strategic value of simulation in abb - cadfem & ansys

Christian Ohler, ABB Switzerland Corporate Research – June 16, 2016

Strategic Value of Simulation in ABBCADFEM Fachkonferenz zur Numerischen Simulation

Slide 2© ABB

• Introducing ABB• Simulations in ABB• Simulation of switching arcs in circuit breakers based on Ansys Fluent

Outline

June 9, 2016

Slide 3© ABB

ABB GroupFacts and figures

+140,000 employees

Present in

countries+100

Formed in

1988merger of Swiss (BBC, 1891)and Swedish (ASEA, 1883)engineering companies

In revenue(2015)

billion40$

June 9, 2016© ABB

150nationalities

+300production plants

Slide 4© ABB

How ABB is organizedFour global divisions

PowerGrids

DiscreteAutomation

& Motion

ElectrificationProducts

ProcessAutomation

June 9, 2016

Slide 5© ABB

Innovation is key to ABB’s competitive advantageLeadership built on consistent R&D investment

More than $1.5 billion invested annually in R&D8,500 scientists and engineersSimulation is key activity in both research and development

June 9, 2016

Slide 6© ABB

Simulations in ABBFrom semiconductor chips to power systems

Simulations of power semiconductors Simulations of power transformers

Simulations of process plants Simulations of power systems

June 9, 2016

Slide 7© ABB

Use Cases for Power Products Simulations in ABB

June 9, 2016

ARC-Simulations

ARC-Simulations

CFD,Mechanics,Multi-physics

Hourly Dielectric,Electro-mechanical,Thermal networks

Unique toolsAnsys + proprietary code

High-end toolse.g. Ansys

Simple toolsCAD embedded

Ease-of-use

Frequencyof usage

Daily

Weekly

Slide 8© ABB

Research• Main purpose is to understand better• Uncertainty in the assumptions of the model• Key activity: experimental validation

Simulation has a different purpose in research ascompared to development

Development• Model is valid• Main purpose is engineering productivity

• What-if and optimization• Second purpose is international dissemination

of design rules in the company

June 9, 2016

Slide 9© ABB

BackgroundKey in High Voltage circuit breaker design is to control the arc

June 9, 2016

CB

Interruption chamber

Arcing zone

ArcDrive

“Enc

losu

re”

Three dimensional computational fluid dynamicsimulation of switching arcs (1)

Three dimensional computational fluid dynamicsimulation of switching arcs (2)

Three dimensional computational fluid dynamicsimulation of switching arcs (3)

Slide 13© ABB

Experimental ValidationFlow pattern, Density and Temperature Distribution

June 9, 2016

laser

optics & camera

beamexpander

model CB

0 1 2 3 40

5

10

15

20

25

Tem

pera

ture

[x10

3K]

radius [mm]

Speckle Imaging Reference Technique

Speckle imagingShadowgraph

Slide 14© ABB

Experimental ValidationBreakdown

June 9, 2016

- 30 ms- 30 ms + 36 ms+ 36 ms

- 15 ms- 15 ms + 202 ms+ 202 ms

Slide 15© ABB

• Large variety of simulations is a key capability for ABB• Development: simulations for engineering productivity• Research: simulations for knowledge built-up

ConclusionStrategic Value of Simulation in ABB

June 9, 2016