Conformal cooling

While machine control is important, it is the polymer state (pressure, temperature, and morphology) that directly determines the molded part quality. As such, recent technology developments have focused on closing the loop between the machine parameters and the polymer state. Conformal cooling and pulsed cooling are two molding technologies that have been... 

Heenan RK, Bartell LS. Electron-diffraction studies of supersonic jets 4. Conformational cooling of normal-butane. J Chem Phys 1983 78 1270-1274. 

Rapid Tooling sometimes is misunderstood as automated making of the entire tool. In fact, it delivers complex tool components like conformal cooled inserts or sliders as elements of a series tool. 

Interior channels can be made in a process which puts the idea of contour-adapted conformal cooling into reality. 

On Fig. 6a-c there are displayed tool inserts obtained from different AM processes. They show details like interior channels for conformal cooling application, dome-shaped stand-alone structures, or deep and narrow gaps. 

Microwave spectroscopy can also quantify experimentally the relative proportions of the observed species. However, for some of the detected monosaccharides the correlation between the experimental populations and the calculated relative energies is not always obvious. This might reflect incomplete conformational cooling in the supersonic expansion which does not lead to a relaxed population reflecting the equilibrium at low temperature (and the potential energy surface of the system). Alternatively, the pre-expansion population (governed by the free energy surface at the vaporization temperature) may have been frozen early in the expansion, or the observed population may simply reflect the initial distribution of structures prior to vaporization in the solid sample. 

Internal hollow spaces can be produced, and hence, the principle of conformal cooling can be implemented in terms of manufacturing technology. 

This paper deals with the reduction in blow mould process time of a 1-litre motor oil bottle produced at a local manufacrnring company by considering the design of straight drilled conformal cooling channels, which can be easily created in metal moulds by conventional machining. 

For analysis purpose only one half of the mould is considered in this study and aluminium (AL2014) is selected as the mould material. Four types of cooling channels are analysed in this study for comparative investigation with conformal cooling. 

The full procedure of the Pro/Mechanica thermal analysis of the mould is presented here only for conformal cooling channel as shown in Figure 3, as the procedure is the same for other three cases. 

By clicking Ok and Show button, a graph of time versus temperature is displayed. This graph shows the time taken for the temperature to reduce from 190°C to 12°C. In this case with conformal cooling, this was achieved in 5.9 sec and is displayed by a window. 

The temperature region (IbO-lSO C) should be the least from the base of the cavity as well as from the sides of the cavity for a better cooling system. Table 1 shows that for a conformal cooling channel, the distance of this temperature region from the sides of the cavity as well as from the base of the cavity is the least compared to all other layouts. This indicates that conformal cooling channels provides better cooling compared to the other three types of cooling channels. This is further confirmed by the results of the transient thermal analysis. 

The actual cooling time taken by the existing mould on the machine was 14.2 sec, which compares well with 12 sec obtained by the transient analysis. This difference of 2.2 sec is attributed to the ideal conditions assumed by the simulation analysis and should be considered to account for the real time condition. It is noted that the layout with increased diameter of 13 mm in the initial layout has caused a decrease in cooling time to 10.5 sec. The parallel layout is the worst case as it has increased the cooling time considerably. The conformal cooling layout has greatly reduced the cooling time to 5.9 sec, a reduction of 58%. 

B. H. Petersom Feasibility of Ceramic Castings for Conformal Cooling Blow Molds, Chemical and Materials Department, Arizona State University Tempe, Arizona,http //www.nisoe.edu/ieu/research papers/Ben... 

MANUFACTURING OF PLASTIC LENS MOLD CONFORMAL COOLING CHANNEL USING DIRECT METAL LASER SINTERING AND SPRAY-FORMED TOOLING... 

In this study three types of lens mold were manufaetured. We examined the manufacturing possibility of conformal cooling channel and the improvemait of the cooling performance. At results, we get conclusions as below ... 

F. G. Steil, New concept in mold conformal cooling design, ANTEC, pp. 916-920(2005)... 

Fig. 2. 3D CAD model of cooling channel (a) conventional cooling channel, (b) conformal cooling channel.

Steil, Fred. New Concepts in Mold Conformal Cooling Design. ANTEC 2005, pp.916-920... 

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