Automobile air ducts are produced using custom blow molding solutions

Industry Pain Points Analysis
The customers in the blow molding industry are confronted with various challenges, which are as follows: 
- Trade policy impact: The escalation of the Sino-US trade dispute, with the US imposing tariffs on Chinese plastic products, has led to the loss of orders for blow molding products exported to the US, a decline in sales of high-end products, and potential demands from US customers for shared cost of tariffs, squeezing profit margins. At the same time, upstream chemical raw materials and some functional plastics in the production chain are imported, and they may face an increase in costs due to retaliatory tariffs, which could also lead to an increase in the import cost of core components of high-end blow molding machines.
- Intense market competition: Soft packaging, recycled plastics, etc. pose competitive threats to traditional blow molding products. For instance, the increasing use of recycled plastics is eroding the market for virgin plastics. Additionally, trade barriers in the Asia-Pacific region have decreased, allowing more competitors to enter the market, putting pressure on customers to compete in terms of price and market share.
- Strict environmental regulations: Governments around the world have implemented strict measures for plastic pollution control. For example, the EU's "Plastic Packaging and Waste Regulations" require packaging to be reusable or recyclable. Producers that fail to meet these requirements will face high plastic taxes, forcing blow molding enterprises to increase the use of recycled plastics and increasing production costs and technical difficulties.
- Pressure for technological innovation: As market demands for product quality and functionality increase, blow molding enterprises need to constantly update equipment and improve process levels, such as developing high-precision molds and optimizing blow molding processes. However, technological updates and replacements mean high investment costs and long return periods, placing greater pressure on enterprises, especially small and medium-sized ones.
- Quality control issues: During blow molding production, carbon deposits may occur, leading to a sharp increase in product scrap rates, high downtime maintenance costs, and shortened equipment lifespans, affecting product quality and production efficiency, and increasing enterprise costs.
- Variable customer demands: Customers have increasingly higher requirements for products, not only demanding high-quality products but also personalized customization. At the same time, customers are budget-constrained and sensitive to prices, which makes enterprises have to meet customer demands while controlling costs and maintaining profit margins.

Our Solutions
The blow molding process has significant advantages in production applications, mainly reflected in the efficiency of molding, cost control, and product adaptability. The details are as follows: 
- High production efficiency: Suitable for mass production, especially for hollow products (such as plastic bottles, storage tanks), it can be produced synchronously through multi-head equipment, with a large single batch output and the ability to quickly respond to large-scale order demands.
- Excellent material utilization: During the production process, there is less waste from the edges and corners, and the generated waste can be crushed and re-melted for reuse (subject to product quality requirements), effectively reducing raw material waste and controlling production costs.
- Strong product adaptability: It can process various thermoplastic materials (such as polyethylene, polypropylene, PET, etc.), capable of producing from several milliliters of small containers to several cubic meters of large storage tanks, and can achieve customization of different wall thicknesses and shapes by adjusting the process to meet the needs of various industries such as food, chemical, and medicine.
- Lower equipment and mold costs: Compared to injection molding and other processes, the initial investment cost of small and medium-sized blow molding equipment is lower, and the mold structure for simple hollow products is relatively simple, with a more advantageous design and manufacturing cost, especially suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises to start. 
- Stable product structure: The hollow products after molding have good overall sealing performance (such as sealed tanks, pressure vessels), and the wall thickness distribution can be adjusted through process optimization, which can enhance the impact resistance and durability of the product, meeting the strength requirements for specific scenarios.

Success Cases Showcase
Customer industry: Air duct accessories for new energy vehicles
1.Requirement Description: I. Core Functional Requirements 1. Precise air Flow Distribution: Through structural optimization such as the design of the partition inside the air duct, the air volume at multiple outlets including the left air duct, right air duct, and central air duct should be evenly distributed to avoid the concentration of air volume at a single outlet
The problem of decreased driving and riding comfort
2.System Media Transmission: As a key connecting component of the heat pump air conditioning system, it needs to ensure the stable flow and state transition of the refrigerant between components such as the HVAC assembly, thermal management integrated module, and electric compressor.
3.Multi-scenario ventilation adaptation: meets the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning needs of the passenger cabin, while also adapting to the constant temperature, constant humidity, and purification requirements of the battery plant. In some scenarios, 360° uniform air supply is required.
4.Safety Protection Guarantee: The air ducts in the charging pile area must meet smoke prevention and exhaust requirements. The smoke exhaust and supply air volumes should be increased to 1.2 times the conventional standard. The fire-resistance rating of air ducts passing through fire compartments should be no less than 2 hours.



I. Compliance and Adaptation Requirements
1.Policy and Standard Alignment: Compliant with China's 'Dual Credit' policy, EU carbon emission regulations, and ISO 19453:2023 certification requirements; the refrigerant leakage rate of the air conditioning system must meet regional regulatory limits.
2.Vehicle and Scenario Adaptation: Designed differently for heat pump and non-heat pump systems, high-end models need to support variable air duct designs for multi-zone independent temperature control; air ducts in factories and charging station areas need to be compatible with the load-bearing requirements of steel-structured plants and the layout needs of fire safety units.
3.Environmental Protection and Sustainability: Materials need to meet recyclability requirements, achieve a recycling material utilization rate of over 30% by 2030, and reduce production energy intensity by more than 25%.
Our Custom Solution: Solutions to Meet the Demand for Air Ducts in New Energy Vehicles
Focusing on the functional, technical, and compliance core requirements of air ducts, optimization can be achieved through three main approaches: material selection optimization, structural and process innovation, intelligent integrated design, and full-process compliance management. The specific plan is as follows.



II. Material selection: Matching performance with lightweight requirements
Functional Scene Adaptation: For the heat pump system ducts, long glass fiber reinforced polypropylene (LGEFP) that can withstand high and low temperatures (-40℃~120℃) is preferred, balancing strength and aging resistance; the passenger cabin ventilation ducts use low-VOC XF foam to reduce interior odors. Lightweighting Upgrade: For key heavy ducts, a thin-wall design (wall thickness reduced to 1.5mm~2mm) is adopted, combined with integrated blow molding, resulting in a 20%~30% weight reduction compared to traditional spliced structures.
Structure and Process: Ensuring Airflow and Sealing Performance
Precise airflow distribution: At the air duct bifurcation, guide vanes are designed. The angle and quantity of the vanes are optimized through CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) simulation to ensure that the airflow deviation at each outlet is less than 5%. For the battery cooling air duct, a honeycomb-shaped diversion structure is adopted to achieve uniform coverage of the coolant.
Sealing and vibration reduction optimization: The connection parts are designed with a "double-layer sealing + elastic buckle" structure. The inner layer uses a nitrile rubber sealing ring, and the outer layer is fixed by a zipper-like compression. The air leakage is controlled to be less than 3%. For the air ducts connected to vibration sources such as compressors and water pumps, silicone flexible segments are added at both ends, and rubber-padded pipe clamps are used to reduce the vibration transmission noise by 15 dB.

III. Compliance and Adaptability: Meeting Policy and Scenario Requirements
Regulatory compliance: Materials pass ROHS 2.0, AH and other environmental protection certifications. The refrigerant leakage rate complies with GB18352.6-2016 (China) and EUN0640/2009 (EU). Fire resistance: For air ducts crossing fire compartments, they are wrapped with fireproof rock wool (water resistance limit 2 hours), meeting the GB50166-2019 fire protection standard.
Multi-scenario adaptability: For models in cold regions, insulation cotton (thermal conductivity < 0.03 W/(m·K)) is added to the outer layer of the air duct. For different space layouts of commercial vehicles and passenger vehicles, flexible air ducts (bendable angle > 90°) are used to adapt to complex installations. environment
Achievements: New Project Results of Wind Ducts for New Energy Vehicles
This project, centered on the core goals of "performance upgrade, lightweighting, and intelligence", has conducted research and development based on the functional pain points and technical demands of wind ducts for new energy vehicles. The project has ultimately achieved multi-dimensional results that can cover various scenarios including passenger and commercial vehicles, as well as high-cold and normal-temperature environments. The specific achievements are as follows:

1. Project Application Results
Vehicle Model Adaptation Coverage
The project results have been mass-produced and applied to 3 models of pure electric passenger vehicles (A0 class and A class) and 2 models of electric commercial vehicles (light trucks and MVs). Additionally, for high-cold regions (Northeast and Northwest), heat-insulating wind ducts (with an outer layer of aerogel insulation, thermal conductivity of 0.025 W/(m·K)) have been developed. In an environment of -30°C, the heating efficiency of the heat pump system has increased by 20%.
Production and Cost Optimization
By adopting the "blow molding + modular pre-assembly" process, the production steps of the wind ducts have been reduced from 12 to 6, and the production cycle per piece has been shortened from 45 minutes to 18 minutes, increasing the production line capacity by 150%. Through the domestication of materials and process optimization, the cost of the project products has been reduced by 35% compared to imported similar products, demonstrating a high cost-performance advantage.

2. Compliance and Certification Achievements
The entire series of project products have passed multiple authoritative certifications and tests, including:
Environmental Certification: RoHS 2.0, REACH (197 high-concern substances), GB/T27630-2021 (vehicle interior air quality);
Performance Testing: ISO 16232 (oil resistance of automotive parts), GB50166-2019 (fire resistance, fire resistance limit of 2.5 hours);
Reliability Testing: 100,000 cold and hot cycles (-40°C to 120°C), 5,000 km vehicle vibration test, with a product failure rate of ≤0.3%.

Technical Support Process
The flowchart illustrates the cooperation steps.：
Demand communication → 3D modeling → Mold design → Sample production → Mass production → Export delivery

Cross-Industry Adaptability



Agriculture, healthcare, logistics, environmental protection, construction, toys, new energy, etc.

Packaging industry: Includes packaging for food and beverages such as mineral water bottles, beverage bottles, and cooking oil bottles, packaging for cosmetics such as lotion bottles, cream jars, and perfume bottles, as well as packaging for medicine such as medicine bottles and medicine jars.

Automotive industry: This includes plastic fuel tanks, air ducts and ventilation pipes for the automotive air conditioning system and ventilation system, as well as interior components such as door panels, instrument panels, and seat armrests.

Appliance industry: There are appliance shells such as washing machine shells, refrigerator shells, air conditioner shells, as well as components and accessories like the water tank of the washing machine, the storage box of the refrigerator, and the air guide plate of the air conditioner.

Toys industry: Includes plastic toys such as toy cars, toy planes, and toy dolls, as well as models like building models, airplane models, and jigsaw puzzles.

Construction industry: Includes plastic pipes such as drainage pipes, water supply pipes, and ventilation pipes, as well as decorative materials like plastic ceilings, plastic wall panels, and plastic floors.

Environmental protection industry: Includes environmental containers such as trash cans and recycling bins, as well as environmental equipment such as sewage treatment equipment and air purification equipment.

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