RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT By Bipin Kashid • Simulation Engineer and Mitch Eichler • Applications Engineer, Parker Hannifin Hydraulic Valve Division
Part 1: Fast-tracking innovation through CAE simulation This is the first in a two-part series on simulation in an economic downtown. Stay tuned for part 2 in our next issue, or find the complete article online at fluidpowerworld.com.
Economic slowdowns can hurt new business through tightening budgets, order reductions or losses and breeding uncertainty in the business. Because of this, many companies choose to put research and development departments in a slowdown in an effort to maintain a semblance of normal operations. However, while focusing on survivability in these times is understandable, neglecting long-term growth will ultimately harm a business, causing design engineers to make hasty decisions with limited information which can affect the quality of the products and the total product cost.
Innovation and R&D must always be an area of focus, especially during an economic slowdown, no matter how counterintuitive it may seem. To do this, engineering teams must harness the power of new technologies to drive innovation. Through computer-aided engineering (CAE), engineers can expedite R&D testing, bringing products to market faster, and developing higher quality products at lower development costs.
components and other hardware. Because parts made with permanent tooling, castings for example, can easily cost tens of thousands of dollars, the costs of design iterations can add up quickly. A cost-efficient prototyping process hinged upon getting the design right on the very first try, which, as any engineer would say, is about as likely to happen as winning the lottery. In engineering, it’s fairly easy to get it “right,” however it is not easy to barely get it right when it comes to perfectly optimizing for balanced performance and cost. Now, through CAE-enabled virtual prototyping, engineers can create an analytical model of their design. These models allow a product to be tested in a virtual environment without the time and cost associated with making a physical test specimen. When simulation is an integral design tool, more time can be spent on product optimization instead of working to create products that merely achieve the minimum functional design requirements. No matter where a design team is in the design process, simulation can help. Common virtual tests include:
The power of simulation
Physical, real-world testing and prototyping have long been the backbone of R&D. However, with modern CAE, simulations are now an effective and reliable way to fast-track product innovation, offering shorter design cycle timeframes and reduced costs. The power of CAE software centers around virtual prototyping. The advantages of virtual prototyping include: • • • •
Lower costs Shorter time to market Higher-quality designs More competitive products
Before a wider adoption of simulation, the prototyping phase of a new product development project primarily involved creating a new physical prototype with each design change, leading to countless hours spent and piles of discarded castings, machined 30
FLUID POWER WORLD
10 • 2020
CFD simulations. Images courtesy of Parker Hannifin.
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