Innovation corner

The simulation of a gearbox represents one of the most challenging topics in conventional CFD, since the complex geometries, the free surface of the oil and the dynamics of the system can only be solved with the very highest effort. For electric axle systems in particular, a robust oiling concept is a very important milestone in development due to the high number of revolutions, which is usually only validated on the test bench at a fairly late stage.

The possibility of quickly testing and analyzing different design variants has become of very high importance in the industry, including the white goods sector. This has made simulation a key. Particle-based CFD methods have already found their way into the workflow of engineering teams within this sector. As a leading particle-based CFD software, PreonLab offers high-fidelity flow simulations while being much quicker than the conventional methods, especially when it comes to pre-processing and computation. In this article, examples of how PreonLab can be used for the design and analysis of a dishwasher are demonstrated.

Improving numerically upon a solver is no straightforward task. Days to weeks to months are spent on analyzing simulations, literature research, coming up with ideas and adapting the code in no particular order. Some ideas turn out to be dead ends, some only suffice as intermediate solutions, some are the right idea at the wrong time and some are exactly what we hoped for and more. The solutions often result in comparatively few lines of highly refined code that has the potential to reap very big rewards. At FIFTY2 we reserve time for very research intensive tasks to make sure each new version of PreonLab is the best one so far. Innovation is a key driver in this industry. In this article, we are going to show you two innovations to the snow solver that exceeded our expectations and you are using in PreonLab 5.1. This article does not require you to know any specifics about the snow solver. However, if you do want to know more about the snow solver you can read this article we wrote back in September. First and foremost we reasoned these innovations would lead at least to performance benefits. Our hope was that the solver would also get more stable and solve tasks which it had a hard time before with or could not find a solution to at all. But before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s look at the problems we faced:

We are excited to announce the release of PreonLab 5.1. It is packed with features that improve reliability, performance and usability across a wide range of applications. Here are some of the highlights: Snow Solver: The Snow Solver is now up to five times faster when simulating big chunks of snow. Thermodynamics & Boundary Conditions: Improve your simulation results with an enhanced set of boundary conditions that allow for more detailed scene initialization or updates in a co-simulation environment, especially in thermodynamics simulations. Multiphase Simulation: The Preon Solver has been optimized for low- and high-density contrast multiphase simulations. Adaptive Resolution: Better integration with other features opens up adaptive resolution for more applications. Not convinced? There is also a 20% performance boost. Adjustable Units: Meter or millimeter? Seconds or hours? Choose whatever fits best for your current application. This is just a selection of new features and improvements. Check out the changelog to learn about all changes. And enjoy our PreonLab 5.1 Release Event to learn more about what‘s going on in the PreonLab ecosystem.   Make sure to follow us on LinkedIn so that you don’t miss new videos, case studies and updates!

The Poiseuille flow serves as an important benchmark for the validation of CFD methods as well as for studying fundamental aspects of pressure-induced incompressible internal flows. In this article, capabilities of PreonLab in capturing hydrodynamically fully developed 2-D laminar flows between parallel plates (known as planar Poiseuille flow) are evaluated for different Reynolds numbers.

Our R&D team has worked hard to make PreonLab 5.1 real. It is packed with entirely new options for the most prominent simulation challenges solved with PreonLab. New physical models broaden the scope of possible applications. Numerical improvements shorten computation times even further. On top of that, we have thoroughly revised and extended how PreonLab handles statistic data to enhance the usability, once more. Stay tuned for more insights of this release in November 2021 & register to be part of the release event and be one of the firsts to get to know the new and enhanced features!

Reliability is one of the key drivers of our product development at FIFTY2. Users of PreonLab can always be sure, that new versions have been thoroughly tested before we release them. On the other hand, our quality awareness should not slow us down implementing new features. In this article we show how our development process is structured such that we don’t sacrifice one goal for the other. We continuously validate the simulation results and the application behavior. This means, that every new feature is carefully looked at. Our engineering team analyzes the result and validates physical aspects. New development should also not break existing workflows. There are a lot of different aspects of quality assurance, which in combination makes PreonLab an enjoyable user experience. At FIFTY2, we have different stages where different variants of software testing is strictly incorporated in the development process. Like this, we minimize the risk of regressions and side effects and ensure reliable simulation results. It is always our goal to ensure, that the PreonLab version deployed to our users is the best version so far.

The simulation of a gearbox represents one of the most challenging topics in classical CFD, since the complex geometries, the free surface of the oil and the dynamics of the system can only be solved with the very highest effort for classical CFD methods. Especially for electric axle systems, a robust oiling concept is a very important milestone in the development due to the high number of revolutions, which is usually validated quite late on the test bench.

Snow creates deeply physical experiences that can remain vivid memories: Seeing snow for the first time, a snow crystal melting on your tongue, a snowball fight, the different activities summarized as winter sports. However, snow also affects human activity and can, quite literally, get in the way. Snowplows clear roads, highways, airfields and railroads. Snow drifts may destabilize structures due to uneven loading. Avalanches and blizzards are natural hazards that can endanger living beings. PreonLab solves many automotive problems. When it comes to snow, one is foremost interested to prevent soiling of critical components. The number of tasks is vast. Some that PreonLab has already solved are: Placing cameras for self-driving cars, snow entering the engine air intake which can cause a power drop or localizing corrosion hot-spots in the wheelhouse. Audi and Great Wall Motor are just some examples demonstrating the snow solver capabilities to simulate and capture phenomenas measured in real world test setups at different vehicle speeds. Out of the many sensors PreonLab provides, the addition of the height sensor has been key for the engineers to assess soiling. So how does PreonLab achieve this? Let’s take a step back and look what we are up against.

Each simulation tool/method has its strengths. Often in industrial workflows, multiple tools are combined over an interface to exploit the advantages each tool offers. PreonLab offers a wide range of possibilities to easily couple it with other tools. In this article, we talk over the several coupling interfaces that PreonLab offers, and more specifically a workflow developed for coupling PreonLab to TAITherm using a case of battery cooling simulation.