The latest edition of Multiphysics Simulation is a window into the latest simulation and modeling done by design engineers in industries ranging from touchscreens to biosensors. Learn how leading tech companies are incorporating multiphysics simulation into their workflow to solve their design challenges, and accelerate research and development.
Researchers in the Early Technologies unit of Medtronics Minimally Invasive Therapies Group (MITG) at Medtronic used COMSOL Multiphysics® software to improve ablation probes, enhancing predictability of the ablation procedures and overall physician control. They modeled heat transfer, mass transport, and microwave propagation from the ablation probe to the damaged tissue, and tested probes that incorporate radiometric sensing in the same device. The team also evaluated the temperature dependence of relevant reaction rates, modeled phase changes, and radiometrically characterized the energy absorbed by the tissue, in the process of developing probes with enhanced reliability and precision.
Plasmonics researchers at the Birck Nanotechnology Center of Purdue University are simulating graphene layers for opto-electronic devices, fine-tuning their design and reducing their total number of nanofabricated prototypes. The researchers modeled tunable graphene-assisted damping of plasmon resonances in nanoantenna arrays in the mid-infrared range. Numerical simulation allowed the optimization of design without the cost and complication of nanofabrication. The engineers continue to use multiphysics simulation to further characterize the properties of graphene for use of the material in devices such as photovoltaics, optical modulators, and flexible touchscreens.
Researchers and designers at Roche Diagnostics are using numerical simulation to design new sensing methods for glucose monitors to provide more accurate readings. A robust design is necessary so that the sensors continue to give proper results even when used in uncertain conditions. The team used COMSOLÂ software to evaluate different electrode configurations and materials, as well as to predict the dependence of the electric potential on hematocrit level and other physical variables, such as capillary height and spacer placement, values that would be very difficult to measure experimentally.
Engineers at FUJIFILM Dimatix used numerical simulation to gather compliance data for improving industrial printhead actuator performance. The primary concerns for actuator design are maximizing deflection, minimizing size, and matching the actuators impedance to the flow channels and the nozzle. The results allowed them to fit a new device to tight specifications and smaller actuator geometries and revealed new information about their actuator and jet. Read on to learn how other leading tech companies are using multiphysics simulation to solve their design challenges.
Learn More: https://comsol.com/c/3wwj
