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

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.