Case Study: Diinef achieves 80% pressure-drop reduction and reduced cavitation damage risk with SimScale

Diinef reduced pressure drop and minimized cavitation damage risk in hydraulic valves with SimScale

Diinef, a Norwegian high‑tech spin‑off from ChapDrive that builds digital high‑torque, low‑speed hydraulic motors, faced a critical design challenge: valve opening and closing under very high pressure differences (up to several hundred bars) that promoted cavitation and risked damaging the valve. To prevent cavitation damage and reduce pressure drop while speeding development, Diinef turned to computer‑aided engineering with SimScale.

Using SimScale, Diinef ran compressible‑flow CFD on the full 3D valve, then iterated rapidly with focused opening‑gap and semi‑2D models. The redesign cut pressure drop by 80%, shifted the cavitation zone several millimeters away from the valve seat, guided adding material to the risk area, and produced confirmed reductions in back‑pressure during physical tests — delivering roughly $40k average hardware savings and faster, lower‑cost development. SimScale’s simulations enabled these measurable performance and risk reductions while avoiding early costly prototyping.

Diinef