Fast and reliable simulation analysis

THEY also have to consider many other factors including flow balance, structural stress, and assembly tolerance in order to ensure a successful mould production.

DFM enables mould designers to accomplish mould design changes and optimisation in the early stage of the injection moulding process and further achieve production goals such as cost reduction, lightweight design and carbon emission reduction.

In traditional mould design process, mould designers would have to decide the total amount of the gates and their locations first, and then draw up a complete runner system in the initial stage of a mould design.

Next, they would utilise mould filling simulation software to analyse if the melt delivery system could achieve flow balance. After completing all of the above tasks, they would arrange the cooling channel layout, ejection system and other mould base design. Thus, a flow balance analysis is a critical focus in DFM process.

Moldex3D enhanced solution

In order to fulfil the demands for an initial evaluation of the product design in the early stage, Moldex3D has introduced a new feature that offers an efficient solution for attaining quick simulation results with higher computing speed and efficiency. The accuracy of the flow balance analysis has also been greatly improved.

Furthermore, in the latest Moldex3D R13, users can run a simulation analysis without importing a complete runner system. They only have to specify the gate locations, and the simulation accuracy can be at the same level as that of a project with a complete runner system.

This solution is based on the same 3D numerical simulation as the analysis project with a complete runner system. It follows the given melt delivery conditions and the law of conservation of energy among the gates when the flow is balanced.

In the filling analysis, it also has dynamic adjustments in order to achieve the same analysis accuracy as the one with a complete runner system. Therefore, users can reduce the analysis time spent on a runner system and quickly determine the gate amount and gate locations. The iterative design time after the runner system is added can be further reduced.

Take a cell phone shell product (Fig.1) as an example to compare the results of the traditional analysis process and Moldex3D enhanced solution.

In the traditional analysis process (Fig. 2-left), mould designers would have to create a complete runner system based on the gate locations. In the analysis process of Moldex3D enhanced solution (Fig. 2-right), users can directly proceed with the simulation analysis without creating a runner system. As shown in the figures below, the simulation accuracy of both gate contribution analysis results is almost the same.

In addition, the improved solution can also improve the gate design efficiency. Take a car interior product as another example (Fig. 3). With Moldex3D enhanced solution, users can study the history of the flow rate changes in each gate area and identify the gates with poor flow efficiency to further adjust the gate locations and optimise the flow balance.

Simulation analyses enable users to understand the melt flow behaviour inside the moulds and predict potential moulding issues to prevent product defects and deformation. It also facilitates a quick validation on design changes and helps users optimise part design and processing parameters with ease.

The improved solution can further spare users’ time that would normally be spent on building a runner system in the traditional simulation process while still being able to achieve high analysis accuracy. Especially when users have to change gate locations, the enhanced solution is suitable aid that can efficiently and rapidly help optimise mould design and significantly reduce the simulation time.

Moreover, Moldex3D’s boosted calculation capability can provide a quicker, more efficient and reliable simulation analysis which allows users to speed up the product and development process to maximise their competitiveness in this rapidly-changing global market.