Towards an Automatic Strategy for Conformal Cooling Design

The continuous demand for high-quality polymeric parts introduced additive manufacturing (AM) as a solution to produce new temperature control systems (TCS) in injection molds, which has proven to improve part quality and minimize cycle time. Nevertheless, the design of an effective TCS is challenging, and project rules to comply with part specifications, without compromising the tool durability are required. Parametric analysis is paramount to understand the relative influence of parameters such as channel location, geometry, flow conditions, on the heat extraction rate, enabling to establish the proper foundations towards the development of an automatic strategy for TCS design. The present work presents a parametric study, supported by process optimization strategies, to assess the influence of channel relative position and channel geometry on the mold heat dissipation. The results have shown that rectangular channels obtained better heat dissipation, with consequent better part quality.