Conformal Cooling for plastic injection molding is emerging as the best technology that gives some great advantages for making mold tools. Benefits of Conformal Cooling such as it is improved product quality, savings energy, reduction of scrap, productivity and efficiency.

1. Introduction
What and Why is Conformal Cooling?
Conformal Cooling Design and Manufacturing
Conformal Cooling Process
Application Industries
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Benefits of Conformal Cooling
Mold Heat Transfer

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What is Conformal Cooling?
Conformal cooling is the process of using
coolant channels in plastic injection mold
tools which closely follow, or conform, to the
shape of the part being molded. They differ
from standard cooling channels in that they
are not confined to the line-of-sight, straight
holes that are created from conventional
drilling or milling. Conformal cooling channels
follow the twists and turns of complex part
designs, and so offer much better cooling
efficiency and faster cycle times.

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Why is Conformal Cooling?
Because it’s an industry game changer.
Conventional molds have straight-line
cooling channels. Simply put, conformal
cooling makes use of cooling lines in an
injection mold that curve and closely
follow the geometry of the part to be
produced. There are a variety of methods
for manufacturing a conformally cooled
mold, including laser sintering, vacuum
brazing, liquid interface diffusion, and
others.

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Conformal Cooling Process
Part Selection
The first step is to select an injection molding plastic part and
evaluate fill time and pack time on FEA software package.
Analysis
Now analyze cooling time, volumetric shrinkage and
deflection with traditionally designed cooling channel.
Designing
The next step is to design the conformal cooling channel
by referring to the data given by previous analysis.
Printing
In the final step, analyze cooling time, volumetric shrinkage and deflection with
the conformal cooling channel. Compare results and print the mould insert as
per the result gained from the analysis.

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Conformal Cooling Design and Manufacturing
The advent of additive manufacturing has given engineers
across industry new and exciting ways of designing and
manufacturing components and finished parts.
In the field of injection moulding, the additive manufacturing
process has given us the ability to develop a new generation of
tooling that offers considerable scope to improve the quality of
finished mouldings, while improving cycle time and productivity.

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Application Industries
Cooling system improvement is an emerging area of research in plastic
injection molding. The injection molding process is cyclic in
characteristic. Filling, packing, cooling, and ejection are the steps of the
injection molding process. Among the number of stages involved in
injection molding of plastics, the cooling stage is a very important stage
as it affects the productivity and mold quality.
Plastic Injection Molding
Pressure Die Casting
Conformal Cooling Channel in die casting application improves the
surface finish of castings due to a reduced need for spray cooling, which
is allowed by a higher and more uniform cooling rate. Other benefits
include reduction of cycle time and shrinkage porosity.

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Mold Heat Transfer
Conduction
Convection
Radiation
Heat Transfer Considered in injection molding
Heat removed from cavity to mold base
Heat removed from mold base to cooling channels
Mold surface radiation
Mold surface Convection
Heat removed at ejection

8. Benefits of Conformal Cooling
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There are several benefits of using additive manufacturing for
conformal cooling such as improved product quality, energy savings,
scrap reduction, productivity and overall efficiency. Using Additive
Manufacturing for conformal cooling is more effective when the
production volume is large and the parts have complex geometry.
When using 3D printing, an excellent surface finish can be acquired,
cycle time can be reduced drastically as much as 70% in some cases,
and production costs can be lowered significantly. There are various
other benefits, which are as follows:

9. Benefits of Conformal Cooling
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Improved dimensional stability of parts.
Minimum warpage and shrinkage of parts.
Increased production by up to 50%
Improved surface finish quality of plastic parts.
Minimum thermal gradient throughout the part while cooling.
Significant reduction in part rejection.
Reduced resources required for the production such as
labor, the number of machines, space and energy.
Faster delivery time.

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Conventional cooling VS Conformal cooling
Conventional cooling
The distance from cavity to cooling channel
differs due to limitations of conventional
machining process. As a result, the heat
dissipation cannot take place uniformly in
the material
Uneven cooling results in internal
stresses that negatively impact part
quality (warpage)
Cooling time is longer since
cooling channels cannot reach all
intricate areas
Conformal cooling
Cooling channels are placed
uniformly and close to the
profile of the part
Uniform cooling results in
improved part quality
The production cycle time is
reduced because of faster cooling
Design driven manufacturing results
in maximum freedom of design
Highly productive tools and faster
pay-back
Improved profits !

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