• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.34 no.10
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• pp.1487-1492
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• 2010

The objective of this study is to design the conformal cooling channels for the mould of a plastic drawer of a refrigerator by analysis of three-dimensional injection molding. In order to obtain the desired design of the conformal cooling channels, the influence of the diameter and the position of the conformal cooling channels on the moulding characteristics and the product qualities were quantitatively examined. From the results of the examination, an optimal design of the conformal cooling channels, which ensures uniform cooling and minimum potential deformation of the molded drawers, was estimated. By comparing the designed mould and a conventional mould with linear cooling channels from the viewpoints of the product qualities as well as cooling and cycle times, it was shown that the mould with conformal cooling channels can simultaneously improve the productivity of the injection moulding process and the product qualities.

• Design & Manufacturing
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.27-32
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• 2007

In the optical application demand for high quality lens is increasing. Plastics lenses are demanded more than glass lenses for large size lenses as well as micro-size lenses. It is difficult to apply typical straight cooling channels of injection mold to lens molding due to its non-uniform temperature distribution. In this study, we manufactured molds for plastic lenses with the conventional cooling channels and conformal cooling channels produced by the DMLS process. We evaluated cooling performance for the 2 molds by injection molding experiment. Also, uniformity of the temperature distribution was tested by infrared camera and temperature monitoring. We confirmed that the cooling performance and temperature uniformity with the conformal cooling channels is much improved from the ones with the conventional. The cooling time with the conformal cooling channels was reduced 30% compared with the conventional cooling channels.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.92-98
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• 2020

In this study, an injection mold with conformal cooling channels was designed and manufactured for use in the production of a thick plastic cosmetic container that required high gloss surfaces. A cooling analysis verified the design of the conformal cooling channel for the cosmetic container, and also showed that the cooling efficiency was superior to that of the straight cooling channel. Slide cores designed with the conformal cooling channel were manufactured using the Layers Parting method and vacuum diffusion bonding. Subsequent test injection and quality inspection showed no problem in the appearance and dimensional accuracy of the produced product. The cycle time for product production was about 110 seconds, sufficient for mass production.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.29 no.8
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• pp.824-833
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• 2012

The shrinkage and the warpage of the moulded part are influenced by the design of the product and injection mould. In a flat part with a partly thick volume, the warpage of the flat part is created from the difference of the shrinkage between thin and thick regions. The warpage of the flat part with a partly thick volume can be reduced by a proper design of the cooling system in the injection mould. The goal of this paper is to design properly cooling channels of injection mould to manufacture a flat part with a partly thick volume. The conformal cooling channel is adopted to improve cooling characteristics of a region with the thick volume. The linear cooling channels are assigned to the other region. The proper design of the conformal cooling channels is obtained from three-dimensional injection molding analysis for various design alternatives. The moulding characteristics of the designed mould with both conformal and linear cooling channels are compared to those of the mould with linear cooling channels from viewpoints of temperature, shrinkage and warpage of the moulded part using numerical analysis. Injection mould with both conformal and linear cooling channels for the flat part with a partially thick volume is fabricated. In addition, injection moulding experiments are performed using the fabricated mould. From the results of the injection moulding experiments, it has been shown that the designed mould can successfully fabricate the flat part with a partially thick volume.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.84-90
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• 2018

When producing a plastic horn cover for an automobile, since the interval between the ribs on the inner surface is narrow, conventional cooling channels cannot be applied and cooling of the mold is difficult. For this reason, the molding operation cannot be completed within a set cycle time. In this study, a conformal cooling channel was applied on the mold to solve the cooling problem. Injection molding simulation was carried out to confirm the effectiveness of the conformal cooling channel. In the analysis results, the mold temperature at the rib section decreased by 33%, and the mold temperature also decreased by 31%. This reduction in temperature allowed for molding within a set cycle time and demonstrated the effectiveness of the conformal cooling channel.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.1761-1765
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• 2005

The plastic injection molding industry is increasing pressure to reduce the cycle time in order to improve the productivity. The time of a cooling die is a large part of the cycle time. The conformal cooling channels can reduce the cooling time effectively as compared with conventional production die. It is hard to make the die with a conformal cooling channel by the conventional method. This paper introduces the method of a conformal cooling channel manufacturing by the DMT (Direct Metal Tooling) that is a new technology.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.549-554
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• 2007

The objective of this paper is to investigate into the fabrication technology of cores for the injection mould with three-dimensional conformal cooling channels to reduce the cooling time. The location of the conformal cooling channels has been determined through the injection molding analysis. The mould has been manufactured from a hybrid rapid tooling technology, which is combined a direct metal rapid tooling with a machining process. Several injection molding experiments have been performed to examine the productivity and the validity of the designed mould. From the results of the experiments, it has been shown that the proposed mould can mold a final product within a cooling time of 3 seconds and a cycle time of 21 seconds, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.187-190
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• 2007

The objective of this paper is to investigate into the development of injection mould with high cooling characteristics using a direct metal RP technology. In order to manufacture the injection mould with a high cooling rate, three-dimensional conformal cooling channels have been generated in the mould. DMT process, which is one of direct metal RP technologies, has been utilized to directly manufacture the metallic mould with three-dimensional conformal cooling channels. In order to examine the performance of the designed mould, injection molding tests have been carried out. The results of the experiments have been shown that a cooling time and the injection time of the proposed mould are reduced by the factor of five and two times in comparison with the injection mould with linear cooling channels.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.35 no.12
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• pp.1647-1653
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• 2011

The cycle time in injection moulding greatly depends on the cooling time of the plastic part that is controlled by cooling channels. Cooling channels are required to facilitate the heat transfer rate from the die to the coolant without reducing the strength of the die. Employing layered manufacturing techniques (LMT), a die embedding conformal cooling channels can be fabricated directly while conventional cooling channels are usually made of straight drilled hole. Meanwhile, H13 tool steel is widely used as the die material because of its high thermal resistance and dimensional stability. However, H13 with a low thermal conductivity is not efficient for certain part geometries. In this context, the use of functionally graded materials (FGMs) between H13 and copper may circumvent a tradeoff between the strength and the heat transfer rate. This paper presents a method for modeling of conformal cooling channels made of FGMs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.71-72
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• 2007