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nTop is not a CAD replacement tool; our mission is to enable further, unlock, trivialize and automate otherwise exceedingly complex part generation and enhancements by working with external CAE tools.  While you could technically design an entire heat exchanger inside nTop, it’s sometimes not the most practical way of going about it. Most nTop users start their project in their traditional CAD tool and import that geometry into nTop to perform all their complex operations like applying lattice structure to the heater core.  Similar to how an analyst de-features various components before performing FEA or CFD, some extra prep work in your CAD software goes a long way. We like to call this concept “Pre-nTop Prep.”

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General considerations for Pre-nTop Prep

  1. Generating design space/infill volume within the shell/housing geometry
  2. Generating necessary initial inlet/outlet piping geometry/fluid domains (these fluid domains will connect to plenums)
  3. Conceptualize and generate initial plenum geometries to bring in and evaluate
  4. Potential defeaturing of unnecessary complexities that would impact meshing
  5. Generate a sub-assembly of required parts