Inverse method for the cooling system design in injection moulding – application to a ‘T-shaped’ piece

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The designing of the cooling channels in the thermoplastic injection process is one of the most important steps during mould design. Indeed, inappropriate cooling will lead to defects in the piece and a low production rate. In this paper, a new approach for the design of cooling channels is presented. Based on morphological concepts, the idea of regulation by cooling surface is considered. The first part of the methodology leads to the optimal determination of fluid temperature distribution along the cooling surface in order to minimise a cost function composed of two terms linked to the quality of the piece and the productivity of the process. The conjugate gradient algorithm coupled with a Lagrangian approach is implemented for the determination of the optimal fluid temperature distribution. The method is applied to design the cooling system of a ‘T-shaped’ piece, and numerical results are then compared with those available in the literature for the same piece shape and the same injection moulding conditions.