Runneriess M oulding

15.3.7 Summary

Insulated runner too ls ha ve la rgely been su pe rseded.

Full ho t runner too ls kee p the material at melt te mpe ra ture a nd elim inate th e
prod uct ion o f co ld runner s and sp rucs.

Most modern ho t ru nner

mel t tempera ture.

T em peratu re con trollers a nd

mel t co rrec tly.

Open gates a re preferred wh erever po ssib le, but whe re the m elt tends to lea k with
lower-visco sity ma terials lik e Ny lon, valve -o pera ted gates need to be used .

H ot runner moulds shou ld al ways be used where hig h volume p roduction

req uired w hen ever this is po ssib le.

too ls ha ve a sepa rate man ifol d t hat maintains

thermocouples must be use d to cont ro l the

IS

15.4 Heating
T he co rrect hea ting o f ho t runn er man ifold systems is very imp ortan t a nd is crucial to t he
success o f t he tool in p roduc tion. The re mu st be good heat tra nsfer between t he heater
and th e surface be ing heated or the heate r w ill fail pre maturely. H eate r ch annel s in the
mani fo ld should be smooth in orde r to ac hieve this a nd m ust no t be left ro ugh mac hined.
There a re six types of hea ting systems that a re co mmon ly used in ho t runner to o ling:

Band hea ters

Co il heaters

Ca rt ridge heaters

T ubula r heat ers

Integra l heaters

H ybrid heater/hea t pi pe syste ms

15.4.1 Band Heaters

This is th e m ost co mmon met hod of he ati ng external cylindr ical sur faces such as barrels,
noz zles and tub ula r ma nifo lds. Ba nd heaters give good uniform heating r ight acro ss the ir
w idt h an d a re avai la ble in a w ide ra nge o f wattages an d sizes. Mica and ce ra m ic
insulation a re usu ally used .
M ains vo ltage ope ration is most com mo n, alt houg h lo w-vo ltage syste ms a re ava ila ble at
high er cost. Sizes up to JOO rum di a meter by 150 mill long a re ava ilab le as stan d a rd bu t
specials ar e avai lable to o rde r.

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M ould Design Guide

15.4.2 Coil Heaters
T hese are no rmally used to heat cylind rica l sur faces w here it is not necessary or
so metimes no t d esirab le to ha ve uni form heatin g alo ng its length. Coil heater s ach ieve
th is by ha ving a va rying heating ca pacity along th eir leng th .
D epending on the actual heating req uirem ents, t he co ils may be progress ively spaced
further apart to p rov ide a t he rma l gradient. T hi s type o f hea ter is mo st frequently used
fo r obtaining th ermal grad ients on nozzles.
O per ati on a t 240 vo lts is mo st usual. A reaso na ble ra nge o f sizes is av ailable but t he ran ge
is more restr icted tha n th at availa ble for band hea ters.

15.4.3 Cartridge Heaters

These a re main ly used to heat hot runner mani fold s and int ernally hea ted no zzles.
although they a re also used fo r hea ting non-hot runner tools w hen processing at
high tem peratures.
Ca rtridge hea te rs a re avai labl e in a w ide ran ge o f d iameters, lengths a nd wa ttages. Sizes
range up to 20 nun diamete r by around 350 111111 length. Special sizes ar e a vailab le to o rder.

It is impo rtant th at ca rt ridge heaters a re not operated at full po we r w hen heating up from
co ld as this ca n also lead to pr em ature hea ter fa ilure. T o avo id this probl em a low vo ltage
(o r tem pe rature) shou ld be applied fo r the first 15 m inutes befo re switching o ver to full
wo rking tempera ture.
As ment ioned above. good surface contact between the heat er and the ma nifol d is
essentia l to avo id pre mature failure problems. Inefficient heat tra n sfer wil l also resu lt
with poo r surface con tact. Cart ridge hea ters are pa rticu larl y p rone to th is problem.
W ith existing to ols tha t ha ve poor sur face co nta ct pr oblem s. a hea t trans fer pa ste may be
used . Th is wi ll grea tly im p ro ve heat tr ansfer and p rolong ca rtridge heater life but is not
as effective as properly ma chined smooth channels.

15.4.4 Tubular Heaters

T hese a re very sim ila r to ca rt r idge heater s exce pt th at t hey a re semiflexi ble. T h is allow s
t hem to be ca refully ben t into shape to fit into non-st rai gh t-line cha nne ls. They a re
availa ble in diam ete rs of 6-8 m ill and in lengt hs lip to 1000 mill and a re usually 240 volts.
The same preca ut ions regardi ng surface cont ac t an d low -power sta rt- up a pp ly to tubula r
heaters. If th ese precau tions are observed . heater life is qu ite good .

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Runneriess M oulding
15.4.5/ntegra/ Heating
T h is is a different method of heating fro m any o f the methods previously describ ed . It
consis ts of heati ng eleme nts m ad e fro m hi gh-resistan ce wire whi ch is elect rica lly insula ted
on th e o ut side. T he w ire ca n be cast into heated m a nifo ld systems o r into to rpedoes to
form th e so urc e o f hea ting in inte rn ally heated noz zles a nd bushes.
In tegr al hea ting is less freq uently used than t he previous methods but ca n be usefu l fo r
more spec ialist ap plica tions.

15.4.6 Heat Pipes

The p rincip les o f hea t pipes and hea t rod s ha ve al ready been d iscussed in C hapter lI o n
mould tem perature co ntro l.
Co nventiona l heater s can on ly be located in eas ily accessible a reas in a m a nifo ld, result ing
in so me ar eas of the ma n ifo ld no t being heated sufficiently . T o co mbat th is, heat pipes
ca n he used to t rans fer the heat to these less accessible a reas. Th is has the d istinct
adv antage o f greater simpl icity o f heat er location and eas ier ma intena nce if th e
co nventi on al heaters fai l. Once again , it is essent ial to ha ve very good sur face co ntact
bet ween th e hea t pip e a nd the surface wit h which it is in co ntact.
H eat p ipes a rc very useful fo r reach ing mo re remo te a reas o f t he ma n ifold. As th ey ca n be
o bta ined in sma ller di am e ter s t ha n ca rt ridge heaters, they ca n also reach a reas t hat would
otherwise he inaccessible.

15.5 Temperature Control in Manifolds

T e mpe rature cont rol in ma nifolds is very im portant fo r reli ab le and consistent o perat ion
o f ho t runner mould to ols. W itho ut adequate heating, co ntro l and heat tra nsfer, m a ny
probl ems wi ll be ex perienced dur ing prod uction .
T here ar e tw o syste ms avai lable fo r tempera ture con tro l of m an ifold assemb lies:

Closed- loop contro l

O pen -loop cont rol

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