Assessing Washing In Place capability of pharmaceutical filling machines

[alexrau230556]

I`m a student and I am currently writing bachelor thesis in Biotechnology. The focus of
my thesis is to design a concept for assessing the Washing In Place (WIP) capability of pharmaceutical filling machines. The objective is to find a software (either virtual reality or PC-based) for visualizing and evaluating of the water coverage (color coated) on a certain pharmaceutical filling machine.
The water is being manually sprayed by an operator using a spray gun connected to a water supply through a hose located within the machine.

My idea is to upload a simplyfied CAD-model of said filling machine (created in Siemens NX) and simulate the application of water to analyze whether all parts are poperly covered. However, the machine is located in a pharmaceutical isolator, which is accessible only through glove ports, limiting the mobility of the operator’s arms. The movement of the spraygun is therefore limited within a certain radius, including several different angles and positions of the operators arm.

So my questions are:

Is Ansys Fluid usable for this project? Especially for simulating arm movement and therefore the nozzle movement within a certain radius (operators arms) combined with a spraying process?

Is it possible to adjust the spray gun parameters (pressure, angle, etc)?

Is it necessary to use other Ansys AddOns to fullfil the project or will Ansys Fluids suffice on its own?

Is Ansys Fluids usable through a VR interface?

[Rob]

Also known as Clean in Place - which may translate to the same thing depending on where you are. Short answer is Fluent is fine for this, although the new FreeFlow tool may also be suitable. All models can be adjusted, so spray angle etc can be configured. You won't need any addional tools (they're in the usual bundles) but additional parallel licences may be useful. Not sure about the VR part, that may depend on actual need/tools. 

Having said all of that, this looks quite commercial, so check licence terms before going too far. 

[alexrau230556]

Thank you for your quick reply! What exactly is FreeFlow? Is this another standalone software or is it part of Ansys?

[Rob]

https://www.ansys.com/en-gb/products/fluids/ansys-freeflow

 

[alexrau230556]

Is there a recommendation which of these Softwares (Ansys Fluent or FreeFlow) is more suitable for my project?

[Rob]

I'd probably use Fluent, but advice may change as FreeFlow use is expanded.