ALGOR FEA Helps Engineers Energize Solar Cells
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, photovoltaic power will be competitive in price with traditional sources of electricity within 10 years.
Contributing to this trend, Solar Power Industries, Inc. (SPI) of Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania, uses finite element analysis (FEA) software
from Pittsburgh-based ALGOR, Inc. as a tool for developing faster, more efficient and less expensive ways to manufacture solar cells.
For example, SPI used ALGOR FEA to analyze the process of casting silicon ingots inside a directional solidification furnace.
"These ingots are used to manufacture photovoltaic solar cells," said Chenlei Wang, Ph.D., Senior Engineer with SPI.
"ALGOR multiphysics software helped us in optimizing the furnace's hot-zone design, which was the key factor for the project."
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Shaker Fatigue Testing Optimized with ALGOR FEA
When Hamler Test and Analysis (HTA), a consulting firm located in Cookeville, Tennessee, needed to perform shaker fatigue testing
of a compressor blade from a gas turbine engine, they used linear dynamic finite element analysis (FEA) software
from ALGOR, Inc. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to simulate the test and determine the optimal setup.
"ALGOR FEA allowed me to do 'virtual' testing," said Jesse Hamler, President and Chief Technical Officer of HTA.
"I was able to simulate different ideas and hardware configurations without having to spend time or money
to physically make the hardware for each setup, which saved weeks of trial-and-error testing, if not months."
Experimental results closely matched FEA predictions. "Testing was a success, and the blades failed as predicted," said Hamler.
"I was surprised that the FEA model was able to predict the real-world response of a structure so accurately."
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