Drawing created using Autodesk Mechanical Desktop 2008

Drawings are for illustration purposes only and do not reflect any existing part or design.

Figure 1: Line Drawing of a Heated & Cooled Press Platen

Design Considerations:

• Oversized Mounting Holes:  Allows Thermal Expansion
• Heaters Near Work Surface: Faster Heat Response Time for the Work
• Non Uniform Heater Spacing: More Heat at the Edges Where Heat Loss is the Greatest
• 12 Heaters (Multiple of 3): Allows Balanced Load on 3 Phase Line

Heater Design Considerations:

• Size heaters to supply 25 Watts per square inch of platen work surface to allow fast recovery after cooling.
• Use distributed wattage heaters with more wattage on the ends and less in the middle to compensate for greater heat loss on the platen edges.

Cooling Design Considerations:

• Mix air with water at elevated temperatures, and then switch to water only as the temperature drops to reduce thermal shock.
• Throttle coolant flow on each platen with a valve on the discharge line.