A Hybrid Cooling Model Based on the Use of Newly Designed Fluted Conformal Cooling Channels and Fastcool Inserts for Green Molds

The paper presents a hybrid cooling model based on the use of newly designed fluted conformal cooling channels in combination with inserts manufactured with Fastcool material. The hybrid cooling design was applied to an industrial part with complex geometry, high rates of thickness, and deep internal concavities. The geometry of the industrial part, besides the ejection system requirements of the mold, makes it impossible to cool it adequately using traditional or conformal standard methods. The addition of helical flutes in the circular conformal cooling channel surfaces generates a high number of vortexes and turbulences in the coolant flow, fostering the thermal exchange between the flow and the plastic part. The use of a Fastcool insert allows an optimal transfer of the heat flow in the slender core of the plastic part. An additional conformal cooling channel layout was required, not for the cooling of the plastic part, but for cooling the Fastcool insert, improving the thermal exchange between the Fastcool insert and the coolant flow. In this way, it is possible to maintain a constant heat exchange throughout the manufacturing cycle of the plastic part. A transient numerical analysis validated the improvements of the hybrid design presented, obtaining reductions in cycle time for the analyzed part by 27.442% in comparison with traditional cooling systems. The design of the 1 mm helical fluted conformal cooling channels and the use of the Fastcool insert cooled by a conformal cooling channel improves by 4334.9% the thermal exchange between the cooling elements and the plastic part. Additionally, it improves by 51.666% the uniformity and the gradient of the temperature map in comparison with the traditional cooling solution. The results obtained in this paper are in line with the sustainability criteria of green molds, centered on reducing the cycle time and improving the quality of the complex molded parts.

Techniques for reconditioning an industrial part

The paper wants to show that by means of new techniques any piece can be reconditioned, the costs being much reduced. Among the advantages can be recalled: allows the reconditioning of parts that have a lot of workmanship; material economy; low cost; repairs are performed that cannot be done by other procedures; the equipment used for welding is simple, cheap, with great possibility of diversification; welding is easily suitable for machining and automation.

Mechanical Characterization of the Plastic Material GF-PA6 Manufactured Using FDM Technology for a Compression Uniaxial Stress Field via an Experimental and Numerical Analysis

This manuscript presents an experimental and numerical analysis of the mechanical structural behavior of Nylstrong GF-PA6, a plastic material manufactured using FDM (fused deposition modeling) technology for a compression uniaxial stress field. Firstly, an experimental test using several test specimens fabricated in the Z and X-axis allows characterizing the elastic behavior of the reinforced GF-PA6 according to the ISO 604 standard for uniaxial compression stress environments in both Z and X manufacturing orientations. In a second stage, an experimental test analyzes the structural behavior of an industrial part manufactured under the same conditions as the test specimens. The experimental results for the test specimens manufactured in the Z and X-axis present differences in the stress-strain curve. Z-axis printed elements present a purely linear elastic behavior and lower structural integrity, while X-axis printed elements present a nonlinear elastic behavior typical of plastic and foam materials. In order to validate the experimental results, numerical analysis for an industrial part is carried out, defining the material GF-PA6 as elastic and isotropic with constant Young’s compression modulus according to ISO standard 604. Simulations and experimental tests show good accuracy, obtaining errors of 0.91% on the Z axis and 0.56% on the X-axis between virtual and physical models.

How Can Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) Improve Enterprise Productivity?

This chapter gives brief information about internet of things (IoT) and then detailed knowledge of industrial internet of things (IIoT). Internet of things applications can be seen in different areas, such as smart cars, smart homes, smart cities, agriculture, healthcare, industry, etc. This study focuses on the industrial part. Industrial internet of things (IIoT) means internet of things (IoT) applications for industrial usage. IIoT give a chance to enterprise for tracking supply chains, monitoring production line operations, and real-time consumption of energy, managing stock, and transportation decisions. This study used case study method for developing theory about IIoT's contribution to enterprise productivity. IIoT applications can be adapted to which operations of the enterprise, and how it will contribute to enterprise productivity is explained in this chapter. The chapter discusses the projects that are within the vision of IIoT but not yet implemented and concludes with suggestions for future studies.

Welding Robotic Co-Worker Using Brain Computer Interface

Robotic co-workers are an emerging generation of physical robots promises to transform manufacturing with its ability to communicate and collaborate, both robot-to-robot and robot-to-human, opening the way to greater innovation and productivity. We designed a welding robotic co-worker which observes industrial part, searches welding seams, plans welding trajectory, and simulates welding result automatically. It largely benefits small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) by allowing manufacturers handle low-volume orders without re-programming. As a co-worker, the robot communicates with its operator though brain computer interface (BCI) as well as guarantees the operator’s safety. We demonstrated the performance of this robot using a human subject study in welding simulation environment.