Case Study

Comlux

Comlux America, LLC, a division of Comlux the Aviation Group, is located in Indianapolis, IN.  They provide completion services as well as refurbishment and maintenance services for business jets as well as VIP airline class aircraft.  When faced with the task of redesigning the environmental control system on an Airbus A320, Comlux Engineering turned to CATI for a solution.

The Challenge

Faced with strict deadlines, as well as contractual airflow and sound requirements, Comlux needed a way to replace some of the classical theory and lab testing.  The goals to “improve quality, manage risk, reduce lab testing, and reduce overall development time and cost”, meant that Comlux needed to turn to a 3D CAD Design program.

The Solution

Enter SOLIDWORKS and SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation.  With proven leadership in the VIP Aircraft Completion industry, Comlux’s Engineering Department knew acquiring SOLIDWORKS 3D Cad Software was an “easy choice to make.”   The features of SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation allowed Comlux Systems Engineers to “perform over 40 optimizing iterations in less than 2 days.”   The same process, through lab testing and classical theory, would have taken up to 3 weeks and resulted in a product with fewer optimized design aspects.

SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation increased  the number of design aspects that could be optimized from 3 to 8Recently, a member of Comlux’s engineering team has participated in CATI Flow Simulation Virtual Classroom training.  The skills learned in this class, now allows the engineering team to utilize the thermal fluid properties and heat flow aspects of SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation for future projects.