on 10/26/2020

 

 

COMPANY CATEGORY
SPECIAL PRIZE WINNER

Project Name: Design Verification of Conformal Cooling Mould Made by Additive Manufacturing


Company: Voestalpine Technology Institute (Asia) Co. Ltd
By David Wang, Kevin Wang, Gary Chen

 

Summary

The conformal cooling channel made by additive manufacturing (3D printing) has gradually been applied to solve the bottleneck that conventional molds encounter, including reducing the temperatures of hot spots, reducing the manufacturing process time, and improving the product flaws.At present, most of the designs of the conformal cooling channels in the industry are based on the shapes and requirements of mold surfaces from previous experience. Some business operators use molding software such as Moldex3D for auxiliary analysis and the practical performance of the mold is verified during the test.This kind of mold development process usually achieves a good result for general products; however, how to improve the efficiency of the cooling channel and shorten the trial and error correction timeline in the development of high-level and complex products has become very critical.

This project is based on a monitoring system consisting of a thermographic camera with a pressure/flow meter and it real-time measures and monitors the surface temperature of the 3D printing parts as well as the conformal cooling channels. The Moldex3D results under the same condition are analyzed and compared. It not only can greatly improve the accuracy of simulation analysis but also can verify the design efficiency before the actual injection test.

This test can be compared to experience data and hence an expert knowledge base of conformal cooling channel design can be formed for solving the systemic problems with capabilities of feedback and verification.

 

Challenges

  • Design a conformal cooling channel with stainless steel to replace the high thermal conductivity beryllium copper before the manufacturing
  • The simulation result must match the practical condition

 

Solutions

  • Utilize the mold preheat module to reproduce the thermal imaging temperature distribution of the conformal cooling channel

 

Benefits

  • The difference between the simulated temperature and practical measurement is only 1.3 degrees and the difference in flow rate is 0.17 L/min
  • Successfully replaced the beryllium copper with stainless steel. This not only reduces the impact on the environment, improves the lifespan of the mold, but also makes the internal temperature of the product more even.

Products Used

Meet the Team

 

We would like to thank Voestalpine Technology Institute (Asia) Co. Ltd and CoreTech for allowing us to shine in this contest. One step ahead Go Go Go!!!


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