Norgren Pneumatic Valve

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Company:	Norgren
Industry:	Electronics Manufacturing, Packaging and Textile Machinery
Application:	Pneumatic Valve
MCAD System:	Autodesk Inventor

Norgren was challenged to develop a pneumatic valve system with innovative design features in order to distinguish it from similar type products already in the market. Design engineers needed to create a product with maximum flow within the smallest possible space at the lowest possible cost.

Using physical prototypes and flow bench testing, would make it extremely difficult to identify the flow restriction and subsequently optimize the flow in the product. Plus it would add substantial time and cost to the project.

Before product development began, Norgren evaluated four different CFD applications on three primary criteria: cost of ownership, ease of use and accuracy. CFdesign scored highest in all three categories.

"It's important that, when you don't use the product everyday, you can pick it up, go through some simple steps, and be confident you get the right results," said Tim Gladdy, design engineer. "CFdesign was the answer to everything we wanted."

The goal of VM10 project was to develop an innovative, cost-effective pneumatic valve system that delivered maximum performance and meet specific criteria in the areas of electrical compatibility and flow. The main challenges where size, cost and product weight. The final version needed to be as small and as light as possible to minimize space and weight impact on the customer's systems while achieving lowest possible product cost.

Using CFdesign saved 8-10 weeks in product development cycle, allowing VM10 pneumatic valve to get to market that much sooner Norgren saved hundreds of staff hours and eliminated numerous physical prototypes. The company conservatively estimates it saved thousands of pounds. "To achieve the optimized flow in this product would have been difficult, if not impossible, without CFdesign," said Gladdy.