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Simulating Lubrication Flow to Predict Traction Oil Distribution Inside a NuVinci® Product
Technology Category
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Computing
- Sensors - Liquid Detection Sensors
Applicable Industries
- Automotive
- Oil & Gas
Applicable Functions
- Maintenance
- Product Research & Development
Use Cases
- Transportation Simulation
- Virtual Reality
Services
- Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
- System Integration
The Challenge
Fallbrook Technologies Inc., a technology development company, was facing a challenge in improving oil flow within their patented NuVinci® transmission system. The transmission system is a crucial part of their product line, which includes urban mobility vehicles, cars and trucks, industrial equipment, and more. The oil flow within the system directly affects the transmission’s efficiency, durability, power, capacity, and cost. However, physically evaluating the design of such a complex transmission system was practically unfeasible. The company needed a cost-effective, efficient, and robust method to provide internal lubrication and predict the effectiveness of a design scenario. They also required an effective solver/software to guide the design process in the innovation process.
About The Customer
Fallbrook Technologies Inc. is a technology development company based in Cedar Park, Texas. The company’s core technology is the patented NuVinci® transmission, a continuously variable planetary (CVP) technology. This technology enables performance and efficiency improvements for machines that use an engine, pump, motor, or geared transmission system. Their product range includes urban mobility vehicles, cars and trucks, industrial equipment, and more. Fallbrook’s unique collective development model and community approach to leverage NuVinci technology helps accelerate product development, resulting in improved energy management, higher performance, more effective, reliable controls and sustainable solutions. Their initial commercial product, a continuously variable transmission (CVT) for bicycles, now includes a rider-needs-based portfolio comprised of five group sets.
The Solution
Fallbrook turned to Altair for a solution. Altair provided an integrated solution that included advanced GPU hardware, high-performance computing (HPC), and the Altair nanoFluidX™ software. The nanoFluidX software, an advanced CFD solver, was used to simulate lubrication flow inside of a NuVinci product. It predicts the flow in complex geometries with complex motion, such as oiling in powertrain systems with rotating gears and shafts, using the smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method. The model for simulation was generated with process-oriented finite element modeling software, Altair Simlab™. This included meshing of the system, material and property assignment, motion definition for all internal parts, and particle generation for the SPH mesh to represent the oil. Altair’s HPC cloud computing solution helped alleviate the computational expense of such a large-scale model, without the need for Fallbrook to deal with maintenance of the cloud computing system and associated hardware.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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