Case Research: Japanese Rail Company

Bettering Injection Molding Effectivity with Conformal Cooling

Based in 2007, Japanese Rail Company constructed a status on designing sustainable, high-quality options for the Metro Rail infrastructure within the US. For a selected part—an insulator that isolates the electrified third rail in underground subway programs–Japanese Rail wanted to replace the fabric to fulfill security requirements. A swap to Polyphenylene Sulfide (PPS) subsequently required a reevaluation of the prevailing mildew. To sort out this challenge, Japanese Rail approached Linear AMS, a Shapeways Firm, searching for partnership in creating an revolutionary resolution to boost performance and effectivity.

Japanese Rail is a long-standing buyer, supporting transit companies in metropolitan areas like New York Metropolis, Washington, D.C., and Miami, the place city rail programs incessantly function in underground tunnels. Such an atmosphere calls for elements with particular dielectric properties, safeguarding in opposition to undesirable electrical costs and permitting for more practical administration of underground prepare strains.

Incorporating Superior Cooling Know-how

Injection molding producers usually face challenges associated to lengthy cycle occasions, half high quality, and general effectivity. Conformal cooling expertise particularly resolves these issues. Counting on 3D printing for personalization and effectivity, conformal cooling adapts to suit into industrial molds. 

In distinction to traditional strategies, that are restricted to machining in straight strains, conformal strains are designed to observe the form of the half itself–resulting in a extra constant temperature all through the half’s cooling stage. Which means that elements are much less prone to warp, whereas additionally cooling as much as 50% sooner. With conformal cooling, producers can cut back their cycle time and enhance their throughput, all whereas enhancing half high quality. 

For Japanese Rail, integrating this expertise produced extra constant temperatures in tooling, resulting in extra environment friendly manufacturing cycles, satisfying stringent necessities for dependable and environment friendly rail programs.

Bettering Tooling for Complicated Supplies

Initially, Japanese Rail encountered challenges because of the complicated half design and core mildew options, mixed with the character of Xencor™ PPS LGF-3045, a forty five% long-glass, fiber-reinforced Polyphenylene Sulfide (PPS).

Whereas offering helpful properties like warmth resistance and sturdiness, PPS additionally presents manufacturing difficulties. Linear carried out a complete evaluation, revealing that Japanese Rail’s current tooling with typical cooling–together with a PPS materials–wouldn’t produce a moldable half.

“I used to be conscious a brand new strategy could be mandatory with the change in materials,” mentioned Mickey Morales, CEO of Japanese Rail. “After working with Linear for the previous decade, I used to be assured of their engineering experience and knew they had been able to delivering the dynamic resolution this challenge wanted.”
To handle these points, Linear and Japanese Rail labored side-by-side for months in prototyping and testing, experimenting with molds and the mixing of 3D printed conformal cooling strains.

Upon preliminary assessment, the workforce steered making the change to a metal mildew over aluminum for manufacturing volumes. The PPS materials is very corrosive and would deteriorate the aluminum mildew. Transitioning to a metal mildew additionally opened up the opportunity of utilizing conformal cooling to permit for higher thermal management. Moreover, primarily based on the molding temperature necessities of PPS, the workforce decided sizzling oil could be mandatory to keep up software temperature, versus water which is extra generally used.

“The shift to metal molds considerably reworked our strategy, working a lot better with the distinctive traits of PPS and the necessity for a exact, managed molding atmosphere,” mentioned John Tenbusch, Director of Automotive Gross sales at Shapeways.

“After working with Linear [A Shapeways Company] for the previous decade, I used to be assured of their engineering experience and knew they had been able to delivering the dynamic resolution this challenge wanted.”

Mickey Morales, CEO of Japanese Rail

Lowering Cycle Occasions & Bettering Half High quality

The introduction of conformal cooling was extremely efficient, yielding a exceptional enchancment in effectivity after Linear launched metal tooling. Implementing conformal cooling led to a design adjustment that considerably reduce prices. Interchangeable inserts, normally requiring three cores, had been lowered to only one.

“We needed to incorporate cooling a technique or one other,” mentioned David Dickerson, Supervisor of Shopper Companies at Shapeways. “With out conformal cooling, we couldn’t have made the interchangeable elements we wanted for the varied sizes of the insulator.”

With the brand new metal molds and conformal cooling inserts, the Linear workforce was in a position to cut back the cycle time from 181 seconds to 138 seconds, reflecting a 23% enchancment. Lowered manufacturing time permits for extra elements to be made, decreasing each piece price and general program price, with out sacrificing half high quality. The extra even, managed temperatures additionally led to the manufacturing of higher-quality, extra dependable elements.

Whereas the preliminary prototyping and testing part required important time and monetary funding, the price financial savings over the long run greater than justified the upfront expenditure. The improved materials sturdiness, decrease upkeep wants, and elevated manufacturing speeds collectively contributed to important long-term financial benefit for Japanese Rail.

“Whereas we encountered just a few obstacles throughout our journey, Linear’s workforce of consultants was once more in a position to present a extremely engineered resolution whereas offering cost-saving advantages,” mentioned Mickey Morales, CEO of Japanese Rail.

Aligning with Regulatory and Environmental Issues

Japanese Rail’s openness to new options enabled enhancements with each brief and long-term advantages, assembly industry-specific wants whereas sustaining a dedication to environmentally pleasant supplies and regulatory compliance.

This case examine gives helpful problem-solving insights for points associated to supplies, tooling, and cooling. These options could also be relevant to different manufacturing sectors as properly. General, this challenge showcases the worth of teamwork, innovation, and excellence in manufacturing

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