An OEM for the door and window fabrication industry presented us with a unique challenge to improve their vinyl window manufacturing equipment. They requested a temperature gradient over the length of a cast-in platen heater.

Challenge:
A typical Tempco cast-in platen heater is designed to have a uniform temperature profile on the contact surface of the heater. A large temperature gradient would require more engineering design work than a standard heater.

Solution:
In the past, this type of design would have needed multiple iterations of design, manufacturing, and lab testing. Modifying the heating element layout would be necessary for each new sample heater to achieve the correct temperature profile. However, Tempco was able to develop a cast platen that fit the customer’s needs with the help of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Simulation Software. A 3D heater model was designed and then processed through the CFD software. All necessary design iterations were able to be made prior to the production of any heaters. After production, the heater was then able to be verified through lab testing.

By minimizing multiple production runs to achieve a conforming product, Tempco was able to deliver to the customer much quicker than previously possible.