Thermal analysis and control for heating of an extrusion die

Abstract

Heating and temperature control of tool blocks with high heat capacitance requires a proper setting of thermal control systems. The temperature distribution is highly non-uniform in the heating stage, and can deviate locally while reaching a stabilized state due to heat losses. In this study, a thermal analysis of heating an extrusion die is described. First a 3-D model of the extrusion die was constructed in SolidWorks. Subsequently, the model was imported to MARC Mentat finite element software and geometrically processed. Material properties and boundary conditions were assigned to the model considering heat conduction and heat convection. The heating power and heat transfer coefficient were taken as optimization parameters. In the parameter analysis, after several simulations, a comparison between values in real and in the modelled block showed agreement. With thetheory about Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controllers and using the values from simulation, PID parameters were computed.