Conformal heating/cooling channels design in rapid heat cycle molding process

Abstract

A three-dimensional study of the thermal regulation system of Rapid Heat Cycle Molding process producing complex-shaped automotive part was undertaken. This numerical study aims at improving the design of thermal control system so as to improve the quality of the molded part and the process productivity. The thermal responses in mold and cavity are predicted by the commercial Finite Volume Analysis software Fluent 6.3.26 in cyclic transient regime. It was shown that a regular regime is established from the second molding cycle. Besides, the three dimensional thermal responses have shown the limitations of the classic conformal design in terms of temperature uniformity and cycle time for the complex shaped automotive part. Hence, and based on conventional manufacturing process, the efficiency of a new conformal design has been shown. In fact, simple drillings coupled with concentric tubes are able to produce complicated conformal heating/cooling channels, which are easier to fabricate, assemble and which have low manufacture cost compared with other methods. By this proposed new conformal design, we could greatly reduce the cycle time, temperature gap and energy consumption.

A modeling study on the effect of operating parameters on RHCM process using split flow channels design

“…1a), a first design of heating/cooling channels is proposed as shown in Figure 1b. The adopted arrangement of heating/ cooling channels has recently been studied and proved to be efficient for the RHCM process (Kria et al [15]). In addition to horizontal channels, circumventing the automotive part shape, the thermal control system includes vertical channels to access to convex zones in cavity/core plates in order to enhance heat transfer in these regions during the RHCM process.…”

“…They [13] have demonstrated an improvement of 27.3% in the heating efficiency when changing the original design by the optimal configuration. More recently, Hammami et al [14] and Kria et al [15] have demonstrated, through 3D numerical thermal regulation studies of RHCM molds, the necessity of carrying out simulations of several heating/cooling cycles until reaching the regular regime since they have found a strong difference between the first cycle and the regular one. They [14][15] have shown that since the second heating/cooling cycle the regular regime is reached.…”

“…More recently, Hammami et al [14] and Kria et al [15] have demonstrated, through 3D numerical thermal regulation studies of RHCM molds, the necessity of carrying out simulations of several heating/cooling cycles until reaching the regular regime since they have found a strong difference between the first cycle and the regular one. They [14][15] have shown that since the second heating/cooling cycle the regular regime is reached. Kria et al [15] have further developed the thermal regulation system of complex shaped part and have [15] proposed a "new conformal design" of heating/cooling channels combining simple horizontal drillings with concentric vertical tubes.…”

“…They [14][15] have shown that since the second heating/cooling cycle the regular regime is reached. Kria et al [15] have further developed the thermal regulation system of complex shaped part and have [15] proposed a "new conformal design" of heating/cooling channels combining simple horizontal drillings with concentric vertical tubes. The proposed design gives homogeneous heat extracted from concave and convex areas of the complex shaped automotive part with a considerable reduction of the cycle time.…”

Application of Magnetic Concentrator for Improvement in Rapid Temperature Cycling Technology

“…This is due to the fact that not only the surface but the whole mold is heated to increase the surface temperature. To solve this disadvantage of increased cooling time, new techniques are developed, such as conformal cooling and algorithms that provide better distribution of cooling channels or optimized heating procedure [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ].…”