Insulation plates

[3NGLENN1889]

Wondering if anyone can give me some feed back on an efficiency rating and/or dollar amount on installing insulation plates on all our molds for energy management and cost savings. I'm sure everybody knows that heating just the mold and not the platen is just plain more efficient.
All our tools utilize thermolaters and oilers. Looking for info on actual real world studies so I can give management some figures to work with.
Thanks to any and all who respond. Feedback and opinions much appreciated. Thanks G.P.

P.S. I know energy rates in various areas will vary.

[Suhas]

Hi,

I am not sure if you can find a formal study on these anywhere. You can do your own by probably running a mold with and without the plate for the same mold and see how much power it is consuming. You can also record the platen temps over time and see what you get.
I know this is not what you want to hear but just my two cents.
Regards,
Suhas

[3NGLENN1889]

Thanks Suhas for the reply. I spoke with my engineers and maint guy to see what we can do, exactly as you mentioned. It's a start, so... we'll see. Have a good day. I'll post any relevant information or interesting findings if we get anywhere. G.P.

[Brisli]

I know this is slightly off topic, but we had to remove our insulator plates due to flatness issues, we were molding lenses for cell phone cameras with a total tolerance of 10 millionths of an inch on the spheres. instead we ground a cross hatch pattern on the mounting plates to reduce the surface area for heat xfer. not as effective but you do what you have to do.

Brian