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Analogic Corp., Peabody, MA, whose data acquisition systems
are found in approximately three quarters of the world's Computed Tomography
(CT) equipment, depends on CFD analysis to handle the unique
thermal problems posed by its CT applications. In its latest
design, the company used Coolit CFD thermal and flow analysis
software from Daat Research Corp. to select and size the
appropriate forced air device, design a baffling configuration
and equalize airflow across multiple data acquisition
boards.
The 200 watt data acquisition system consists of 17 boards
riding on the CT's rotating gantry. With the gantry rotating at
90 rpm, there is sufficient centrifugal load to adversely affect
the cooling fan bearings. To maximize bearing life, the fan is
mounted in the direction of board travel and the air is funneled
back onto the boards through a series of baffles.
Initially the thermal engineer felt multiple blowers would
outperform fans in this application, but the Coolit models
proved the reverse was true and that only one fan would be
required.
Since air exiting the baffling was not equally distributed
across the boards, the engineer used CFD to determine an
effective vent pattern to equalize air distribution. If the
design had been created using manual calculations with a
repetitive cycle of prototype testing, design modification and
testing again, it would have taken months to complete. Using
Coolit CFD thermal and flow analysis, Analogic developed designs
for two different CT models in less than a week at a cost savings
that amount to thousands of dollars.
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