Developing Market-disruptive HVAC Airflow Products with SOLIDWORKS

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Grupo NAMM (The NAMM Group) is the largest Mexican equipment manufacturer for air distribution in HVAC systems, such as grilles, diffusers, industrial louvers, and architectural louvers, with a 30-percent share of the Mexican market. Founded in 1976, NAMM is committed to leveraging technology to provide high-performance and aesthetic solutions for air movement. The company’s headquarters and production facility are in Monterrey, and it recently entered the U.S. market with its Airkitek® brand.

Innovating Air-flow Solutions

The manufacturer needed flow simulation and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis capabilities to show air flow performance, which prompted NAMM management to decide to replace the previous design software that the company had been using with SOLIDWORKS® solutions.

“There were no integrated flow simulators for use with [Autodesk®] Inventor that we had confidence in, so we made the decision to move to SOLIDWORKS Premium for design and structural simulation, and SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation for simulating air flow in our products,” Dossantos recalls.

He adds, “We need to be able to produce air flow performance answers fast when clients request them, and the integration between the SOLIDWORKS Premium and SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation solutions gives us the ability that we need to quickly perform flow simulations and increase the efficiency of heat transfer by optimizing air flow in our products.”

Lowering Prototyping Costs

 In addition to quickly developing and launching the Airkitek brand in the U.S. since moving to SOLIDWORKS, NAMM cut prototyping costs by 20 percent while developing its breakthrough TermoTransfer Technology, a system of louvers that not only exhaust heat but also draw in the fresh air, increasing heat transfer efficiency as a result. “SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation is really good for making disruptive designs without negatively affecting heat transfer efficiency,” Dossantos stresses.

 The company also used SOLIDWORKS Visualize to create marketing imagery and to slash photography costs through the use of photorealistic renderings.

Developing and Launching a New International Brand

Using integrated SOLIDWORKS design and simulation tools, NAMM created and launched its Airkitek brand, developing an entire line of LEED-compliant, high-quality products for the American market.

“As the Airkitek name signifies, we are leveraging technology to become true ‘architects of air’ when it comes to HVAC equipment,” NAMM Business Developer Abraham Alarcon says. “The ability to run flow simulations with SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation allows us to quickly address any concerns that prospective customers may have, give them confidence in the performance of our products, and prove the effectiveness of our products as we expand internationally.”

You can read the full NAMM case study here.

Contact your local reseller to learn how SOLIDWORKS can optimize your product development process to create innovative products faster and more efficiently.

 

 

 

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