Repositioning cooling channels in cooling molds

A system comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• a computer-readable medium storing instructions that cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising
• obtaining a three-dimensional computer model of a cooling mold for a part and a specification of an initial layout of one or more cooling channels integrated into the cooling mold,
• producing data regarding temperatures of a cavity surface of the cooling mold in contact with the part using a numerical simulation of a molding process applied to the cooling mold using the one or more cooling channels integrated into the cooling mold,
• moving individual portions of the one or more cooling channels toward hotter portions of the cavity surface, without moving any branch junctions of the one or more cooling channels and while keeping one or more diameters of the one or more cooling channels constant, wherein the moving comprises limiting a maximum allowed movement of the individual portions based on the one or more diameters,
• repeating the producing and the moving multiple times to produce multiple different layouts for the one or more cooling channels, wherein an input cooling-channel layout for each subsequent repetition of the producing is an output cooling-channel layout from a prior repetition of the moving, and each of the multiple different layouts has an associated value for a weighted sum metric comprising (i) a first metric for an average temperature of the cavity surface in contact with the part, and (ii) a second metric for a statistical dispersion of temperature variance across the cavity surface in contact with the part, and
• providing at least one of the multiple different layouts for the one or more cooling channels having a best associated value for the weighted sum metric.