C&R Technologies Announces Version 5.3 Product Release

Boulder, Colorado: C&R Technologies, Inc. has announced Version 5.3 of SINDA/FLUINT, Thermal Desktop®, RadCAD® and FloCAD® are now available for download from it's web site.

SINDA/FLUINT expansions include but are not limited to:

* Expanded Names and Line Lengths: In this release is the long awaited expansion of names in SINDA/FLUINT. Submodel and register names may now be up to 32 characters long and element numbering may be up to 8 digits. Data block input lines may now be up to 1000 characters long, which means file names, register expressions, etc. may now be longer as well. Despite the appearance of being a minor change, this expansion was non-trivial and posed a major change to how save files are handled for all of C&R Technologies' products including plotters and Excel controllers, see "Supporting Utilities" below.
* Routine Argument Checking: A source of difficult-to-trap errors has been eliminated by adding an argument checking feature into SINDA/FLUINT. This feature will trap common user errors by checking to see that the proper arguments are being passed into subroutine calls. It also means that new functionality such as optional or alternative arguments is now possible.
* Global-level Logic and Output Blocks: FLOGIC, VARIABLES, and OUTPUT CALLS blocks may be created which operate at the “global” (submodel-independent) level, and are therefore independent of BUILD or BUILDF configurations.
* SINDA/FLUINT is no longer compatible with the 9.X and 10.X versions of the Intel Visual Fortran compiler starting with SINDA/FLUINT 5.3. SINDA/FLUINT compatibility with Intel Visual Fortran version 11.1 and newer will remain in place.
* View the full list of release notes.

Sinaps product expansions include but are not limited to:

* Expanded Pipe Capabilities: Sinaps Pipes have been redesigned to expand capabilities such as adding automatic calculation of thermal capacitance and conductance for the pipe wall, ability to add insulation to a pipe, the addition of built-in standard pipe tables, and the ability to create a user definable pipe library for custom pipes.
* Extended Macros and Autogeneration of Ducts (SINDA/FLUINT Macros): The automatic aggregation of similar elements in continuous flow passages has been updated. Previously each pipe was constituted a separate duct. Starting with 5.3 automatic ducts can now be comprised of multiple pipes and dissimilar flow elements (tubes and stubes, tanks and junctions). This change allows a large piping system to be modeled as several segments of varying geometry yet maintaining the ability to automatically calculate spatial accelerations throughout the continuous flow passage due to heating, area changes, or side flow
* Support for SINDA/FLUINT updates include expanded names and global logic.
* Support for Windows 7.
* See full list of release notes.

Thermal Desktop/RadCAD/FloCAD product expansions include but are not limited to:

* Heating rates can be now be computed using planetshine specified as function of latitude and longitude. This new capability allows more accurate modeling for lunar and Mars missions. The data may be input as a temperature or a flux, and may be input relative to the planet’s latitude and longitude coordinate system, or a coordinate system constructed about the sub-solar point.
* The upgraded EZ-XY Plotter which has been in Sinaps for the past two years, has been integrated into Thermal Desktop, replacing the previous version of EZ-XY. The new plot interface provides expanded capabilities along with compatibility for new 5.3 SINDA/FLUINT save files. Please see "Supporting Utilities" below.
* A new measure object allows thermocouple devices to be added to a model. Thermocouples interpolate the temperature of an object based on the relative location to nodes.
* A parabolic trough Thermal Desktop surface has been added.
* Case Set Manager has been enhanced with: tree-based Case Set groups; drag-and-drop capability for reorganization; and right-click contextual menus.
* Logic Manager has been enhanced with: tree-based organization with groups; drag-and-drop functionality; equations of motion; and time-step limits for array interpolation to avoid overstepping array points.
* FloCAD updated for support of SINDA/FLUINT extended macros (see Sinaps above).
* Support for expanded submodel names
* Support for Windows 7 and Autodesk 2010.
* See full list of release notes.

Supporting Utilities expansions include:

* The EZ-XY Plotter has been updated to support the expanded names in SINDA/FLUINT. Due to the major change in save file structure, C&R Technologies has expanded the use of the improved .NET based communication, previously distributed only with Sinaps, to be the basis for plotting in Thermal Desktop and the Excel Plotter. Although this has resulted in a major change to the user interface for the plotter in Thermal Desktop, the expanded capabilities are well worth the effort. New capabilities include:
o Easier plotting and plot control using multiple data sources.
o Expanded plot customization options and retention of all customization in saved plots.
o The creation of Plot Sets which allows saving, refreshing, and export of multiple plots simultaneously.
* The Excel Plotter has been updated to support the expanded names in SINDA/FLUINT and to support the .NET communication. To support the .NET communication, the Excel Plotter now requires Microsoft Excel 2007 or newer.
* The Excel SINDA and TD controllers no longer support plotting; the new Excel plotter must be used outside of the controller. This separation of the plotter from the controller will allow users to continue to use their existing customized controllers for SINDA and TD with no impact other than the need to plot outside of the controller.