Enhanced Cooling Channel Performance in Injection Molds

发光二极管（LED）技术的进步为汽车制造商在汽车头灯和尾灯中使用LED创造了新的机会。为了优化oled灯的光学特性，需要更厚的塑料透镜和复杂的轮廓。塑料厚度是大规模生产的一个问题，因为在熔融塑料离开模具之前，必须从熔融塑料中除去更多的热量。厚度为正常厚度4-6倍的塑料部件的冷却时间可能比传统的较薄部件长10倍。较长的周期所固有的成本增加，目前使厚壁注塑件的成本难以大规模生产。循环时间可以通过优化模具内的冷却通道来减少。目前的做法是钻一个相互连接的直冷却线网络，不符合当今汽车风格的复杂表面轮廓。这阻碍了沿模具复杂轮廓始终定位冷却线以优化传热的保形冷却策略的实施。该研究将首先通过计算流体动力学（CFD）和传热模拟和分析来研究直形和保形冷却刀片中的传热和流体流动。然后，模拟将用于优化冷却通道的设计，以最大限度地从周围材料中提取热量。最后，将开发多物理场模型，以更准确地预测整个注塑系统的热特性。

Advancements in light emitting diode (LED) technology have created new opportunities for automotive manufacturers to use LEDsin vehicle head and tail lights. Thicker plastic lenses and complex profiles are required to optimize the optical characteristics ofLED lights. Plastic thickness is a concern for mass production because of the increased amount of heat that must be removedfrom the molten plastic before it leaves the mold. The cooling time for a plastic part that is 4-6 times thicker than normal can be upto 10 times longer than the traditional thinner part. The increased costs inherent with longer cycles currently make thick wallinjection molded parts cost prohibitive for mass production.Cycle times can be reduced by optimizing the cooling passages within the molds. The current practice is to drill a network ofinterconnected straight cooling lines that do not conform to the complex surface profiles of todays automotive styles. Thisprevents implementation of a conformal cooling strategy that consistently positions cooling lines along the complex profiles of themold to optimize the heat transfer.The research will initially investigate the heat transfer and fluid flow in straight and conformal cooling inserts throughComputational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Heat Transfer simulations and analysis. Simulations will then be used to optimize thedesign of cooling passages to extract maximum heat from the surrounding material. Finally, multiphysics models will be developedto more accurately predict the thermal characteristics of the complete injection molding system.