David vs. Goliath Story Using Simulation Software in the Startup World
Have you ever heard the story of David and Goliath? The old tale tells of how the young David defeated the mighty giant Goliath with daring and clever methods instead of traditional ones. At ReVibe Energy, we’ve been inspired by the story.
Now, we’re not aiming to triumph over our competitors using the same means David used against Goliath, but rather to attract potential customers through innovative and agile methods. By using engineering simulation software from ANSYS we can distinguish ourselves from our competitors and offer current and prospective customers better products in a shorter amount of time.
From 16 to 6 weeks – How We Are Speeding Up Our Product Development Cycle
We offer our customers a power source that never runs out by transforming vibrations into electricity. Our products are mainly used to power sensor and monitoring systems, which can be used in a variety of industries and applications. As a result, customers who have very different products are asking us to fit our products to their specific environments. This requires rapid adaptation on our end so we don’t lose the deal, which is why simulation software has become extremely valuable to us. Previously, we spent a lot of time in design and testing loops, but since we integrated simulation software into our product development cycle, we have reduced this process from 16 weeks to 6 weeks! This means that we can offer our customers a first testing period after 6 weeks, which impresses most customers and often leads to an agreement.
The Specifics of How We Use Simulation
Our products are based on the concept of electromagnetic induction. The core components include a magnet, mechanical springs and a copper coil. When adapting our products for different applications, it is mainly these three parts that are in need of modification. By using simulation software, we can test different configurations in a short amount of time. The accompanying images show how we used simulation to take a closer look at the thickness of the mechanical springs and the effect of the configuration of the magnets.
Our Goal Is to Create a ‘Magic Black Box’
In the end, our focus is to create a fully coupled multiphysics simulation model in which we can enter the necessary data and receive a fully optimized product as an output. Today, our simulation approach creates the same results but requires a fair amount of manual labor.
In many ways, the ANSYS Startup Program helped us to be more innovative, just like David. We meet our customers’ demands a lot faster than we normally would be able to, which differentiates us from our competition. This is extremely valuable, and is helping us claim a position as one of the most advanced companies in the world within our domain of energy harvesting.
NOTE: This is a re-post of the blog post on the Ansys Blog written by Viktor Börjesson from ReVibe Energy.
