COSMOS® design analysis software is helping the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) ensure top performance and durability from marine research instruments that have to withstand ocean depths of up to 13,000 feet.

Established by Hewlett-Packard co-founder David Packard, MBARI conducts advanced research in the deep waters of California's Monterey Bay. The institute's core engineering group works with researchers to design instruments and remote controlled submersible exploration vehicles using COSMOSWorks® design analysis software and SolidWorks® 3D mechanical design software. Engineers design the equipment in SolidWorks, then use COSMOSWorks to determine whether it will withstand water pressure and function as intended. COSMOSWorks enables engineers to apply various loads on designs to simulate their behavior as physical objects, significantly reducing the number of expensive prototypes needed to detect and repair mistakes.

COSMOSWorks' fluid dynamics analysis features enable MBARI's engineers to determine how the heat that the electronics generate will affect the design.

"It really saves us time to be able to iterate an instrument case design rather than prototyping and testing physically," said Mark Brown, the institute's mechanical manufacturing and fabrication supervisor. "We get much more of a design right the first time using COSMOSWorks than we did before. Rebuilding an instrument case can take up to three weeks, so we gain back a lot of time by doing as few prototypes as possible."

Brown's manufacturing and fabrication group works in conjunction with core engineering to design and produce an average of 50 new instruments a year, plus modifying and maintaining existing equipment. Designing products for undersea exploration means constantly balancing strength and weight to create products that stand up to extreme conditions using as little material as possible. One of the submersibles the group maintains is a remotely operated vehicle rated for 4,000 meters (13,000 ft) with an instrument package that has to withstand 6,000 lb/sq in. (414 bar) of pressure. COSMOSWorks enables MBARI's engineers to finely calculate the amount of material needed to produce a sturdy enclosure within the submersible's weight limits.

"Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute's experience shows COSMOSWorks at its best, saving time and money that once went into building prototypes and putting it into value-producing work like designing new and improved products," said Suchit Jain, SolidWorks vice president of analysis products. "The key part of this scenario is COSMOSWorks' accuracy. If MBARI's engineers couldn't trust the results it delivers, they'd end up building as many prototypes as they did before they started using it. But they can trust the results, and they're putting the gains to great use."