Mold Insert Heat Sink Elements Isothermal Cooling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current machining processes for optical components, such as grinding and polishing, are costly and time-consuming, and molding techniques face challenges in uniformly cooling components, leading to residual stress and prolonged manufacturing times due to non-isothermal cooling.
Innovation Solution
Designing mold inserts with multiple heat sink elements that provide varying thermal resistances and form paths for cooling fluids to maintain isothermal conditions, ensuring uniform cooling of optical components during the molding process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the optical component is cooled down slowly to maintain isothermal condition, then residual stress is reduced, but manufacturing time is prolonged
Solution Approach 1:
The mold insert is divided into multiple regions with different thermal resistances to enable differential cooling rates across the optical component. This segmentation allows simultaneous achievement of isothermal conditions and reduced manufacturing time by cooling thick and thin regions at appropriately different rates.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the mold insert are designed with locally optimized thermal resistance properties. Regions corresponding to thick portions of the optical component have higher thermal resistance, while regions for thin portions have lower thermal resistance, enabling each region to cool at its optimal rate for minimizing stress while maintaining overall isothermal conditions.
2Ease of manufacture
If conventional cooling is used, then manufacturing process is simple, but non-uniform cooling causes residual stress and defects
Solution Approach 1:
The thermal resistance parameter of the mold insert is deliberately varied across different regions to achieve uniform cooling. By changing the thermal resistance parameter locally, the system compensates for variations in heat generation and retention across the optical component, preventing residual stress without requiring complex cooling mechanisms.
3Manufacturing precision
If machining processes are used, then optical precision is achieved, but manufacturing cost and time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical machining processes with a thermally-controlled molding process. By using precisely controlled thermal fields during molding, the system achieves optical precision directly from the molded component without requiring subsequent mechanical machining, thereby dramatically improving productivity while maintaining precision.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach reduces residual stress and manufacturing time by uniformly cooling optical components, resulting in fewer mechanical and optical defects and improved dimensional control.
Implementation Method 1
The plurality of heat sink elements may be configured to provide different thermal resistances in the plurality of different regions of the mold insert
Implementation Method 2
the heat sink elements of the mold insert may form paths for a cooling fluid, which may be supplied to the mold insert
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques disclosed herein relate to molding inserts with improved cooling performance. A mold insert includes a body and a plurality of heat sink elements coupled to the body. The body includes an area with a recessed surface that has different depths in a plurality of different regions. The plurality of heat sink elements is configured to provide different thermal resistances in the plurality of different regions of the mold insert, where a thermal resistance of the mold insert in a region with a higher recessed surface depth is lower than a thermal resistance of the mold insert in a region with a lower recessed surface depth. In some embodiments, the plurality of heat sink elements form cooling channels that are configured to conduct a cooling fluid from regions of the mold insert with higher recessed surface depths to regions of the mold insert with lower recessed surface depths.