the signal
timing as much as the gate open lag time of each gate could
correct the gate open lag time. The difference between
corrected and desired valve gate open timing and was 0.7%.
Part weights and surface defects were measured and
tested by changing the open signal timing to investigate the
effect of this variation of the gate open lag time on the part
quality. As well as the corrected condition by advancing the
timing of the reference, the other condition by retarding the
gate open timing as much as the lag time was applied. In the
first condition (advancing condition), the gate opened
entirely as much as the gate open lag time earlier than the
reference condition. This condition is the gate open lag time
corrected condition. In the second condition (retarding
condition), the gate opened entirely as much as the lag time
later than the reference condition. Throughout the molding
experiments, the other process parameters were left
unaltered from the reference condition.
The part weight difference in the two conditions was
about 0.3%. Even if the valve gate opened in different
timing in the conditions, it occurred within the filling stage,
not in the holding stage influencing much of the part weight.
Melt temperature or holding pressure acting the cavity that
affects the density did not change. However, the surface
quality was sensitive to the gate open lag time as shown in
Figure 5, especially near the gates 6 and 9. Halo surface
defect occurred when the gate opened as much as the gate
open lag time earlier than the reference condition.
Mold filling simulation was performed by Autodesk
Moldflow Insight 2018 to investigate the effect of the gate
open lag time on the filling pattern and flow front speed. The
complete open time in the experiment set to the valve gate
open timing in the simulation. The specimen and whole
runner was modeled with about 120,000 elements of dual
domain mesh, as shown in Figure 6. Simulation conditions
were referred to the reference condition except the valve
gate timing. The halo surface defects occur by a sudden
change of flow front speed according to previous research
[14, 15]. Therefore, from the simulation results, the flow
front speed distribution was presented in Figure 7. The
simulation result of the advancing condition was Figure 7
(a), and the retarding conditions was Figure 7 (b).
As shown in Figure 7 (a), sudden flow front speed
change appeared near the gate 6 and 9 in the case of the early
gate open. Notably, the location of the drastic flow front
speed change near the gate 6 was on the polished surface,
which emphasized the halo defect. On the contrary, the
location of flow front speed change moved to the etched
surface in the case of the late gate open as shown in Figure
7 (b), which did not cause any visible defect in the molding
trial.
Figure 6. CAE simulation model of the specimen.

Therefore, the advancing condition caused sudden flow

front speed change near the gate 6 and 9 that influenced the
surface defect. The gate open lag time should be
appropriately adjusted not to cause the surface defect,
especially around the polished surface. It is desirable to
check the possibility of the surface defect by CAE Figure 7. Flow front speed distributions of (a) advancing
simulation when the gate open lag time is adjusted. condition and (b) retarding condition.
Before the CAE simulation is applied to check the
In the continuous and stabilized injection molding
defect, the gate open lag time should be measured. After
process, the gate open lag time did not show a noticeable
installing a limit switch or any proper device to the cylinders,
change. Therefore, the valve gate open timing could be
measurement of the gate open lag time can be done by users.
adjusted adequately with the measured gate open lag time.
It would be beneficial for hot runner suppliers to provide the
By advancing the gate open timing as much as the gate open
lag time information of valve gate. At least, a device to
lag time for each gate, the gates could open at the desired
detect the lag time can be an excellent supplement to the
moment.
measured data if the data could not be supplied. If
simulation calculates optimal valve gate sequence without The moment of gate open influenced the surface quality
consideration of the gate open lag time, the open timing of of products while it did not affect the part weight. The
each gate should be adjusted as much as the gate open lag moment of gate open changed by the lag time would alter
time to the sequence controller. the filling pattern and flow front speed distribution. CAE
simulation could check the influence of gate open timing to
Conclusions the defect such as the halo surface defect. The result of the
CAE simulation should be applied to the valve gate
In this work, the gate open lag time of hot runner system sequence controller with consideration of the gate open lag
with pneumatic valve gates was measured and influencing time.
process parameters to the lag time were examined. The
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