Technology Category
- Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics
- Sensors - Environmental Sensors
Applicable Industries
- Electronics
- Semiconductors
Applicable Functions
- Product Research & Development
Use Cases
- Autonomous Robots
- Movement Prediction
Services
- System Integration
About The Customer
ABB Switzerland Ltd. is a world leader in power and automation technology. The company's product portfolio includes electric motors, drives, converters, circuit breakers, robots, semiconductors, sensors, and more. These products are used in a wide range of applications, from large industrial applications such as paper mills, trains, ships, and car assembly lines, to small domestic ones like wall switches and circuit breakers. The ABB Group operates in approximately 100 countries and employs about 108,000 people. The company is known for its HiPak modules, which are used in a variety of applications, from traction converters to motor drives.
The Challenge
ABB Switzerland Ltd., a global leader in power and automation technology, faced a significant challenge with their HiPak modules. These modules, used in a variety of applications from traction converters to motor drives, required different cooling systems to remove the heat dissipated by the insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT) and diodes. The cooling systems varied substantially, making it crucial for ABB to predict the maximum package temperature to ensure reliability and proper functionality. The challenge was to find a solution that could accurately predict the temperature field of the coupled HiPak module–heat exchanger system and provide a reliable means to find the optimal heat exchanger configuration.
The Solution
ABB Switzerland Ltd. turned to Icepak software to solve their challenge. The software allowed the prediction of the entire temperature field of the coupled HiPak module–heat exchanger system. It provided a quick and reliable means to find the optimal heat exchanger configuration. Beyond this, Icepak was also used in the thermal design and analysis of many other ABB products, ranging from power electronics modules to complete control cabinets for robots. The software enabled the prediction of the effects of modifications to the HiPak module, such as the use of new materials or components. It also offered the possibility of running parametric calculations, providing a very quick way to gain insight on the effect and importance of the system key design parameters.
Operational Impact
Case Study missing?
Start adding your own!
Register with your work email and create a new case study profile for your business.
Related Case Studies.
Case Study
Remote Temperature Monitoring of Perishable Goods Saves Money
RMONI was facing temperature monitoring challenges in a cold chain business. A cold chain must be established and maintained to ensure goods have been properly refrigerated during every step of the process, making temperature monitoring a critical business function. Manual registration practice can be very costly, labor intensive and prone to mistakes.
Case Study
KINESYS Semiconductor Factory Automation Software
KINESYS Software provides both Integrated Device Manufacturer (IDM) and Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) customers world-class software products and solutions for advanced wafer and device traceability and process management. KINESYS offers state of the art database technology with a core focus on SEMI standards. KINESYS’ challenge was to make back-end processing failure-free and easy to use for clients while supporting licensing models more adaptable to changing industry needs.
Case Study
Cloud Solution for Energy Management Platform-Schneider Electric
Schneider Electric required a cloud solution for its energy management platform to manage high computational operations, which were essential for catering to client requirements. As the business involves storage and analysis of huge amounts of data, the company also needed a convenient and scalable storage solution to facilitate operations efficiently.
Case Study
Leveraging the IoT to Gain a Competitive Edge in International Competition
Many large manufacturers in and outside Japan are competing for larger market share in the same space, expecting a growing demand for projectors in the areas of entertainment, which requires glamor and strong visual performance as well as digital signage that can attract people’s attention. “It is becoming more and more difficult to differentiate ourselves with stand-alone hardware products,” says Kazuyuki Kitagawa, Director of Service & Support at Panasonic AVC Networks. “In order for Panasonic to grow market share and overall business, it is essential for us to develop solutions that deliver significant added value.” Panasonic believes projection failure and quality deterioration should never happen. This is what and has driven them to make their projectors IoT-enabled. More specifically, Panasonic has developed a system that collects data from projectors, visualizes detailed operational statuses, and predicts issues and address them before failure occurs. Their projectors are embedded with a variety of sensors that measure power supply, voltage, video input/ output signals, intake/exhaust air temperatures, cooling fan operations, and light bulb operating time. These sensors have been used to make the projector more intelligent, automatically suspending operation when the temperature rises excessively, and automatically switching light bulbs. Although this was a great first step, Panasonic projectors were still not equipped with any capability to send the data over a network.