Blue Star, an India-based company, started manufacturing ice candy machines more than 70 years ago. As time passed, though, the company realized that their strengths didn’t lie in children’s candy — it was in vapor compression cycles.
The vapor compression cycle is a four-step approach to cooling used in refrigerators, freezers, and central air conditioners. Today, Blue Star is active in all of these markets.
The vapor compression cycle works like this:
- A refrigerant (in vapor form) enters a compressor, where it is pressurized and heated.
- The superheated vapor courses through condenser piping, which cools it to liquid form.
- A thermal expansion valve causes an abrupt reduction in pressure.
- The liquid enters an evaporator, removing heat from the chilled water and returning it to vapor.
The unit’s fan is then able to produce cold air, as demonstrated in the video below:
You can see from the video that the cooling process requires a great deal of pipes, or coils, for the compressor and evaporator. In a large building’s central air conditioner, the evaporator alone could require 5 miles of tubing.
PTC Creo enables the team at Blue Star to design using these complex elements without sacrificing time. Engineers can use PTC Creo Parametric, a powerful full-featured 3D modeling program, to design all the components of their products. PTC Creo Piping and Cabling Extension (PCX) have also made a huge difference for their process.
PTC Creo PCX automates routed systems design, enabling easier modeling for complex coiling layouts. This makes electrical and fluid design an essential part of the detailed design process. This in turn allows developers to build better prototypes and complete the design cycle more quickly. Thanks to PTC Creo PCX, Blue Star is prototyping 50% faster than they did with their 2D CAD tool.
Today, Blue Star is India’s biggest central air conditioning company, as well as a leader in the domestic refrigeration market. With 32 offices, 2,500 employees, 7 manufacturing facilities, and PTC Creo, the company is poised to make life a little cooler throughout India and beyond.
Interested in learning more about Creo and its 3D CAD capabilities? Read more about it here. Or why not contact us?