Innovation corner

We are excited to announce the release of PreonLab 4.2 – the answer to life, the universe and everything! It also contains many new or improved features that will help you to find answers to your more specific CFD-related questions: Mesh-based height sensor: The new sensor measures the height of fluid (or snow) above surfaces. Improved user interface: With updates to the connection editor, the scene inspector and the on-screen display, PreonLab 4.2 looks and feels better than ever. Optimized local refinement: Better performance and the introduction of user-defined domain shapes facilitate the acceleration of even more applications with local refinement. Improved volume source: Improved volume source: The volume source now fills more accurately, minimizing artificial movements after the initialization. Furthermore, PreonLab 4.2 also improves the snow solver, adds the Herschel-Bulkley viscosity model for non-Newtonian fluids, enhances the car suspension model, accelerates performance in scenes with large geometries, introduces new rendering capabilities, reduces memory consumption and improves the airflow import. Make sure to follow us on LinkedIn so that you don’t miss new videos, case studies and updates!

The automotive world is changing. In order to keep up with the challenges faced in the context of digitalization, Audi established the simulation of water in the development process. In the beginning of this century the Audi portfolio had five segments with different models. From year to year, new model lines were added to meet growing customer needs. Currently, the automotive industry is faced with new challenges in fulfilling the criteria for sustainability and climate neutrality, resulting in even more models with various new types of powertrains, such as hybrid or the e-tron.

Do you want to develop your gearboxes faster and more cost-efficiently? Do you need to avoid unnecessary losses caused by the oil sump, optimize the lubrication of the bearings and improve the cooling concept? Then don’t miss this webinar.  

2019 has been an extraordinary year for PreonLab. Probably the most exciting part was seeing the results that you achieved in your respective fields. Let’s push the boundaries of simulation further in 2020! We’re kicking off the new year with the release of PreonLab 4.1, which expands and improves the features introduced in 4.0. The most notable changes include: Improved local refinement: Local refinement is no longer an experimental feature and is now available for all users. Preonpy sensor interface: It is now possible to access per-sample sensor data in preonpy, which allows for more powerful and customized post-processing. Improved property editor: With physical units everywhere, better keyframing integration and many fixes, PreonLab 4.1 delivers a more reliable and productive user experience. Improved snow solver: The snow solver is now more robust and efficient. Make sure to follow us on LinkedIn so that you don’t miss new videos, case studies and updates!

PreonLab is successfully employed by Renault to validate and improve heat shield designs which guarantee that no flammable liquid gets in contact with hot parts of the engine. Testing on a real prototype is difficult since first the leakage itself has to be reproduced and secondly, hot liquids may be dangerous.

Thanks to the electrification of the powertrain, innovation in the automotive industry is happening faster than ever. Short time to market for electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid vehicles (HEVs) is one key to be successful for OEMs and tier 1 suppliers.

These are challenging and exciting times for the automotive industry. In 2020 the current EU regulations that set CO2 emissions standards for cars and vans will be replaced with stricter targets to be met by 2025, so innovative solutions are necessary to secure high mobility comfort at low emission rates. Our customer Volvo Car Corporation aims to have 50% of their annual sales come from fully electric vehicles.

We are very excited to announce the release of PreonLab 4.0. This major release expands, improves, and accelerates the core capabilities of PreonLab, highlighted by the following features: Snow solver: PreonLab continues to push the boundaries of particle-based simulations with the introduction of a semi-implicit snow solver. More accurate fluid solver: The updated Preon solver is able to capture even more phenomena and requires less parameter calibration. Implicit thermodynamics solver: The thermodynamics solver now supports much larger timesteps via implicit integration, greatly improving performance. Local fluid refinement (experimental): It is now possible to use two particle sizes in the same simulation, reducing computation time and the amount of generated particle data. This is just a selection of new features. PreonLab 4.0 is a truly massive update that also introduces improved file management, enhanced rendering capabilities, air pressure force fields, faster MPI, an improved car suspension model, arbitrarily shaped volume sensors and much more. We will publish videos showcasing some of the new features in the coming weeks. Make sure to follow us on LinkedIn so that you don’t miss them!

Electric motors have high operating efficiency, but they also produce large amounts of heat. Removing this heat and keeping the motor at a prescribed temperature range is key for high performance and sustainability of the electric engine. Using our CFD solution PreonLab, a simulation enables engineers to analyze the lubrication and cooling efficiency resulting from a centrifugal liquid spray.

Efficient and safe water management is an important aspect in the vehicle development process. Virtual prototyping greatly contributes in terms of design variations, shape optimization and wetting prevention.