Doosan Bobcat Uses Simulation to Fit Big Comfort into Tight Spaces

Challenge

Design efficient heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems into small spaces, to make sure compact equipment is comfortable for operators to use.

Solution

Doosan Bobcat uses SIMULIA PowerFLOW’s Lattice Boltzmann methodology to run accurate airflow simulations and explore optimization opportunities.

Results

• Reduced need for prototypes and physical tests to optimize HVAC system performance
• Increased confidence due to accurate simulation results
• Dramatically reduced development timelines

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When heavy work is needed in a tight space, compact equipment makes it possible. These are compact loaders, compact excavators, tractors, and other machines that get the work done when there is limited room to maneuver, from construction sites to mining projects, agricultural land and highway maintenance.

Much of the compact equipment we see on job sites today was pioneered by Doosan Bobcat. Doosan Bobcat invented the first skid-steer loader – the M400 – in 1960.  Shortly after, the new skid-steer loaders were branded as “Bobcat” to reflect the toughness, speed, and agility of these unique machines.  Since then, the company has continued to lead the way.

“Doosan Bobcat strives to be an innovative leader within the compact equipment industry,” said Alan Perrault, senior simulation engineer at Doosan Bobcat. “Today, we have a broad product offering including loaders, excavators, mowers, turf equipment, portable air compressors and power generation, and material handling equipment. Recently, we unveiled the first fully electric compact track loader, the T7X, which has no hydraulic systems.”

Machines like these often include an enclosed cab to protect the operator from environmental hazards, like falling objects and debris. While an enclosed cab can minimize these external environmental factors, an efficient heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system is then essential for ensuring the thermal comfort of the operator inside the cab.

“The HVAC system is important during the winter to keep the operator comfortable through blowing snow or working in the cold,” Perrault said. “During the summer, you have solar loading, so basically our cabs become giant greenhouses. We need an HVAC system to keep the internal temperature of the cab at a comfortable level for the operator. Without it, operators might remove detachable panels and rely on the ambient temperature and winds outside, which may not be a very comfortable experience.”

One of the biggest challenges is to fit the HVAC components into the limited space available.

“We’re a compact equipment manufacturer, so there’s not a lot of space to fit stuff in,” Perrault said. “We’re operating within very small areas where we can fit all the equipment that we need to properly heat and cool the cab.”

A lot of testing is needed to optimize the HVAC system for the space it will operate in. Perrault uses SIMULIA’s PowerFLOW technology to accelerate development and reduce the need to build prototypes or run physical tests.

“We can use simulation to evaluate the airflow within the cab, looking to make sure that we’re not getting dead spots around the operator,” Perrault explained. “We can also look at the temperature profile within the cab, to make sure that we’re not getting issues like hot spots.”

“Simulation results give us the temperature profile everywhere in the cab, instead of just in select locations,” Perrault commented. “That can help catch areas of concern that we may not have seen in a physical test.”

When it came to choosing the right toolset, SIMULIA PowerFLOW  was chosen because it made it easy to set up and run simulations.

“We started with SIMULIA [PowerFLOW] for the under-hood, thermal simulations for cooling – and it just worked,” Perrault said. “You put everything in, and you run it, and you usually get a good result the first time. With the other platforms that we looked at, they required a lot of troubleshooting. Everything with SIMULIA [PowerFLOW] just worked the first time we ran it.”

Perrault’s confidence in those capabilities comes from consistent validation against physical test results.

“With SIMULIA [PowerFLOW], there’s a pretty close correlation to tests,” Perrault said. “That gives us confidence that even if we’re not doing correlation, the result we’re getting is going to be accurate for what we need.”

As a result, the team can develop compact equipment faster, continuing Doosan Bobcat’s tradition of market-leading innovation.

“In the near future, there’s probably going to be a larger push for electrification and other alternative fuel sources to reduce emissions and make it greener to operate our equipment,” Perrault said. “Using PowerFLOW for under-hood thermal simulations has significantly sped up our simulation process. It’s a lot easier for our small team to get a lot of work done compared to other products that we’ve looked at. We’ve talked with other people, and their timeline for getting some of this stuff done can be anywhere from a week to a month, whereas we can do some of that in less than a week or a day.”

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