Mold Temperatures, Water temperatures...

[HugoHerrera7042]

In a regular Cool+Flow+Pack+Warp analysis, the way to set the mold temperatures to the real temperatures is:

a) Use the real-life mold temperatures from the process on the water inlet temperatures on the water
b) Use the real-life mold temperatures from the process on the mold temperature value, and set the water temperature ~10-15°F below this value


Which one should be used? Or what other method is recommended when duplicating a real life injection molding process?

Thanks,

[Anonymous]

Hi!

In my opinion You should apply the water temperatures used in real life IM. And after the first cooling run check the average temp of the mold wall and use it as the MOLD TEMP at preferences. (As far as I know if You run a cool analysis Mold Temp is used only as a target number if you set the cooling time to AUTOMATIC. If you specified a cooling time, than the Mold Temp is NOT GOING TO BE used by the solver.)

I hope I am right! 🙂

Cheers,

Balázs

[nordhb]

Hi,

Using a) real-life mold surface temeperature as coolant inlet temperature will result in a higher mold surface temperature, and then you have to reduce inlet temperature and rerun.
(Assumption is normal cooling times, and not very long cooling time: the longer cooling time the closer inlet
temperature and mold temperature will be each other)

Using b) and set coolant inlet temperature 10C below real-mold surface temperature is a good starting point,
as this analysis will result in a surface temperature closer to measured.
One then can compare result with measured data.
Then, if needed, rerun a 2nd analysis with adjustments on inlet temperature.
So, I would start with b).

The reason with 10C below is the rule of thumb that surface temperature is normally 10-20C above coolant inlet temperature, with conventional mold design.

For both a) and b) you probably have to do at least 1 extra run.
Use just Cool sequence, until you reached acceptable agreement and then continue with Fill+Pack+Warp.

Consider how measured data is recorded: is the real-life mold temperatures actually measured on the mold, or is it what cooling equipment is set to/display?
The cooling equipment measure/display of temperature can be slightly different (set value, is value, incoming coolant from mold, outgoing coolant to mold)
The cool analysis surface temperature result is average temperature over the cycle, so consider how measured data is captured.

Other ways to use is to set temperature information on element properties:
- Mold Temperature Profiles
- Mold Temperature Constant
can be different on different elements. More manual work though. Then run Fill+Pack+Warp.
If using Cool analysis in conjunction with this setting, cool result will be used and override element settings.

Regards,
Berndt