Argonne National Laboratory transferred a technology for automotive engine simulations that offers an order of magnitude acceleration over currently available technologies.

The transferred technology consists of a software model that enables the use of high-performance computing to considerably shorten the turnaround time of engine simulations without sacrificing accuracy. The technology was transferred through the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Small Business Voucher Program. The recipient of the technology transfer was Convergent Science Inc. The initiation of the Small Business Voucher Program required Convergent Science to enter into a standardized pre-negotiated version of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with Argonne in order to streamline the technology transfer process.

Argonne’s role in the transfer was a team effort with Muhsin Ameen created the software model; Dr. Sibendu Som set the project milestones and provided guidance on technology development and implementation, and Gregory Halder facilitated the business components of the technology transfer. During the technology transfer process, Convergent Science integrated the software model developed at Argonne into their computational fluid dynamics software, CONVERGE.

This software is heavily utilized by engine manufacturers throughout the world. Testing of the software integration was successfully performed as part of the Small Business Voucher Program, and the results are being published in two conference papers.

The next version of CONVERGE will include the newly integrated software model, and thus will be easily accessible to all users of CONVERGE. The technology transfer effort has benefitted all parties with improved engine simulations and “best practices” for performing these simulations in industry. As a contractor, Argonne provided the software model, algorithm, and the associated software scripts. The expectation was that this would increase the capabilities and usefulness of engine simulations, leading to a faster research and design cycle. Convergent Science integrated Argonne’s software algorithm into their widely used, industry-accepted CONVERGE software product. Convergent Science’s expectation was that by this integration, their product would have increased usefulness to automotive and engine manufacturers. The impact of this technology transfer is expected to be beyond Convergent Science. Since Convergent Science’s software is used widely in industry, it is expected that the technology transfer will benefit other automotive and truck engine companies.

Contact: Gregory Halder, (630) 252-5382, [email protected].