A Study on Time-Dependent Optimal Heater Control for Thermoforming Using Response Surface Method

열성형 과정에서 반응면 기법을 이용한 히터의 비정상 최적제어에 관한 연구

Thermoforming is one of the most versatile and economical processes available for the manufacturing polymer products. The drawback of thermoforming is difficult to get uniform thickness of final products. For the distribution of thickness strongly depends on the temperature distribution of sheet, the adjustment of heater power is very important In this paper, an optimization study for getting uniform temperature distribution was carried out using dual optimization steps. At first, the steady state optimal distribution of heater power is searched by numerical optimization to get uniform temperature of sheet surface. In the second step, time-dependent optimal heater inputs have been found out to decrease the temperature difference through the direction of thickness using Rseponse Surface Method and D-optimal method. The optimization results show that the time-dependent optimal heater power distribution gives acceptable uniform sheet temperature in the field of forming temperature..