Canopy design is governed by CPCB regulations. The regulations explicitly tells about noise levels. It’s very important to have the proper ventilation of canopy to ensure the proper working at all climatic conditions.
Mostly it is installed at commercial locations & hence the ownership cost matters. Reducing the footprint without affecting the power output is challenging. It implies the need of the CFD simulation to predict the cooling performance of the canopy. The baseline canopy is tested to estimate the performance parameters. It is modelled in CFD with all the minute details. All the parts including engine, alternator, fan, fuel tank are modelled. MRF(Moving Reference Frame) model used to simulate fan performance. The cooling systems like radiator & oil cooler is modelled as porous region.
The total flow across canopy & the air velocity across critical regions is used to define the performance. The regions like exhaust manifold, head, block, exhaust pipe are treated as critical regions. CFD simulation of the baseline canopy show 96% co-relation with the test. With this the optimization process is followed & ten different designs are evaluated for the performance. The optimized design is having 20% less footprint, 30% less volume with better thermal performance.
The paper explicitly tell about the methodology followed for designing a competitive genset with the help of CFD. The CAD data of the optimized design is used to create the drawings for the individual component & proto is built with these parts. The testing of proto shows 98.5% correlation. The use of CFD with strategic target setting helped to converge the design fast & delivered a best in class product.