Product category:
Fluid, thermal, noise and vibration analysis software
News Release from: Flomerics | Subject: EFD.Lab engineering fluid dynamics software
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 08 February 2007
Software speeds prevention of water
backflow
Watts Industries Netherlands used EFD.Lab engineering fluid dynamics (EFD) software to develop a range of water backflow prevention devices while drastically reducing the design test period.
Watts Industries Netherlands used EFD.Lab engineering fluid dynamics (EFD) software to develop a range of water backflow prevention devices while drastically reducing the design test period "By using EFD.Lab we have been able to develop a complete range of products instead of just one or two products" explained Rene Aarntzen, RandD/Engineering Manager
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 9 Jan 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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"Testing, which used to take two weeks, now takes only one day; therefore, our design test schedule has shortened dramatically".
Watts Industries manufactures and markets backflow prevention devices and automatic control valves for domestic, commercial and industrial use of water.
Since contamination of drinking water could prove disastrous, Watts must meet strict European Ministry of Health standards for water suppliers in addition to supplemental standards adopted by France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.
As a result, Watts has embraced the principles of concurrent engineering: the "Dry" RandD Department uses Autodesk Inventor for solid modelling with Flomerics EFD.Lab for analysis while the "Wet" Department verifies the performance of the prototype on a test rig.
The impact of this system has been significant.
Within the first 10 months of adopting the virtual prototyping system the company was able to build and test one to two virtual prototypes a day - this system has proved so reliable that the company has been using the system 24 hours a day.
In addition, the team of experts at Watts has gained new insight into its designs.
"Our team has more than 40 man-years of empirical experience on fluid flow phenomena".
"We knew that certain behaviours were present in our models but we didn't know their impact until we saw the results generated by EFD.Lab" mentioned Aarntzen.
"EFD.Lab has definitely allowed us to further investigate both the good and the bad aspects of our designs".
"As a result, we have been able to further improve our products".
"Due to the nature of their products, Watts will continue to verify their new designs on their test rigs".
"For the past year we have found exactly the same results from EFD.Lab and our test rig".
"That's important because maybe in a few years, after we've built an extensive library of results, then we won't need to build and test physical prototypes anymore" said Aarntzen. Request a free brochure from Flomerics ...
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