Faster Work Flow

Vending machine maker cuts modeling time

S
using flow analysis software
t. Louis-based Coin Acceptors, Inc.
(Coinco) designs and manufactures
coin mechanisms, bill acceptors and con-
trol systems for vending machines for the
global food and beverage vending indus-
try. Senior Coinco engineer Max Molenaar
supervises the tool design and drafting de-
partments, model shop, prototyping, and
CAE activities. The company uses
Moldflow Plastics’ Insight (MPI) software
from Moldflow, Wayland, MA as well as
Pro/ENGINEER Mechanica for stress
analysis, and Unigraphics and Solid Edge
for CAE. A major challenge to designing
the company’s products is molding plastic
parts that require close tolerances. “Typi-
cally, coin changers are restricted in size
and require small and accurate compo-
nents,” he comments. “Designing and
molding a plastic part to meet our ex-
pected criteria can be challenging. A com-
bination of good design, careful analysis, Photorealistic rendering of a gear tool
and testing helps us achieve reliability and
tamper-proof devices for our customers.”
Coinco’s tool design department had been
using C-MOLD for flow analysis since the
early 1990s. Moldflow acquired C-MOLD
in 2000, and in September 2001, they en-
listed Molenaar and his colleagues as a
beta customer for Synergy, the C-MOLD-
like user interface that debuted with MPI/
Fusion 3.0 software. “We use MPI for ana-
lyzing each newly designed plastic part,”
says Molenaar. “The software is an integral
part of the overall design process — it al-
lows us to achieve the accuracy, reliability
and consistency that our customers expect.
The company established a policy several
Melt flow front plot of a 2-cavity gear mold years ago to perform flow and cooling
76 explore all sites on www.manufacturingcenter.com MARCH 2002
analyses on each new part during tool de-
sign. The other benefit derived from those
activities included optimizing the design
accurately at the beginning of the design
cycle, eliminating subsequent design
cycles. In addition, the analysis allows us to
plan and position the cooling lines before
machining them. This effort helps prevent
very costly and time-consuming retooling.”
Molenaar observes that upfront analysis
also helps him make more informed deci-
sions. “We could have a scenario where in-
stead of cooling the mold with water, we
could opt for using beryllium copper. The
software helps us save time and money be-
cause it
eliminates
the trial and
error out of
the design
cycle. MPI
allows us to
establish a
process for
the produc-
tion floor so
operators can Rear view of a changer component
after cooling analysis
easily ini-
tiate the start-up process for the mold. They
have a processing window ready for them.”
Molenaar and his team are currently using
MPI to design new plastic parts — some as
large as 6 in. by 18 in., and small gear
pieces with ¼-in diameters. “Using Syn-
ergy is particularly helpful because we are
almost 99% sure that the gate locations and
cooling lines are accurate. There are aes-
thetic issues with any product so we make
sure that unsightly nit and weld lines do not
appear in critical areas that could be visible
to the outside.” Molenaar observes,
“That’s why it’s also very important to per-
form MPI analysis during the design cycle
— to make sure that we don’t have imper-
fections in cosmetically critical areas.”
Molenaar figures that he and his col-
leagues were spending up to eight hours per
MARCH 2002 explore all sites on www.manufacturingcenter.com
model to generate meshes and clean them
up using midplane meshing tools. With one
current project, he’s realized savings so far
of 120 man-hours by using MPI. Over time,
he calculates that the company would save
more than $26,000 per year as a result of
implementing MPI. “The company’s return
on this investment will be realized in less
than a year,” adds Molenaar.
Molenaar says that he and his colleagues
have been able to reduce modeling time by
80%. “When we participated in the beta
test for MPI/Fusion,” explains Molenaar, “I
selected a small, complex gear as a test
model. It required a mesh with a large num-
ber of tri-
angles. Us-
ing C-
MOLD Ex-
press, it took
four hours to
generate a
mesh and an-
other three
hours of
manual labor
Volumetric shrinkage plot of
changer component
to correct the
m e s h .
Moldflow’s Mesh Generator generated the
mesh in about five minutes, but the mesh
didn’t look any better than the Mesh Ex-
press version. Both products caused signifi-
cant frustration and required additional la-
bor to create something half-way decent.”
However, using MPI/Fusion, Molenaar gen-
erated the mesh in just two minutes and
spent just 15 minutes cleaning it up.
—SG
For more information:
Circle 230—Moldflow, or connect di-
rectly to their website via the Online
Reader Service Program at
www.rsleads.com/203df-230
Circle 231—Coin Acceptors, Inc., or
connect directly at www.rsleads.com/
203df-231
77