LMS Imagine.Lab AMESim takes on the hottest topic in the automotive industry
Front and center on everyone’s mind in the automotive industry is how to develop vehicles that are environmentally friendly, meet the most stringent regulations for current and future emission regulations, and still remain a pleasure to drive.
Finding the right balance between maximum engine performance and passenger comfort, while minimizing fuel consumption and pollutant emissions is the biggest challenge at the moment. Safety-wise, demisting and de-icing depend strongly on existing heat sources, so it is important to take this into account as well. In this light, intelligent
management of all vehicle thermal, mechanical and electrical systems is mission critical.
This is where LMS Imagine.Lab’s Vehicle Thermal Management solution steps in. Handling the design of all thermal subsystems under the hood and in the vehicle cabin, this solution helps save energy and cut emissions while maintaining key performance aspects.
With an impressive list of automotive customers and suppliers, including the likes of Renault, PSA Peugeot Citroën, BMW, Nissan, GM, Chrysler, Toyota, Subaru, Valeo, Calsonic Kansei and Denso, apparently it is a solution that works.
The Vehicle Thermal Management solution itself is linked to the LMS Imagine.Lab AMESim platform and provides customers with the required tools and libraries to study all the essential energy flows. It is possible to seamlessly study the direct or indirect influence of thermal management strategies on passenger comfort, engine performance, pollutant emissions and fuel consumption optimization in specific cycles. With LMS Imagine’s Vehicle Thermal Management solution, engineers can analyze component behavior, subsystem performance and subsystem interaction under both transient and steady-state conditions to find the best compromise between systems and test innovative technologies in record time.
“Our key competitive advantage is that users can model everything in the same environment from lubrication, cooling and air-conditioning systems to electric auxiliaries and vehicle performance – all extremely fast thanks to our speedy CPU times. You can’t do this with competitive software,” stated Renaud Meillier, Solution Manager for Vehicle Thermal Management at LMS Imagine. “Of course, different customers come with different questions. A parts supplier working with LMS Imagine.Lab AMESim will have a different request than a major OEM, but we try to have the right answers for all our customers.”
Thanks to a partnership with Renault, which provided experimental data and expertise to validate the various models, LMS Imagine was able to develop 7 complex thermal management libraries consecutively. Renaud Meillier is quick to point out that the libraries are quite generic, “Although we co-operated with Renault, these aren’t specific Renault libraries. We put lots of effort into making our component libraries as generic as possible. The specifications and vehicle behavior traits are meant to meet various market requirements.”
LMS Imagine.Lab AMESim is clearly a cheaper alternative to prototyping with significant cost reduction and fewer
development delays. Renault, which uses the Vehicle Thermal Management solution extensively to streamline its
cooling and air-conditioning systems’ development process, claims a reduction of prototypes by more than 50%.
And LMS Imagine.Lab is a true timesaver. Especially when testing new structures and theories, it is much easier to plug in various LMS Imagine components from one of the relevant libraries to explore design alternatives rather than re-doing the model each and every time. And thanks to a streamlined CPU structure, processing time is cut
significantly.
“It is also a ‘cost killer’ since the models can partially replace experimental measurements. An average simulation will cost approximately 10% of the price of an actual physical test,” added Renaud Meillier.
Customers also appreciate the application-specific features, like encryption. Using LMS Imagine.Lab AMESim’s built-in encryption capabilities, it is possible to protect propriety engineering know-how and competitive data while still sharing test models between automotive manufacturers’ and various third-party suppliers.
“It is not just the tool, but the team of experts behind the solution. The LMS Imagine Vehicle Thermal Management team has worked with most of the automotive industry players worldwide. This is really a treasure chest of thermal management expertise,” concludes Renaud Meillier.
