Optimal cooling system design for multi-cavity injection molding

The objective of this paper is to present a methodology for optimal design of cooling systems for multi-cavity injection mold tooling. After the part layout and the injection mold are designed, the methodology optimizes cooling system layout in terms of cooling channel size, locations, and coolant flow rate. The mold cooling design is modeled as a non-linear constrained optimization problem. The objective function for the constrained optimization problem is stated as minimization of both a function related to part average temperature and temperature gradients throughout all the cavities. The constrained optimal design problem is solved using Powell's conjugate direction with the penalty function method. The objective function is evaluated using finite element analysis solving the transient heat conduction problem. A matrix-free Jacobi conjugate gradient algorithm of Galerkin finite element method is utilized to simulate transient heat conduction.