Thermocouple controlled cooling

Thermocouple controlled cooling lets you specify a thermocouple controlled coolant inlet node on the cooling channels in the mold model. This way you can now apply a boundary condition to a cooling circuit to simulate all the existing commercial processes.

Basic workflow

A model must contain a cooling circuit.

Click Coolant Inlets / Outlets (Boundary Conditions tab > Cooling panel) and select Thermocouple Controlled Inlets.
The Set Thermocouple controlled cooling inlet dialog opens.
In the dialog, click New to specify an inlet.
The Thermocouple Controlled Cooling Inlet dialog opens.
In the dialog, on the Thermocouple Controlled Cooling Control tab, specify a name of the inlet, coolant, and valve control method.
On the Valve On and Valve Off tabs, and specify a coolant control method, flow rate, and coolant inlet temperature. Click OK.
Click on a model where you wish to create the thermocouple controlled cooling inlet.
The thermocouple controlled cooling inlet is created.

Results

For thermocouple controlled cooling, three new time dependant results are available:

Thermocouple controlled cooling circuit pressure
Thermocouple controlled cooling circuit Reynolds number
Thermocouple controlled cooling circuit flow rate.

Timing of the results should correspond to the parameters set on the Valve on and Valve off tabs in the Thermocouple controlled cooling inlet dialog. The results should correspond at the exact times that the valve changes status.

Advantages

The idea is to have reduced or no coolant flow through the cooling channels during the mold open and filling phase of the injection molding cycle. This way, a mold is hot for the filling phase. Once the part in the mold has filled with molten polymer, a cold coolant is circulated through the cooling channels at a high flow rate. It accelerates the cooling phase.

Limitations

To use the Thermocouple Controlled Cooling Inlets option, set:

An analysis sequence that includes Cool (FEM)
Mold temperature options to Transient within cycle or Transient from production start-up.