Cooling Channel Design for Multi-Cavity Plastic Injection Moulds

Plastic injection moulding is vastly used in todays manufacturing industry. It is a preferred method compared to other types of manufacturing processes because less surface finishing is needed for the parts produced by injection moulding. In manufacturing field, finishing processes such as surface treatment, metallization and heat treatments are carried out in order to improve the surface quality. The additional processes contribute to higher manufacturing costs and can be avoided by employing an automated process such as plastic injection moulding. The mould can be repeatedly used, making plastic injection moulding appropriate for mass production. The whole cycle time starts from filling, packing, cooling and part ejection (mould opening). Cooling phase takes more than 2/3 of the whole cycle time making it the most dominant factor among the other components of the cycle. The influence of cooling channels will be discussed by comparing straight drilling cooling channels (SDCC) with conformal cooling channels (CCC). A multi-cavity rectangular plate was analysed by employing 4 different cooling systems. Through-out the analyses, chilled water and thermoplastics which represent at least 90 % of all plastic were considered and set as constantsPlastic injection moulding is vastly used in todays manufacturing industry. It is a preferred method compared to other types of manufacturing processes because less surface finishing is needed for the parts produced by injection moulding. In manufacturing field, finishing processes such as surface treatment, metallization and heat treatments are carried out in order to improve the surface quality. The additional processes contribute to higher manufacturing costs and can be avoided by employing an automated process such as plastic injection moulding. The mould can be repeatedly used, making plastic injection moulding appropriate for mass production. The whole cycle time starts from filling, packing, cooling and part ejection (mould opening). Cooling phase takes more than 2/3 of the whole cycle time making it the most dominant factor among the other components of the cycle. The influence of cooling channels will be discussed by comparing straight drilling cooling channels (SDCC) with conformal cooling channels (CCC). A multi-cavity rectangular plate was analysed by employing 4 different cooling systems. Through-out the analyses, chilled water and thermoplastics which represent at least 90 % of all plastic were considered and set as constants