DENSO Partners with Sorbonne University to Accelerate FreeFEM Simulation and Streamline Industrial Product Manufacturing on Rescale

Building on a Legacy of Automotive Innovation
DENSO, a leading automotive and Fortune 500 company, operates globally in 35 countries and regions around the world and manufactures a wide variety of components. Additionally, in its non-automotive business, DENSO is working to industrialize smart agriculture using factory automation and sensing technologies. Within the thermal management systems team, a core businesses at DENSO, new initiatives are underway to respond to electric vehicles and automated driving. Mr. Hiroshi Ogawa of DENSO’s Heat Exchanger R&D Division explains how this differs from conventional thermal systems:

“In conventional gasoline-powered vehicles, the engine is used as the heat source to heat the cabin. In the case of electric vehicles, using battery power for heating affects electric power consumption when driving. In addition, batteries have an optimum operating temperature, which affects their performance and service life. On the other hand, in automated driving, heat generated by the computer that controls the vast number of sensors becomes a problem. We are developing technology to improve electric power consumption by using heat pumps to effectively utilize heat generated from the air and various devices, as well as technology to precisely control battery temperatures. The development of thermal systems for electric vehicles requires new technologies and methods.”

Getting Started on Rescale with Just a Few Clicks
“We were immediately surprised at the ease of use of Rescale ScaleX for COMSOL multiphysics calculations, which can be run with just a few clicks. The amount and cost of computing resources can be controlled according to simulation usage. Rescale ScaleX allows us to build our ideal simulation environment, which is ideal for our various needs,” said Mr. Ogawa.

In addition to Rescale, Mr. Ogawa said the company also evaluated FOCUS, a supercomputing service that had previously been used in-house at DENSO. “FOCUS is a supercomputer for industrial use that can be shared by multiple users, but its computing resources are limited, and it is sometimes booked up when engineers need it. We chose Rescale ScaleX because of its ability to provide us with computing resources on-demand as needed for development.”