Henry Technologies turns to SolidWorks for green designs
1 min read
Valves designer and manufacturer Henry Technologies says it has been cutting costs while developing a new line of pressure relief valves, with the help of 3D CAD and flow simulation software.
Henry Technologies' design engineer Jordan Gronkowski says the company's SolidWorks software is also supporting its green initiative, with extensive pre-production simulation saving massively against prototyping.
He explains that most recently the company has been using SolidWorks to design refrigeration safety valves that meet EU standards for refrigerant loss, with the software's Flow Simulation enables the engineering team to perfect designs before production.
"European standards restrict the amount that the pressure in a refrigeration system can drop, and if we can design to that spec, we have a competitive advantage over products that are lower cost but technically inferior," explains Gronkowski.
"It's good for the environment and it can also save customers a lot of money because some European countries tax refrigerant heavily, so they need to minimise loss."
Gronkowski says the team uses SolidWorks CAD to visualise designs from inception, with 3D images revealing potential flaws and opportunities to cut costs better than 2D drawings.
SolidWorks Flow Simulation then shows how the valve will operate with refrigerant flowing through it, how it will withstand pressure, and how the components will interact and deform, he says.
"We invested in Flow Simulation as a testing tool [because] prototyping is quite expensive, only to find out that something doesn't work" comments Gronkowski.
"We use the software to simulate different levels of pressure depending on how widely the valve is open. We test the compression of the spring and the way the components interact, as well as the strength of the parts under pressure," he adds.
