Process control

Process control document is used to store description of the applied pressure / vacuum and movements of tools. Maximum of ten tools is supported This means that for one simulation, ten tools are available with independent movements.

To create a new process control, click on the icon with the tool tip "New process control" on T-SIM shortcut bar or click on File / New and select T-SIM Process control as the document type and click OK.

Fill in the process control data table with appropriate data.
Specify the pressure and the tool(s) position at the time entered in the first column.

Data in the process control table have to be specified using the following rules - see Process control description.

To add, remove or insert a new row into the table, press the right mouse button inside the table and select the required command from the pop-up menu displayed.

Check Automatic interpolation to force T-SIM to automatically interpolate missing pressure and position values.

In the Graph, Tools options, check Pressure to display pressure profile in the graph.

Tool A (and also Tool B) group enables to describe to select a tool and to describe its behavior, movement vector, and add the tool movement profile to the graph:

First, select a tool to edit / include to the graph using the combo box "Tool #".
Tool behavior is written on the Behavior button. Click on the button to change the behavior from lower to upper and vice versa. For more information about tool behavior click here.
Vector of movement can be selected in the combo box below the text "Vector of movement direction". When "General" is selected, the vector must be specified manual by entering its components in the edit boxes with description x, y and z. To confirm changes in the movement vector, click on Apply.
Check Add to graph to display the corresponding tool movement in the graph. Remark: Only two tools positions ("Tool A" and "Tool B") can be displayed in the graph. Tool A can be one of tools T1-T10, Tool B can be on of tools T1-T10. The marking "Tool A" and "Tool B" has nothing in common with tools marking T1 - T10. The reason for the marking "Tool A" and "Tool B" is just to enable displaying two tools movements in graph at once.

Once all the necessary data are specified, use File / Save or File / Save as command to store the process control data.

In T-SIM, the pressure acting on all FEM grid elements has to be entered during process control setup. For T-SIM, there is no difference between pressure / vacuum.

Example:
Negative forming process, mold is evacuated using 100 kPa vacuum. At the same time, pressure 420 kPa is used to force the sheet to touch the mold walls. The total pressure acting on all sheet elements will be (420 + 100) = 520 kPa. This is the value which must be specified in the process control table.

Maximum of ten tools are in T-SIM to be used for simulations - Tool 1 - Tool 10. All tools are represented in the same way as T-SIM tools (*.tol). However, during a project setup it is necessary to take care how the tools are used.

Tools can move in different directions depending on the technology used. Moreover, each tool can behave as lower or upper.

Remark: Description of tool movement is different now when compared with previous versions (T-SIM 4.15 and before).

Sheet nodes will be caught on a tool behaving as lower only if they move (relatively) in the negative direction of z axis against the tool surface.

Sheet nodes will be caught on a tool behaving as upper only if they move (relatively) in the positive direction of z axis against the tool surface.

Description of tool movement is simplified in T-SIM from 4.2 version. Now, the initial tool position is not changed after tool load. To describe tool movement, specify shift vector and movements along this vector.

Four shift vector are supported:

X axis - tool moves in positive direction of X axis
Y axis - tool moves in positive direction of Y axis
Z axis - tool moves in positive direction of Z axis
General - tool moves in direction of a vector specified by its components

Starting from version 4.2, tool position in its *.tol file (T-SIM Tool Document) is the initial tool position for every process simulation.
This means that:

If the tool position specified in process control data table is equal to zero, then the tool is located in the same position as in its *.tol file.
If the tool position is equal to P, then the tool is shifted by P (mm or inches) in the direction given by shift vector

(Tools behaving as upper are in blue, tools behaving as lower are in green)

I. Using T-SIM Tool behaving as upper as a negative mold: In both cases a positive pressure has to be used - acting on the lower side of the sheet or as a vacuum acting on the upper side of the sheet

II. Using T-SIM Tool behaving as lower as a negative mold: In both cases a negative pressure has to be used - acting on the upper side of the sheet or as a vacuum acting on the lower side of the sheet

III. The following does not work (sheet goes through tools): T-SIM Tool behaving as upper cannot be used as a lower tool, and T-SIM Tool behaving as lower cannot be used as an upper tool.

I. Using T-SIM Tool behaving as upper as a positive mold: In both cases a positive pressure has to be used - acting from the lower side of the sheet or as a vacuum acting on the upper side of the sheet

II. Using T-SIM Tool behaving as lower as a positive mold: In both cases a negative pressure has to be used - acting from the upper side of the sheet or as a vacuum acting on the lower side of the sheet

III. The following does not work (the sheet goes through tools): T-SIM Tool behaving as upper cannot be used as a lower tool, and T-SIM Tool behaving as lower cannot be used as an upper tool.

I. Using T-SIM Tool behaving as upper as a plug, T-SIM Tool behaving as lower as a mold: In both cases a negative pressure has to be used - acting on the upper side of the sheet or as a vacuum acting on the lower side of the sheet

II. T-SIM Tool behaving as lower as a plug, T-SIM Tool behaving as upper as a mold: In both cases a positive pressure has to be used - acting on the lower side of the sheet or as a vacuum acting on the upper side of the sheet

III. Following does not work (the sheet goes through tools): T-SIM Tool behaving as upper cannot be used as a lower tool, and T-SIM Tool behaving as lower cannot be used as an upper tool.