The Temperature, rapid heating and cooling thermocouples (transient from start-up) result displays the temperature reading at a user-specified thermocouple location from start-up until stable processing conditions have been established.
When using a rapid heating or cooling process, or if heater cartridges are used in the mold, the user has the option to control the production cycle using the temperature of a specified mold node. This simulates a thermocouple being used to turn the steam cycle or heater bands on or off. This result plots the temperature of the thermocouple node from start-up of the injection molding machine until processing conditions have been reached.
When specifying the control of the system by temperature, the target temperature at the thermocouple triggers the turning on or off of the heating and cooling components of the cycle.
Several production cycles are required for the injection mold to reach operating temperatures. Altering process settings such as the temperature of the steam used, the heat flux of a heater cartridge or the mold open time can influence how many cycles are required before a part with repeatable quality can be produced.
This result can be used to compare differing process settings. This has the effect of reducing scrap and shortening the time required to hand the machine over to the production.
When viewing the Temperature, rapid heating and cooling thermocouples (transient from start-up) result, watch for the following.