Research on optimum heating system design for thermoform mold drying system

Abstract

–In the packaging industry, it is of great importance to prefer clean, renewable, sustainable, reusable and environmentally friendly products in terms of environmental pollution. Cellulosic packages are the examples of environmentally friendly packaging. Mold drying systems play a very important role in the production of molded cellulosic packages. In order to produce high quality products in thermoform (thin-walled) mold drying systems heated by resistance, the heat distribution must be homogeneous. Otherwise, the crops remain moist, regional burns occur, fire rates rise and yield values decrease. In this study, by modeling the resistive mold heating system, which is one of the main elements of a system that works by drying in a mold, manufacturing was carried out in accordance with the designed system, and heat distribution in a steady state was experimentally studied. In the experimental study, the effect of the thickness of the insulation plate, which should be used for insulation in the drying system, on the heat distribution and energy consumption of the heating table was determined.