Abstract: A brake time measurement and brake control system measures the brake time of a subassembly, such as an upper die of a press, with the programmable controller already used to control the press. The programmable controller has a selectable time interrupt which causes an interrupt routine inside the programmable controller to be executed at regular time intervals. By varying the duration of the interval, the precision of the brake time measurement may be varied. Also, since the system is implemented with the programmable controller already present on the press, no additional equipment is needed to measure brake time. The brake time monitor and brake control system also implements a top stop control capability with improved precision. The improved precision results from dynamically determining a top stop zone which is appropriately sized given the speed of the die.

Abstract: A control system for controlling the temperature within process machinery such as the feed assembly in an injection molding machine. The control system provides a six phase process for starting up the machine from cold conditions and controlling the machine temperature to rapidly and accurately attain a command temperature while identifying control parameters for use under steady state conditions for maintaining the command temperature.