Hollow glass ware is formed in a two step process. In the first step (blank side) a so-called parison is formed, which in the second step (blow side) is blown into the final container. Both process steps use moulds to form the parison and the final container, respectively. The cooling of these blank and blow moulds is an essential process step. On the blank side it is necessary to design a certain temperature profile in order to guarantee the quality of the container and a good glass distribution. On the blow side, however, it is most important to efficiently cool the container in order not to limit the production speed. A simulation method is presented that enables prediction of the mould temperature profile on the blank and blow sides based on the process settings and the cooling system design. The method enables to any desired container shape in 3D, even non-round containers, to be modelled. It is shown how this simulation tool together with the new developed TnVertiFlow' cooling system helps to increase container quality by designing the blank mould temperature profile. On the blow side a crucial requirement of the cooling system is its high performance. Experimental results are presented showing that the existing VertiFlow cooling systems can be boosted by nearly 40% by using a combination of easy to implement diffuser exits and appropriate bore inserts.
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