MSC Software Corporation

Visual Basic (VB) Interface automates the evaluation of alternative vehicle height configurations

Hitachi Mito Engineering provides engineering support for the development of elevators and various industrial products. To minimize tasks and improve process efficiency during the early phases of development, they conduct simulations for thermal design processes using analysis tools developed by Software Cradle. Hitachi Mito Engineering has been a very successful company. This narrated interview will provide insight about how they achieve steady growth while incorporating the latest technology and consistently building on their accumulated experiences.

TEN TECH LLC is an ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) registered mechanical engineering consulting company headquartered in Los Angeles, CA with operations in Billerica, MA, providing Mechanical Design, Analysis and Test services with emphasis on Aerospace & Defense, Hi-Tech Electronics and Renewable Energy applications. TEN TECH’s Mechanical Design Division specializes in Consumer-grade and Ruggedized Electro-Mechanical Packaging, Electromagnetic Interference Hardening and Plastic Parts Design. Its Mechanical Analysis Division provides expertise in Structural Dynamics, CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics), Thermal Analysis, Vibro-acoustics and Aeroelasticity while the Physical Testing Division offers Shock & Vibration, Thermal, Acoustics, Salt/Fog, Humidity and Airflow testing services. TEN TECH has been one of Software Cradle’s power users since 2011.

Effect of design change on aerodynamic characteristics of a car

The vast majority of robots are controlled through the use of encoders that measure joint rotation. But even when encoders with very high levels of accuracy are used, the ability of robots to move to an absolute XYZ position and ABC orientation is limited by deflection, thermal expansion and manufacturing variation. Some applications, such as placement of a disk drive read head, require very higher levels of positioning accuracy that can only be achieved with a very expensive, special purpose robot. This challenge is being addressed with visual servoing technology that uses a vision system to acquire an image that determines the relative positions of the robot end-effector and the target.

“The concept of the hidden robot model is a powerful tool able to analyze the intrinsic properties of some controllers developed by the visual servoing community,” Sébastien Briot concluded. “Adams simulations have played an important role in validating our theoretical work on hidden robot models. The integration of Adams with Simulink through Adams/Controls eliminated the need for us to write complex equations for predicting the dynamics of parallel robots and also provided graphical results that gave us a better understanding of robot behavior.”

• Adams simulation accurately predicted position and orientation of the robot.
• Simulation played an important role in validating the theoretical work
• Complex equations are no longer needed to predict the dynamics of parallel robots

The configuration of cooling fans inside electronic devices is complex. This frequently results in generating large amounts of data when trying to represent the configuration accurately for fluid analysis calculations. To deal with this, engineers use the concept of the pressure-flow-rate (PQ) characteristics to simplify the calculation, although it has been pointed out that this simplification often becomes the source of errors. Professor Hajime Nakamura, from the National Defense Academy of Japan, has been exploring these issues pertaining to fan models for electronic devices and has discovered a more accurate model.

Simulating complicated wind flows around buildings and the surrounding environment used to mean conducting wind tunnel tests that required a long time, large-scale facilities, and skilled experts. Now, many of the experimental tests are being replaced by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. Combining these two approaches draws on the advantages of each and is commonly done in engineering today. But Mr. Tetsuo Matsuyama from WindStyle Corporation, who has used scSTREAM for many years, envisions additional opportunities for CFD. He explains how using scSTREAM proactively to interpret wind flow can change design processes and building management.

SC/Tetra is three dimensional thermal fluid analysis software developed by Software Cradle Co., Ltd. that is used by customers all over the world. SC/Tetra is renowned for being a highly practical and accurate analysis tool.

Nagoya Municipal Industrial Research Institute (NMIRI) is a public research institute in Nagoya city that provides test and analysis support to small/medium sized companies in cooperation with local industries. When the client's work involves thermal management, the engineers at NMIRI use Software Cradle simulation tools to perform the simulations. The engineers also use these tools for their own basic research and to verify the performance of test instrumentation.

Payette, an award-winning architectural design firm located in Boston with 165 employees, specializes in high technology building design for science institutions, healthcare, and research facilities. With the emphasis on technology the firm’s projects often feature energy efficiency, naturally ventilated spaces, or a thermal corridor. Payette’s projects include the Duke University’s Environment Hall (Picture 1), George Washington University’s School of Public Health, and many more, all of which were recognized for design excellence. Payette has used scSTREAM CFD software since 2013.

The IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors) plays an essential role in activating the inverter within the PCU (Power Control Unit), the main HEV/EV control module, to generate three-phase electric power.

SAXA Inc. (hereinafter SAXA) is a development company of business phone systems and network equipment and has obtained significant results using the software. SAXA launched a working group specializing in thermal design, and then in-house rules were prepared for selecting and utilizing software product before adopting HeatDesigner. 'HeatDesigner' is developed by Software Cradle and is one of the major thermo-fluid analysis software for electronic devices. And the company has achieved zero production rework in only one year. This time, we interviewed a SAXA staff about how they made full use of the software and what lies behind their success.

MIZUTANI ELECTRIC IND. (hereinafter Mizutani Electric), a specialty manufacturer of heat sinks and radiators for electronic devices, has been using Cradle scSTREAM for thermal analysis. Computational simulation has enabled the company to decrease the amount of experimental testing needed and substantially reduce their product development lead-time. Now they want to take another step to advance their simulation capabilities by drawing on their past experiences. To learn more about how Mizutani Electric is advancing the use of simulation, we interviewed Yousuke Watanabe, assistant manager of the Mizutani Electric Technology Center.

Enables simulation of moving objects with complex movements and/or rigid-body collision with walls - by overlapping multiple mesh regions

The demand for solutions to energy problems continues to grow, which underlines the significance of reducing energy consumption in the context of architecture lifecycle. SHINRYO CORPORATION has made remarkable achievements in the field of air-conditioning system design, which is crucial for solving this energy issue. They have introduced a way to incorporate CFD into their BIM system. This has equipped their engineers with the design tools needed to optimize air-conditioning systems.