Abstract
One of the aspects determining the speed rate, and therefore the economic viability, of an injection molding process is the efficiency of the heat transfer between the injected part and the mold. The quicker the temperature of the part drops below the threshold value at which it can be ejected from the mold, the sooner the mold can be closed and the injection of next part can begin. In this article is presented the solution to the highly constrained structural design optimization problem of maximizing the heat exchange surface area of the cooling system of an injection mold, an exercise aimed at increasing the speed of an existing molding system. The author described how a systematic design search via an evolutionary heuristic specifically designed for such highly constrained design problems can yield substantial increases in cooling area, while allowing the relatively straightforward implementation of the constraints that ensure the functionality of the system. Keywords: Evolutionary optimization, Injection molding process, Punctuated equlibrium, Cooling system