Flowmaster Group announces the launch of new product - Flowmaster® V7.8

Building on the Flowmaster V7 platform to offer simulation engineers increased functionality.

Building on the performance of V7, the features developed for Flowmaster V7.8 are based on extensive customer feedback and have been designed to provide users with accurate and comprehensive software for simulating complex fluid networks, improving accuracy and reducing costs.

Developed with a particular focus on large plant and piping operations, Flowmaster V7.8 boasts new functionality including data wizards for Pipe Roughness and Pipe Schedules, Additional Heat Transfer Options for Multiple Pipe Layers, Flow Coefficient Curve Creator, and new Heat Exchangers. This release also sees the first phase in new simulations options with the arrival of the Rigorous Energy Balance Solver. In addition two new Import Tools are available, one for 3D CAD Piping and a second for GIS; both helping to reduce time and errors when using data from other modelling tools.

The improved functionality in the data wizards eliminates the need for assumptions as users are now able to input pipe roughness values for type and condition such as deterioration due to deposits, erosion, corrosion, bacterial slimes and growths, and marine and fresh water fouling. Important also to gas, oil, process, power generation and shipbuilding is the need to have readily available pipes defined by the standard ANSI/ASME pipe schedules. Flowmaser V7.8 also incorporates a new data wizard that allows users to set pipe schedule specifications to calculate and populate pipe data such as diameter, material type, and wall thickness reducing the need to spend time pre-processing data and thus reducing the risk of introducing human error.

“Customer research played a tremendous role in the development of Flowmaster V7.8. We spoke with many of our customers to identify what their needs are, and determine the features and functionalities most important to them,” Dr Alan Moore, Research and Development Director, “The result is that Flowmaster V7.8 offers some of the most advanced technology ever seen in the system CFD market coupled with intuitive user-friendly features and functionality.”

Amongst the new features, improvements have also been made to the usability of the software with the addition of charting enhancements, project enhancements and a results data browser.

Flowmaster Group Strengthens Automotive Team

Flowmaster Group has strengthened its automotive team by the appointment of Steve Streater as Industry Product Manager with a focus on Ground Transportation.

Steve Streater is a Chartered Engineer and studied Mechanical & Production Engineering at Brighton University, and more recently completed an MBA at University of Reading.

Steve’s previous role was Senior Project Manager with MAHLE Powertrain Ltd (Northampton, UK) where his principal responsibility was leading gasoline engine design & development projects for Chinese OEMs.

Steve brings to Flowmaster 25 years of experience of the automotive industry, with over 15 years of this with Ricardo UK operating in technical and project management / commercial roles. During this time he has worked on a wide range of projects ranging from passenger car cooling system design and development, to creating diesel-electric hybrid vehicle demonstrators.

Morgan Jenkins, Product and Marketing Director explains “The automotive sector is an important industry for Flowmaster. Steve brings a great deal of experience and expertise to Flowmaster and working with our customers, will help define the future development of Flowmaster V7 Automotive.”

Flowmaster announces the release of Flowmaster V7.7 Aerospace

New System Simulation Software Helps Aircraft Development meet Tighter Regulations.

Towcester, United Kingdom - Flowmaster is pleased to announce the release of Flowmaster V7.7 Aerospace, the latest version of the world class software solution for aerospace thermo-fluid system simulation. V7.7 Aerospace includes new advanced functionality to help design fuel systems in line with new regulatory performance targets and tools to simplify the simulation of environmental changes in aircraft cockpits and small cabins. With increasing operational costs and ever tighter design regulations, aerospace manufacturers look to software tools that will not only allow them to validate system performance and efficiency of current projects, but those that also show a clear development stream of future capability that will support them in delivering tomorrow's aircraft.

Flowmaster V7.7 Aerospace builds upon the capabilities of the existing version by streamlining its catalogue structures to speed up workflow, providing new and enhanced system components and expanding its simulation functionality to further meet the needs of today's aerospace engineers.

"The release of Flowmaster V7.7 Aerospace continues the development of what has become the industry standard tool for 1D system simulation. The new and enhanced fuel system modelling capabilities simplify the task of analyzing multiple cell fuel tanks and will help engineers to validate system performance against FAA requirements on fuel tank venting and inerting systems. The new Aircraft Cabin Component that Flowmaster has developed following collaboration with P+Z Engineering will provide our customers with a robust modelling tool to simulate the entire range of thermal affects on cockpits and small cabins," said Doug Kolak, Aerospace Product Manager

Flowmaster V7.7 Aerospace delivers a new Cabin Component, for modelling the thermal affects on small aircraft cockpits and cabins; an advanced Multi-Arm Tank Component, for simulating venting and inerting fuel systems across multi-cell tanks; a new Altitude Pump Component for measuring the affect changes in altitude will have on system performance; an enhanced Turbine Component and enhanced Multi-fluid Simulation capabilities for modelling and controlling of fluid and gas mixing and separation.

Flowmaster will be presenting a collaborative paper at 2009 SAE AeroTech Congress and Exhibition which will introduce Flowmaster V7 Aerospace's co-simulation capabilities and demonstrate the use of Flowmaster in conjunction with 3D CFD software through the use of the MpCCI Flowmaster Adaptor.

The technical paper to be presented was written in conjunction with the Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing SCAI and is titled:

`Achieving an Improved Understanding of the Factors Affecting an Aircraft Environmental Control System by coupling a 1D Cabin Air Distribution System model with a 3D Passenger Cabin Model using Co-Simulation Middleware'

A team of representatives from both the Flowmaster Ltd and Flowmaster Inc will be attending the event including the Aerospace Product Manager - Doug Kolak.

Flowmaster™ v7 Direct Integration in modeFRONTIER™ 4.1

ESTECO Srl has announced that modeFRONTIER™ v4.1 now includes the new Flowmaster™ v7 Direct Integration node, which allows Flowmaster™ users around the world to exploit the most complete optimization software tool available on the market.

The type of parameters and results which can be handled by modeFRONTIER™ are those compatible with the GUI Automation API available from Flowmaster™ v7.5.2 (or greater). These affect the following items:

* Components
* Nodes

Simulation data can also be set from within modeFRONTIER™ for both compressible and incompressible flows.

Flowmaster France Partnership with EnginSoft France

Flowmaster Group has announced the signing of a partnership agreement between Flowmaster France and EnginSoft France with immediate effect.

EnginSoft is a Computer-Aided-Engineering (CAE) consulting company providing software, services, training and research for Virtual Prototyping. They are the primary distributor for the Esteco ModeFrontier optimisation code, for which an interface to Flowmaster has also been recently announced. Employing 120 people, EnginSoft has a turnover in excess of €20 million and is internationally recognised as a leader in its field working with R&D teams from sectors including aerospace, automotive, energy, space, biomedical, rail, naval etc.

Under this agreement, EnginSoft France will assume responsibility for the sales distribution and support of Flowmaster for Southern Europe; France, Italy and Spain. All Flowmaster France personnel have transferred to EnginSoft France to ensure continuity of operation for our customers. The consolidation into one team more than doubles the technical resources available to this region's Flowmaster customers and increases Flowmaster's presence within the CAE market. Marie-Christine OGHLY, as the new President of EnginSoft France, is managing the transition of the business activities and staff during the next few weeks.

Flowmaster launches V7.6 across its range of system simulation tools

Flowmaster, provider of world class system simulation software launches Flowmaster V7.6, the latest system simulation software across its product range: V7 General Systems, V7 Automotive, V7 Aerospace and V7 Gas Turbine.

Flowmaster is system simulation software that allows engineers to design, simulate, validate and optimise thermo-fluid systems at the concept phase of development, often before any 3D data is available, and throughout the development lifecycle. Engineers can use Flowmaster to understand where small design changes can deliver the most performance improvement and encapsulate knowledge and data for future re-use.

The development of Flowmaster V7.6 has been driven by the need for companies to reduce development time and costs, whilst maximising quality and performance. Flowmaster V7.6 incorporates new capabilities for Flowmaster V7 Automotive and significant enhancements to the Flowmaster V7 product range including: V7 Aerospace, V7 Gas Turbine and V7 General Systems

Flowmaster V7.6 Automotive

Flowmaster V7.6 Automotive delivers new tools for Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) and Vehicle Thermal Management (VTM) including a New Advanced Heat Exchanger Module, Supercritical AC System Components and Correlations, Reversible Heat Pump Modelling, Refrigerant Charge Mass Determination, Cabin Component, Passenger Comfort Model, Global Performance Data and Enhanced Fluid Properties for the latest AC refrigerants.

Flowmaster V7.6 General Systems

Flowmaster V7.6 delivers significant performance improvements with new numerical models for the compressible pipe (including an implicit finite difference method), and a variety of algorithmic, computational & ergonomic improvements to the Flowmaster GUI.

The new parametric capabilities in Flowmaster V7.6 now allow engineers to undertake multiple ‘what if’ studies for different design scenarios without the need for external programming to third party applications such as Microsoft Excel. Simultaneously, improvements to Flowmaster’s Component Object Model (COM) Interface and the creation of a .NET Application Programming Interface allow Flowmaster to be used by industry standard design optimisation applications.

Major new and enhanced functionality for the management of simulation data includes:

• A user administrator tool allowing for the creation of project teams with different access privileges to Flowmaster data.
• A database synchronisation tool which allows users to ‘check out’ Flowmaster reference networks from a central database, facilitating the ability of engineers to undertake field trials with Flowmaster and work away from a central Flowmaster server. A facility that allows a manager to “sign off” simulations so that networks and results can be retained for regulatory, certification, quality assurance, contractual or any other project reason.

Finally a new delivery mechanism allows for much easier installations both on standalone PC’s or in enterprise client-server network environments.

“Flowmaster V7.6 represents a significant milestone in the development of our system simulation software product range. Development of V7.6 has been led by our customers which has resulted in a product that not only meets their needs today but also in the future. In today’s challenging economy, companies are looking at improving their processes not only to deliver competitive advantage but also to ensure they emerge stronger and more profitable. Flowmaster V7.6 facilitates this through new and enhanced technologies that significantly enhance productivity, innovation and collaboration.” concludes Morgan Jenkins, Product and Marketing Director, Flowmaster Limited.

For more information on Flowmaster V7.6, look out for our free regional webinars taking place in November by visiting our website www.flowmaster.com/events

Flowmaster announce new Automotive System Simulation Software at FISITA World Automotive Congress in Munich

Flowmaster announced their latest systems simulation software for the automotive industry, V7.6 Automotive at FISITA 2008 World Automotive Congress - The Future of Automobiles and Mobility, held in Munich. The congress comprised presentations from leading engineers, scientists and specialists concerned with every aspect of the research, design, development and production of vehicles and their systems.

During the congress, Flowmaster held a launch event to preview the latest system simulation software, Flowmaster V7.6 Automotive to key individuals within the automotive industry.

"The release of Flowmaster V7.6 Automotive is a significant milestone in the development of our automotive product. New and enhanced functionality for Air-conditioning systems modelling enables Flowmaster to keep abreast with the developments of the automotive industry." Morgan Jenkins, Product & Marketing Director, Flowmaster Limited. Flowmaster V7.6 Automotive will be released in November 2008.