February 2001

By using Flotherm to simulate the air movement and heat dissipated within the large 108 x 76 x 48" FibreMAX cabinet, AFC's Engineers were able to study multiple configurations very quickly and to respond promptly to customer requirements. They did this by creating detailed models of the various components - Channel Bank Assembly, Power Supply Modules, Heat Exchangers, Chargers/Recifiers and Optical Network Units - for use in a variety of system level design configurations. Previous thermal test models had taken over one month to build, configure and run. Flotherm enabled them to achieve turn around times of one to two days, so allowing near immediate feedback and instant modification to customer configurations.

Further savings were also made possible when a Flotherm model revealed that 3 not 4 heat exchangers were required to cool the system.

Commenting on the design project, Todd Newhouse, Senior Engineer, AFC, said, "The cost for ADSL equipment alone can easily surpass $100,000 in addition to approximately $10,000 in resource and test equipment cost for each test. With the product offering an endless variety of configuration options, the immediate savings are significant. Ten configurations required by the customer and Product Line Management does, for example, result in savings of over $200,000. Another important monetary factor is the ability to respond to customers and improve time-to-market."

Concluding, Mr Newhouse, said, "The end result is a model that can predict with confidence multiple configurations of equipment inside a large enclosure. Flotherm allowed us to make significant cost savings in both development and production - the development savings being realized by not having to physically build and test multiple configurations and the production savings being realized from cost reductions in the design."