Mentor Blogs

I don’t know about you but last Saturday night I decided to stay in – I was only halfway done with my weekend but I was exhausted. The day before I had taken a vacation day and driven down to Weymouth to watch Olympic sailing and got up super early to drive back to London to do an 8-mile hike in Surrey. So the thought of going anywhere or doing anything too taxing was out of the question (especially … Read More

CFD, Airflow

When I watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, I knew I needed to analyze something related to the Olympics during this special time of year.  At first I thought I would analyze the Olympic Rings.  Not a real scientific CFD analysis, but just something cool and easy to do, by hollowing out some Olympic CAD rings and putting some flow through.  Well, using FloEFD to do this analysis was easy, … Read More

Shuttlecock, Olympics, Badminton, Birdie, aerodynamics, Creo, FloEFD, CFD, Compuational Fluid Dynamics

Hi. You may have been wondering why I’ve been so quiet lately. Quite frankly I’ve been busy. Busy at work and busy during my downtime (which is when I do most of my thinking and writing for this blog). This has been a tremendous summer for those of us who are in London. First we celebrated the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Then came the Olympics. Yes I stood in the cold and monsoon rain for … Read More

aerodynamics, wind tunnel test, CFD

Conventional wisdom has it that the best place to put a radiator in a room is under the window. However, there’s nothing conventional about wisdom and one should be obliged to question and verify those facts that we take for granted. CFD and its ability to predict air flow and heat transfer offers an unrivalled efficient method to study such applications. Using the concept of PPD (percentage people … Read More

FloVENT, HVAC, CFD, radiator, thermal comfort

Sometime between 40 and 100 thousand years ago humans started to wear clothes, an estimate as accurate as you’d expect for something that wasn’t documented at the time. Earliest estimate of  humans documenting language are a mere 5000 years ago. One can only assume that it wasn’t modesty or fashion that drove the adoption of clothing, but comfort. Much of what we still do today, frequently … Read More

thermal comfort, Fanger, FloVENT, CFD, PPD, radiator, HVAC, PMV

Downdraft Range Vent Hood Flow Analysis   One of the cool kitchen features that caught our attention when we saw what would become our house was that the stove had a retractable range vent.  It would pop up behind the stove, and sucks the air away from the side, then down through the counter, down through the floor, and out the side of the wall.  What really makes these things great is they open up … Read More

Stove, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Concentration, CFD, Range, Steam, Downdraft Vent, FloEFD

I’m not a fan of soccer (urm I mean football). I’m more of a Rugby gal myself. But on Saturday I along with 100+ fans played sardines in a small  pub and jostled for the best viewing position in front of one of the handful of TVs to watch the European Cup game.  The pub erupted when England scored the winning penalty shot. I had not seen so many grown men scream, dance and cry with joy at the same time. … Read More

Bronswerk Heat Transfer, CFD, Air-Cooled Cooler, ROI, Whizz-Wheel, fans, FloEFD

Hockey Puck Aerodynamics   This blog has been in the works for about a year.  I think it was worth the wait.  Let me explain, as a number of things were at play here.  First, I had just attended a Siemens NX CAD system training in advance of our release of FloEFD for NX last year.  So I was looking for an application I could cut my teeth on for my first FloEFD for NX analysis.  Something with CAD … Read More

Computational Fluid Dynamics, FloEFD for NX, CFD, Puck, Flow, Hockey

I admire mechanical engineers. I really mean it. If the world ever implodes, then I want to be hanging out with you guys. You know how to build and fix things. I on the other hand can probably contribute to the betterment of future society by picking berries (so long as I don’t have to deal with any creepy crawlies) or by spreading good cheer – I can’t help it I’ve got a sunny disposition (that … Read More

Design Engineer, FloEFD, CFD

 Smoke, Smoke, Everywhere? This has the possibility to be my most unpopular blog ever, which I’m ok with.  The topic of this blog is smoking, specifically the second hand kind.  Let me start by saying I am not a smoker.  I don’t care for the smell, and am happy that it is not allowed in most building, Vegas casino’s being the main exception. My mom was for a long time though, and in general it seems … Read More

Smoke, parts per million, CFD, Computational Fluid Dynamics, California, isosurfaces, Park, Concentration, FloEFD

A virtual version of one of the MGC data center representing one of the configurations tested. Image courtesy of Mentor Graphics. Over the weekend I realized I have become English. No, I haven’t picked up the accent. Nor do I eat Marmite. Actually eating Marmite can be relegated to one of those things I’d never do. Never, ever. So why have I become English? I tend to discuss the weather and temperature … Read More

FloVENT, HVAC, CFD, Optimize

The UK government has a policy for all year 10 or year 11 students to undertake a week’s work experience. Last week we welcomed a 15 year old student to the Mentor office where the FloTHERM and FloVENT software development is done. The student was tasked with simulating the air flow and temperature distribution in the office space using FloVENT. Using our own software to model our own offices … Read More

Electronics Cooling, FloVENT, CFD, HVAC, thermal comfort

Back in December I heard something on the radio that made me both sad and happy at the same time. It turns out that the last neon sign in Piccadilly Square in London was to be turned off by the end of the year. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of seeing London at night, Piccadilly Sq is a sight to behold (for a picture click here ) The neon sign in question had been in use since 1987 and … Read More

FloEFD, CFD, Thermal Characterization, T3ster

‘Bits stuck onto other bits’, a succinct definition of an electronic product, if not a product that contains electronics. Soldering is the method of choice for getting the components to attach to the pcb, the layered board that contains the metallic traces connecting component pins to other component pins. Rivets, welds, screws or bolts for the chassis, some form of gluing or sticky adhesion … Read More

Electronics Cooling, CFD, thermal chokepoint, T3ster, thermal bottleneck

It’s that time of the year, when the weather turns cold and people start to think about winterizing their home to reduce heating costs.  Usually it takes the first winter heating bill to provide the motivation to undertake this task.  With this in mind, I would like to talk about pipe insulation.  Specifically, the foam wrap insulation you can find at any hardware store (http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202318552/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053)   In … Read More

FloEFD, Heat Transfer, CFD, pipe, Home Improvement, insulation