Customer Brief: Wolf

At Wolf Appliance, Inc. CFdesign upfront CFD software has become integrated into the product development process for the company’s full range of products, including wall ovens, warming drawers, cooktops and dishwashers.

Recently Wolf developed a new line of electric induction cooktops. In induction cooking, the electricity flows through a coil to produce a magnetic field under ceramic glass. When a cast iron or magnetic stainless steel pan is placed on the top surface, currents are induced in the cooking utensil and instant heat is generated due to the resistance of the pan.

“By using CFdesign early in the development process, we were able to flag thermal management design flaws that may not have been seen until prototyping,” says Ben Hanson, design engineer for advanced product development at Wolf Appliance.  “In the past, if a flaw made it to the prototype stage, the project took a major step backwards or concessions had to be made to work around the issue.”

Beyond previously designed electric cooktops, the new induction line added several new electronic components and thermal challenges. Using CFdesign, Wolf’s engineers optimized the aif flow of the cooling system around a 65-CFM fan which insured the main PCB with a multi-fin heat sink and other critical components would operate at a safe temperature.

According to Hanson, upfront CFD does not just save money by reducing the need for prototyping, it uncovers performance issues that cannot be ferreted out by physical testing.  Wolf uses thermocouples and infrared imaging for temperature measurements, but finds it difficult to do physical testing to measure flow.

“We often need to disrupt the flow areas to get the measurement equipment in,” says Hanson.  “Sometimes we use smoke, which leaves a residue where the flow concentration is the highest (the point of the smoke is to see the residue which gives a general idea of the flow.  CFD gives a much more comprehensive analysis that can be directly verified with the smoke traces).  Upfront CFD helps us visualize situations that are difficult to prototype in the physical world.”

“We anticipate this trend of decreased prototyping will continue for future generations of products,” says Hanson.  “We’ll be able to get a superior product on the market faster than ever before.”