Customer Briefs

Back to Customer Brief Index

View more
Fuji images

Company:	Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.
Industry:	Off-Road Automotive & Agricultural Machinery
Application:	General-purpose engines
MCAD System:	I-DEAS

Supporting the mission to deliver compact, economical, high output and high efficiency engines for generators, agricultural machinery, industrial equipment, and all-terrain vehicles like dune buggies and snow mobiles, Fuji Heavy Industries employs the upfront CFD approach and has integrated CFdesign flow and thermal analysis software into their early design process.

Finding the Right Tool
“A flow analysis tool was recognized as being indispensable for engine development, but we saw many barriers to effective introduction within FHI,” says Masanori Noguchi, a design engineer in the Development Section. Noguchi notes that, though CFD is essential to make informed decisions related to the design of intake/exhaust systems, the size of cooling fins and cooling fans, introduction was difficult because standard CFD tools are expensive and require advanced skills. As result there has been a great deal of reliance on the engine designers’ experience and upon similar legacy designs, with such know-how never having been expressed numerically.

Noguchi initiated a search for a tool that suited his team and their process. “When I tried CFdesign myself, I liked it on the spot. Since its costs of ownership are lower than other tools and data is compatible with I-DEAS, the decision to choose CFdesign was an easy one. It is a tool that arouses the inspiration of our engineers”.

A Trade-Off Weapon
Noguchi and his team recently completed the miniaturization of an engine cooler fan and optimization of the path for cooling air from that fan. “When an engine is being designed, various elements must be considered and that usually ends up in the need for trade offs. Analyzing the design with CFdesign and visualizing the degree to which performance will be affected by each trade off is strong support for the designer who also serves as coordinator for the project.”

For instance, in the design of an engine, there is often “conflict”, as Noguchi coins it, with the design of the body or frame of the car or equipment in which that engine will be installed. Should priority be given to overall appearance or to engine performance? The design of the frame and/or the main body of the equipment may have an affect on the engine’s intake and exhaust system. Depending on the circumstances, the available positioning for the ports might not be optimal due to limitations caused by the shape of the body, and this may limit the engine’s power.

“In such cases,” Noguchi says, “the issue of engine output can often be clearly conveyed by showing the results of an actual flow and thermal analysis simulation to those in charge of body design, so that they can be convinced of the need for change. So, CFdesign is a weapon, so to speak, that is available for the engine design team to employ.”

As a tool that assists in obtaining rational judgments, CFdesign allows users to perform simulations at the appropriate and necessary stages, and to draw out the maximum in engine performance. It can also prevent the use of more materials than necessary, and achieve cost levels that correspond to the specs.

Vital for New Engine Differentiation and Market Success
Unlike an automobile engine, only a few engineers are involved in designing a general-purpose engine. “There are cases where one designer alone starts from zero to build a general-purpose engine,” says Noguchi, and various skills are required of that designer such as, needless to say, the ability to operate CAD software. “A tool like CFdesign is necessary for leveling out the designers’ skills as much as possible. By mastering CFdesign, it results in the designer being confident of his or her ability to approach design analysis at a higher level. Through that, originality is born; and repetition of that process leads to a rise in skill level as well. Without originality, differentiation is not possible. At the same time, if product development is not based on a reasonable concept that includes the consideration for cost, it will not result in a marketable item.”

With the introduction of CFdesign, the general-purpose engine development team at Fuji Heavy Industries is currently and successfully uniting those normally dichotomous concepts.