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Procedia Manufacturing 47 (2020) 1117–1122

23rd International
23rd International
23rd Conference
International Conference on
Conference on Material
on Material Forming
Material Forming (ESAFORM
Forming (ESAFORM 2020)
(ESAFORM 2020)
2020)

Design
Design for
for Additive
Additive Manufacturing:
Manufacturing: Thermoforming
Thermoforming Mold
Mold Optimization
Optimization via
via
Conformal Cooling
Conformal Cooling Channel
Channel Technology
Technology
a,* a a a
Daniele
Daniele Tomasoni
Daniele Tomasoni a,*, Stefano Colosioaa, Luca Giorleoaa, Elisabetta Cerettiaa
Tomasonia,* ,, Stefano
Stefano Colosio
Colosio ,, Luca
Luca Giorleo
Giorleo ,, Elisabetta
Elisabetta Ceretti
Ceretti
aaDepartementof Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Brescia, Via Branze 38, Brescia, Italy
a
Departement
of Mechanical
Departement of Mechanical and
and Industrial
Industrial Engineering,
Engineering, University
University of
of Brescia,
Brescia, Via
Via Branze
Branze 38,
38, Brescia,
Brescia, Italy
Italy
* Daniele Tomasoni. Tel.: +39-347-288-4226; fax: +0-000-000-0000. E-mail address: daniele.tomasoni@unibs.it
** Daniele
Daniele Tomasoni.
Tomasoni. Tel.:
Tel.: +39-347-288-4226;
+39-347-288-4226; fax:
fax: +0-000-000-0000. E-mail address:
+0-000-000-0000. E-mail address: daniele.tomasoni@unibs.it
daniele.tomasoni@unibs.it

Abstract
Abstract
Abstract
The cooling
The cooling system
cooling system
system of of thermoplastic
of thermoplastic mold
thermoplastic mold plays
plays aaa critical
mold plays critical role
critical role during
role during the
during the production
the production process
production process because
because itit
process because not
it not only
not only affects
only affects part
affects part quality
part quality
quality
The
but also
but also its
also its cycle
its cycle time.
cycle time. Traditionally,
time. Traditionally,
Traditionally, duedue
due toto the
to the limitations
the limitations
limitations of of conventional
of conventional drilling
conventional drilling methods,
drilling methods,
methods, the the cooling
the cooling system
cooling system
system of of the
of the
the
but
thermoforming
thermoforming mold mold usually
mold usually consists
usually consists of
consists of simple
of simple paralleled
simple paralleled straight
paralleled straight channels
straight channels that
channels that results
that results
results inin a lack
in aa lack
lack ofof performance
of performance
performance to to cool
to cool complex
cool complex
complex
thermoforming
shapes. Nowadays
shapes. Nowadays
Nowadays thanksthanks
thanks to to the
to the evolution
the evolution
evolution of of additive
of additive manufacturing
additive manufacturing technique
manufacturing technique (AM)
technique (AM) characterized
(AM) characterized
characterized by by an
by an increase
an increase
increase of of shape
of shape
shape
shapes.
complexity it
complexity itit is is possible
is possible
possible to to design
to design a complex
design aa complex cooling
complex cooling system
cooling system conformal
system conformal
conformal to to the
to the mold
the mold geometry
mold geometry (conformal
geometry (conformal cooling).
(conformal cooling). However
cooling). However
However
complexity
conformal cooling
conformal cooling respect
cooling respect
respect toto others
to others AM
others AM design
AM design improvements,
design improvements,
improvements, as as topology
as topology optimization,
topology optimization,
optimization, is is still
is still under
still under development
under development
development and and specific
and specific
specific
conformal
rules that
rules that define
that define
define howhow
how toto better
to better design
better design cooling
design cooling channels
cooling channels still
channels still do
still do not
do not exist.
not exist.
exist.
rules
In this
In this paper,
this paper,
paper, toto enlarge
to enlarge the
enlarge the knowledge
the knowledge about
knowledge about this
about this methodology,
this methodology,
methodology, the the authors
the authors simulated
authors simulated the
simulated the performance
the performance
performance of of three
of three different
three different conformal
different conformal
conformal
In
geometries (serpentine,
geometries (serpentine, rectangular
(serpentine, rectangular
rectangular andand tank)
and tank) and
tank) and compared
and compared
compared the the results
the results with
results with the
with the traditional
the traditional geometry
traditional geometry
geometry in in terms
in terms
terms ofof cooling
of cooling
cooling
geometries
performance. Results
performance. Results highlight
Results highlight how
highlight how serpentine
how serpentine geometry
serpentine geometry
geometry is is able
is able
able toto improve
to improve process
improve process performance
process performance
performance imposing imposing a cooling
imposing aa cooling curve
cooling curve
curve
performance.
characterized
characterized by
by a
a higher
higher slope
slope respect
respect to
to the
the traditional
traditional shape.
shape.
characterized by a higher slope respect to the traditional shape.
© 2020
© 2020The The Authors.
TheAuthors.
Authors. Published
Published by Elsevier Ltd. Ltd.
by Elsevier
© 2020
© 2020 The Authors. Published
Published by Elsevier
by Elsevier Ltd.
Ltd.
This
This is an
isan open
anopen access
openaccess
accessarticle under
article underthe CC BY-NC-ND
theBY-NC-ND
CC BY-NC-ND license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
This isis
This an open access article
article under
under the CC
the CC BY-NC-ND license
license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Peer-review
Peer-review under
underresponsibility
responsibility ofofthe scientific
the committee
scientific of the
committee of 23rd23rd
the International Conference
International on Material
Conference Forming.
on Material Forming.
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 23rd 23rd International
International Conference
Conference on Material
on Material Forming.
Forming.
Keywords: Additive Manufacturing; Conformal cooling channel; Thermoforming process
Keywords:: Additive
Keywords Additive Manufacturing;
Manufacturing; Conformal
Conformal cooling
cooling channel;
channel; Thermoforming
Thermoforming process
process

1. Introduction finish products

finishproducts
products for for example
for example
example can can
canbebe redesigned
be redesigned
redesigned and and realized
and realized with
realized with
with
1. Introduction
1. Introduction finish
new
new and
and better
better properties.
properties. However,
However, the
the AM
AM capabilities
capabilities allow
allow
new and better properties. However, the AM capabilities allow
The additive manufacturing (AM) technologies include all to re-think
to re-think even
re-think even
even the the tools
the tools used
tools used
used in in the
in the manufacturing
the manufacturing process.
manufacturing process.
process.
The additive
The additive manufacturing
manufacturing (AM) (AM) technologies
technologies include
include all
all to
the processes that realize components by adding material layer Nowadays,
Nowadays, the the redesign
the redesign
redesign of of the
of the moulds
the moulds
moulds is is getting
is getting great
getting great interest
great interest
interest
the processes
the processes that
that realize
realize components
components by by adding
adding material
material layer
layer Nowadays,
by layer. These technologies can be classified into seven because with
with aaa most
because with most performing
most performing
performing mouldmould
mould itit is
it is possible
is possible
possible toto obtain
to obtain
obtain
by layer.
by layer. These
These technologies can
technologies can be
be classified
classified into
into seven
seven because
categories: vat photo polymerization, material extrusion, better products
better products
products or or improve
or improve
improve thethe entire
the entire production
entire production
production cycle.cycle. In
cycle. In the
In the
the
categories: vat
categories: vat photo
photo polymerization,
polymerization, material
material extrusion,
extrusion, better
material jetting, binder jetting, powder bed fusion, direct thermoforming
thermoforming processes,
processes, for
for example,
example, the
the moulds
moulds need
need an
an
material jetting,
material jetting, binder
binder jetting,
jetting, powder
powder bedbed fusion,
fusion, direct
direct thermoforming processes, for example, the moulds need an
energy deposition, sheet lamination. Together the AM, optimum cooling system to ensure high quality of the part and
energy deposition,
energy deposition, sheet
sheet lamination.
lamination. Together
Together the AM, itit
the AM, has
it has
has optimum cooling
optimum cooling system
system to to ensure
ensure high
high quality
quality of of the
the part
part and
and
been developed the "Design for Additive Manufacturing" to reduce
to reduce the
reduce the cycle
the cycle time.
cycle time. Due
time. Due
Due to to the
to the limitations
the limitations
limitations of of conventional
of conventional
conventional
been developed
been developed the the "Design
"Design for for Additive
Additive Manufacturing"
Manufacturing" to
(DFAM), drilling methods, the cooling system of the mould usually
(DFAM), aaa guidelines
(DFAM),
guidelines collection
guidelines collection that
collection that assists
that assists the
assists the designer
the designer
designer toto
to drilling methods,
drilling methods, the the cooling
cooling system
system of of the
the mould
mould usually
usually
make the best use of these technologies. Indeed, the AM differs consists of
consists of simple
of simple paralleled
simple paralleled straight
paralleled straight channels
straight channels
channels that that results
that results in
in aaa
results in
make the
make the best
best use
use of
of these
these technologies.
technologies. Indeed,
Indeed, the
the AM
AM differs
differs consists
from the traditional subtractive processes thanks to four main lack of
lack of performance
of performance
performance to to cool
to cool complex
cool complex
complex shapes.shapes. Thanks
shapes. Thanks
Thanks to to the
to the
the
from the
from the traditional
traditional subtractive
subtractive processes
processes thanks
thanks toto four
four main
main lack
capabilities: shape complexity, material complexity, evolution
evolution of of AM,
of AM, characterized
AM, characterized
characterized by by
by anan increase
an increase
increase of of the
of the shape
the shape
shape
capabilities: shape
capabilities: shape complexity,
complexity, material
material complexity,
complexity, evolution
hierarchical complexity, functional complexity. These abilities complexity,
complexity, itit is
it is possible
is possible
possible to to design
design aaa complex
to design complex cooling
complex cooling system
cooling system
system
hierarchical complexity,
hierarchical complexity, functional
functional complexity.
complexity. These
These abilities
abilities complexity,
can be applied in different areas, according to the 3D printing conformal
conformal to to the
to the mould
the mould geometry
mould geometry (conformal
geometry (conformal cooling).
(conformal cooling).
cooling). InIn the
In the
the
can be
can be applied
applied inin different
different areas,
areas, according
according toto the
the 3D
3D printing
printing conformal
technology employed: biomedical parts, vehicle components, literature, the
literature, the researches
the researches
researches aboutabout this
about this technique
this technique focused
technique focused their
focused their
their
technology employed:
technology employed: biomedical
biomedical parts,
parts, vehicle
vehicle components,
components, literature,
2351-9789 © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
2351-9789 © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
2351-9789
This is an©
2351-9789 ©open
2020 The
2020 The Authors.
Authors.
access articlePublished
under by
Published by Elsevier
the Elsevier Ltd.
CC BY-NC-ND
Ltd. license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Peer-review
This isis an
This openunder
an open access responsibility
access article
article under
under the of
CCthe
the CC scientific
BY-NC-ND
BY-NC-ND committee
license
license of the 23rd International Conference on Material Forming.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 23rd International Conference on Material Forming.
10.1016/j.promfg.2020.04.128
Peer-review under
Peer-review under responsibility
responsibility of
of the
the scientific
scientific committee
committee of
of the
the 23rd
23rd International
International Conference
Conference on
on Material
Material Forming.
Forming.
1118 Daniele Tomasoni et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 47 (2020) 1117–1122
Author name / Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2019) 000–000 2

attention on the optimization of the thermoforming process and adheres to the mold and the finished part is obtained. Removed
injection moulding. A studied made by A.B.M. Saifullah and the part, the refrigerant fluid goes through the cooling channels
S.H. Masood [1] reveals that the conformal cooling channels and reduces the temperature of the mold. After this, the process
can greatly improve the injection molding process, reducing the can start again. The main problem of this process is due to the
mold temperature of 9°C and the cycle time of 20%. Another heating step. Indeed, the repetitive heating cycles overheat the
studied made by Brooks and Bridgen [2] analyzed the use of surfaces of the mold in contact with the clamps. Due to the
the lattice structures together the conformal cooling. The lattice limitations of the traditional cooling system, the overheating
structures work as supports for the cooling channels. By this forces to stop the thermoforming machine, in order to allow the
way, the motion of the refrigerant fluid becomes turbulent, refrigerant fluid to cool the mold. By redesigning the cooling
optimizing the cooling process (cooling time reduced of 26%). channels, it is possible to improve the cooling phase and avoid
Other researches provide some guidelines for the design of the this machine stops, enhancing the productivity.
cooling channels. In the study of Eva Voynova [3] for example,
it has been suggested to place the channels near the hottest
zones, choose their optimum section, realize an optimum
distribution of the channels around the shape of the mold and
not compromise the stiffness and the resistance of the mold.
Another study, made by Yung Wa et al. [4], proposed an
automatic method for the design of the cooling channels.
Emmanuel Sachs et al. [5] used a particular 3DP technique to
realize the molds with the conformal cooling channel. Thanks
to this technology, a powder bad of stainless steel was spread
and a binder material was used to selectively bided the powder
particles. After this, the not bind powder was removed and an
infiltration process with cooper alloy was performed to fill the
porosity of the mold and to obtain a fully dense part. Altaf k. et
al. [6] compared the results of profiled cross section of the
conformal cooling channel (PCCC) with circular one. Both
channels were designed with 78,5mm cross-sectional areas and
normal water at 25°C as a coolant. The thermal distribution in Fig. 1. representation of a thermoforming process.
both the CCCs was simulated using ANSYS. Result showed
that 14,6% increase of heat flow with PCCC. Muhammad Khan The mold, object of this research, is composed by three
et al. [7] designed different types of cooling channels, namely, different parts, shown in figure 2. A description of the parts is
conventional cooling channels (CCC), series conformal given below:
cooling channel (SCC), parallel conformal cooling channel
(PCC), and conformal cooling channel with additive cooling  the base: it contained the cooler and the matrix and
lines (CCAL) for cooling of a food container and compared the connected the mold to the thermoforming machine. The
results using Autodesk Moldflow Advisor 2013. Simulation plastic sheet was placed on the frame of the base and the
results have shown that CCAL lines gave better cooling as heating plate applied here the heat to obtain the
compared to conventional cooling lines. thermoformed piece;
However conformal cooling respect to others AM design  the cooler: placed inside the base, the cooler had a central
improvements, as topology optimization, is still under hole, concentric with a hole in the base, for the generation
development and specific rules that define how to better design of vacuum in the mold. The cooler was the main responsible
cooling channels still do not exist. Thus in this research, to of the cooling of the entire mold;
enlarge the knowledge about this methodology, it has been  the matrix: this part gave the shape to the plastic sheet. It
carried out an optimization of a thermoforming mold cooling contained a lot of holes to withdraw the air. It was fixed to
system. Three new geometries of the cooling channels were the cooler through four screws.
tested and compared with the traditional one in terms of cooling
performance. In this way, it has been deduced what cross
section and what cooling path allow to make the most of the
conformal cooling technique and improve the cooling system.
This study is based on a numerical investigation: every test was
a virtual experiment, performed in Altair Acusolve, a CFD
simulation software.

2. Materials and methods

The thermoforming process studied in this paper is shown in

figure 1: a plastic sheet is deposited on the frame of the mold
and is heated by a heating plate till the formed temperature (this
value of temperature varies according to the used material),
then a vacuum pump withdraws the air. The plastic sheet
 Daniele Tomasoni et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 47 (2020) 1117–1122 1119
Author name / Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2019) 000–000 3

Fig. 3. (a) surface where the heat flux is applied¸ (b) step function that
described how the heat flux acts on the mould surface.

In order to study the cooling process, it has been performed

four simulations in the commercial software Altair AcuSolve,
a software used for the simulation and analysis of heat
exchanges between fluids and bodies. In every simulation, it
Fig. 2. (a) exploded view of the mould; (b) base of the mould; (c) cooler; (d)
has been set the parameters of the standard process (shown
matrix.
before), to accurately replicate the real conditions. Then, it has
In table 1, the materials selected for this research are been defined the surfaces of heat exchange, the adiabatic ones
reported. The ABS material and its properties came from and the input and output points of the refrigerant fluid. The
literature while the aluminium material was selected from the white surface described in figure 3a has been defined as a
material library of the software used to carry out the surface of heat exchange due to heat flux here applied. This
simulations. This library did not specify the aluminium alloy. heat flux influenced the inner and outer surfaces of the three
The main parameters of the thermoforming process are parts of the mold, thus all of them has been set as surfaces of
listed below: heat exchange. Moreover, the refrigerant fluid absorbed heat
from the surfaces of the cooling channels, so these areas has
 Initial temperature of the mold: 30 °C; been defined as surfaces of heat exchange too. The input and
output points of the fluid were the same for all simulations.
 Cooling fluid temperature: 20 °C;
The optimization of the cooling process was reached by
 Input fluid velocity: 0,15 m/s;
redesigning the geometry of the cooling channels placed inside
 Heat flux: 100 W/m2;
the cooler. In figure 4, it can be seen the new geometries of the
 Time duration of the process: 600 s;
cooling channels of the cooler. A brief description of the new
Table 1. materials of the mold. geometries is here reported:
Component Material
 Serpentine geometry: the cooling path across the cooler was
Base Al a serpentine with a circular section with a diameter of 7 mm;
Cooler ABS  Rectangular: the path had a rectangular section with
Matrix Al dimensions of 25x5 mm;
 Tank: it has been removed the material inside of the cooler,
Table 2 shows the density and the two main thermal properties in order to obtain an empty part.
of the materials used in the research.
Table 2. properties of the materials utilized.
Material Density Specific heat Conductivity
[kg/m^3] [J/kg-k] [W/m-k]
Aluminum 2702 908 237
ABS 1050 2050 0,189

The heat flux was applied to the contact surface between the
heating plate and the mold (the white surface in figure 3a) and
it acted as a step function (figure 3b): 30 seconds ON (when
there is contact between the plate and the mold), 30 seconds
OFF (because during the cooling phase there is no contact
between the two areas). Fig. 4. (a) serpentine geometry; (b) rectangular geometry; (c) section view of
the tank geometry.
1120 Daniele Tomasoni et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 47 (2020) 1117–1122
Author name / Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2019) 000–000
As it can be seen, it has been used three different sections
for the cooling channels of the cooler in order to evaluate how
these sections influenced the cooling process.
To understand which cooling geometry of the cooler was the
best, three simulations have been performed, one for each
geometry (serpentine, rectangular, tank). The results have been
compared using thermal maps. The molds were analyzed from
two different views:
 top view of the cooler;
 middle section view: a horizontal plane (figure 5a) cut the
mold at a distance of 53,4 mm from the bottom of the base.
By this way, the plane divided the cooling channels into
two equal parts.
The traditional geometry of the cooling channel and the best
of those redesign has been compared utilizing both thermal
maps (as shown before) and a quantitative approach: two nodes
located in the red circles of figure 5b (point 1 was placed on the
frame of the base, point 2 on the matrix) have been selected to
study the temperature variation during the 600 s simulated.
Fig. 5. (a) horizontal plane used for the section view of the cooler; (b) the two
nodes selected for the quantitative analysis.
3. Results and discussion
The next sections are organized as follows: in section 3.1 the
three new geometries (serpentine, rectangular and tank) are
compared with each other to understand which has been the
best to cool the mold. In section 3.2 the best of these three
geometries is compared with the traditional one, to verify if
there have been real improvements in cooling performance.
3.1. Simulations of the redesigned cooler cooling systems
In this section the results of the three simulation performed
for the redesigned cooler cooling systems are shown. In figure
4
6, the top views of the coolers highlighted that the serpentine
geometry was the best: here the lowest reached temperature is
between 21,3°C and 22,6°C while the rectangular and tank
geometry brought to higher values, between 27,5°C and
28,6°C. Moreover, thanks to the serpentine path, it has been
possible to perform a more uniform cooling of the cooler.
Indeed, in figure 6a, it can be seen that more than the 80% of
the surface of the cooler reached a temperature lower than 30°C
(the initial temperature of the mold), while in figure 6b and 6c
this percentage was much smaller.
Fig. 6. top views of the cooler. (a) serpentine; (b) rectangular; (c) tank
The section views of figure 7 confirmed the serpentine
geometry was the best. This cooling channel allowed to obtain
a more uniform cooling than the other ones. Indeed, a large part
of the cooler reached a temperature value between 20°C and
21,3°C, while in the simulations with the rectangular geometry,
this temperature has been detected only along the path of the
cooling channel. The simulation with the tank cooling system
highlighted some problems during the filling of the cooler.
Indeed, the cooling took place only in the part of the mold near
to the input point of the fluid.
Fig. 7. Section views of the moulds. (a) serpentine; (b) rectangular; (c) tank
The three simulations revealed that the serpentine cooling
system was the best to cool the mold. Indeed, its cooling path
has been made very complex in order to cover almost the entire
area of the cooler. This great complexity has been possible
thanks to the circular section with a diameter of 7 mm. Using a
bigger section, as the rectangular one, the cooling path had to
be simpler not to self-intersect. With a channel section too big,
as the tank cooling system, the refrigerant fluid could not
follow a precise path, generating problems during the filling of
the cooler.
In the next section, it has been compared the serpentine
geometry and the original one, to understand if the redesign
cooling system was better than the traditional one.
 Daniele Tomasoni et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 47 (2020) 1117–1122
Author name / Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2019) 000–000
3.2. Comparison of serpentine and original cooling system
After having understand the serpentine geometry was the
best to cool the mold, the cooling channel of the base was
redesigned (figure 8) and used together with the new cooler. By
this way, it has been possible to obtain an optimal cooling even
on the frame of the base, where the heat flux was applied.
Fig. 8. redesigned cooling channel of the base.
Two simulations were performed, one for the original
cooling system and one for the redesigned one, that had the
serpentine geometry for the cooler and the modified cooling
channel in the base. The results of these simulations were
compared using both thermal maps and a quantitative
approach, as described in section 2. In figure 9, it can be seen
the top views of the molds.
Fig. 9. top views of the moulds. (a) serpentine; (b) original
The serpentine geometry performed a better cooling, shown
by the lower values of temperature of the matrix. Indeed, the
top view of case a) highlighted that more than 75% of the
matrix reached a temperature of 27,5°C. On the other areas of
the matrix, the detected temperature never overcame the 29°C.
The matrix of the original geometry was divided into two
different areas: in the yellow one, the detected temperature was
between 28,6 and 30,1°C; in the green one, the temperature was
between 27,5 and 28,6°C. The frame of the base underlined the
better cooling of the serpentine geometry. Here, the
temperature reached in casa a) was between 20 and 21,3°C
while in case b) it was reached the maximum value of 31,5°C.
The section views confirmed the improvement given by the
serpentine cooling system. Figure 10 showed how the redesign
geometry allowed to obtain a more uniform cooling and a low
temperature (20-21,3°C) has been reached in large part of the
cooler. The original geometry instead focused its cooling along
the channel path, while the other areas maintained high
temperatures (28,6-30,1°C).
1121
5
Fig. 10. section views of the mould. (a) serpentine; (b) rectangular.
In order to better understand the different cooling
performance of the serpentine and the original geometry, a
quantitative approach was used for the analysis of the cooling
process. In figure 11, it has been shown the temperature
variation in point 1 for both cooling system: the serpentine
geometry turned down the temperature from a maximum value
of 30,3°C to a minimum of 20,8°C, while with the original
cooling path the maximum reached temperature was 31,5°C
and the minimum 29,9°C. The graphic showed fluctuations of
temperature for both cooling system because on the frame of
the base (where point 1 was located) the heat flux acted as step
function. At the end of the 600 s, the temperature detected in
point 1 for the original cooling system was 30,3°C, with an
increment of 1% compared to the 30°C, while for the
redesigned cooling system, the temperature was 21,1°C, with a
reduction of 29,7% (compared to the 30°C).
Fig. 11. temperature variation in point 1, on the frame of the base.
Analyzing the point 2 (located on the matrix), it can be seen
the serpentine geometry brought to a lower temperature.
Indeed, the redesign geometry reduced the temperature till a
minimum value of 27,3 °C while the original one to a value of
28,6°C. Besides the advantage of this redesign cooling channel
leads to a reduction of temperature equal to 4,5%, it must be
remembered that the mold works only ten minutes while
actually it is used for 8 consecutive hours.
Figure 12 shows the variation of temperature in point 2 for
both cooling system. It is important to underline the different
slope of the two curves: original one a slope of 0,003 while the
serpentine has a slope of 0,007 with an increment of 233,3%.
1122 Daniele Tomasoni et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 47 (2020) 1117–1122
Author name / Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2019) 000–000
Fig. 12. temperature variation in point 2.
The graphic just showed confirmed that the serpentine
geometry performed better cooling than the traditional one.
4. Conclusions
The conformal cooling technique can strongly improve the
cooling phase of a manufacturing process. In this paper, it can
be seen that the geometry of the cooling channel greatly affects
the performance of the whole cooling system. Indeed, the
simulations reveals that to perform an optimum cooling
process, the section of a cooling channel should be circular and
the cooling path should be a serpentine. This configuration
allows the refrigerant fluid to follow a precise path and to reach
almost every point of the cooler. By this way there are no
problems during the filling of the cooling channel and the
cooling of the mold is more uniform.
Future experiments about the conformal cooling technique
could be concern the mold used in process different from the
thermoforming and injection molding process.
6
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Mondini s.p.a. for
providing the geometry of the original mold and for the
willingness showed during the whole period of the research.
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