A scaffolding architecture for conformal cooling design in rapid plastic injection moulding

K. M. Au, Kai Ming Yu

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

100 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Cooling design of plastic injection mould is important because it not only affects part quality but also the injection moulding cycle time. Traditional injection mould cooling layout is based on a conventional machining process. As the conventional drilling method limits the geometric complexity of the cooling layout, the mobility of cooling fluid within the injection mould is confined. Advanced rapid tooling technologies based on solid freeform fabrications have been exploited to provide a time-effective solution for low-volume production. In addition, research has made attempts to incorporate conformal cooling channel in different rapid tooling technologies. However, the cooling performance does not meet the mould engineer's expectations. This paper proposes a novel scaffold cooling for the design of a more conformal and hence more uniform cooling channel. CAD model for constructing the scaffolding structure is examined and cooling performances are validated by computer-aided engineering (CAE) and computer fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)496-515
Number of pages20
JournalInternational Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology
Volume34
Issue number5-6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2007

Keywords

  • Conformal cooling
  • Plastic injection moulding
  • Rapid tooling
  • Scaffolding

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Control and Systems Engineering
  • Software
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

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