A novel runner design for flow balance of cavities in multi-cavity injection molding

Small injection molded articles are generally molded by multi-cavity injection molding. The most important thing in multi-cavity molding is flow imbalance among the cavities because it affects the physical property and the quality of products. The cavity filling balance can be achieved by flow balance in the runner through the thermal balance. In this study, novel screw type runner or helical type runner has been developed for the flow balance in the runner and performed experiment and computer simulation. Flow balance has been observed using various screw type runners for several resins such as amorphous and crystalline polymers including low and high viscosities grades. Flow balance experiments have been performed for various injection speeds since the flow balance can be affected by injection speed among the injection conditions. Experimental results have been compared with computational results and they showed good agreement. The cavity filling balance can be achieved by the screw runner where the temperature distribution is uniform through the circulation flow along the screw channel in the screw runner. It has been verified that the novel screw runner is very effective device in flow balance in the multi- cavity injection molding.