Virtual Modeling in Tractor Design: A Case Study of New Holland

CNH Case New Holland is a global leader in the agricultural and construction equipment businesses. With facilities located on every continent, CNH has a worldwide presence and a vast network of 10,800 dealers in 160 countries. The company has been supporting the agricultural industry since the mid-1800s, providing a range of products and solutions to meet the diverse needs of its customers. The company's commitment to innovation and technology is evident in its approach to tractor design, where it leverages advanced flow modeling software to optimize the design and performance of its products.

Large tractors require complex cooling systems that consist of five separate modules. Each cooling module is dedicated to one of the engine’s five different fluid systems, includes its own heat exchanger, and is additionally cooled by the main engine fan. The primary goal of the tractor is to support itself and the added extra load of any attachments it has, such as a mower or a plow. This necessitates a design effort that focuses on maximizing engine power output and efficiency of the cooling package, while also optimizing the locations of all the components within the engine compartment to provide enough air to both the engine and the cooling system modules. For CNH, this design process often only included an in-depth analysis of the individual components, for example, each of the cooling modules. There was no simple way to include the effect of component layout within the engine compartment and the distribution of airflow to each module over the entire system. The alternative used by CNH, though expensive and time-consuming, was to develop and test several prototypes to balance cooling with space requirements.

CNH used flow modeling software, ANSYS Fluent and ANSYS TGrid, to simulate the flow of air in and around engine compartment components, allowing the entire system to be examined at once, as opposed to the previous piece-by-piece approach. This analysis enabled CNH to analyze the overall cooling system and its capacity, minimize power used by the cooling system, and optimize the cooling module position. By using flow modeling tools, CNH was able to eliminate the fabrication and testing of multiple costly prototypes, define the best prototype as predicted by ANSYS Fluent software with very good agreement between experimental measurements and computer-simulated values, reduce the amount of power drawn by the cooling system compared to the initial design, and meet all cooling module thermal and packaging requirements.

• The use of flow modeling software has revolutionized CNH's design process, allowing for a more holistic and efficient approach to tractor design. By simulating the flow of air in and around engine compartment components, CNH can now examine the entire system at once, rather than analyzing individual components in isolation. This has not only streamlined the design process but also improved the performance of the tractors, as the cooling system can now be optimized to minimize power usage and maximize engine power output. The ability to define the best prototype using software predictions has also led to a significant reduction in the time and cost associated with prototype fabrication and testing. Overall, the use of this technology has enabled CNH to deliver better, more efficient products to the market faster.

• Significantly reduced prototype fabrication and testing costs
• Reduced product time to market
• Evaluated far more design alternatives than would have been possible using a prototype-based design and development approach