Vero USA (Wixom, MI) will unveil release 16 of its Visi Flow integrated moldfilling analysis software, which features tighter integration with Visi Mold (a mold design package), Visi Machining, and Visi CAD.

Without ever leaving the Visi software environment, the integrated suite of software tools allows users to design parts from scratch or make changes to existing parts, design the mold, analyze moldfilling for the part and cooling for the mold, and transfer the design to a machining program. Says Giovanni Opimitti, Vero president, “This is a significantly faster way to make part and mold design changes and analyze the pros and cons of those changes. The number of steps from design to analysis to manufacturing is greatly reduced. It also eliminates issues that arise when files have to be translated from external CAD and flow analysis software.”

Release 16 will include an updated user interface as well as enhancements to electrode design, surface creation, annotation, and product documentation for concurrent design. Visi Flow’s tighter integration will allow mold and component designers to make decisions using flow analysis to detect potential manufacturing issues such as weldlines, air traps, and optimum gate location before committing resources to toolbuilding.

According to Opimitti, 3D flow simulation has not grown as fast as predicted due to the expense of most software and because 3D simulations run slowly even on powerful computers. “In the current global competitive environment, tool­makers do not have the time luxury of using 3D flow simulation in their design process or to solve problems,” he says. “But the Visi Flow approach offers the benefits of 3D without the drawbacks. Visi Flow simulations run extremely fast, even on standard desktops or laptops, and the software cost is significantly less than that of 3D packages, making it affordable and feasible for toolmakers and designers.”

Visi Flow uses a proprietary (patent-pending) hexahedral 3D mesh for fast model setup and complex part geometry analysis.

Vero USA
www.veroint.com