Altair > Case Studies > Simulating Lubrication Flow to Predict Traction Oil Distribution Inside a NuVinci® Product

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

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 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.

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

The solution provided by Altair has been beneficial for Fallbrook in several ways. The SPH method provided benefits over traditional grid-based methods, particularly in the area of preprocessing, making it more likely for a non-expert to succeed using this method and tool-set of SimLab and nanoFluidX. The cloud computing resource provided by Altair was the only viable solution for Fallbrook, fitting within their budget constraints. The ease and convenience of logging into PBS Professional to check solution status remotely was an added benefit. Furthermore, having the solution running on the cloud made it significantly easier for Altair support engineers to step in and help or advise as required to keep the project moving along. As the product develops, the team anticipates an opportunity/need to optimize the design with simulation playing a role.

Quantitative Benefit

Ease and convenience in logging in to Altair PBS Professional™ for remote updates to solution status
Cost-effective, viable computing resource in the cloud for small businesses
Simulated splash lubrication at a reasonably high-surface velocity (30m/s) involving numerous imposed motions (12) and a large particle count (>20million)