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3D CAD World

Removing unused elements in AutoCAD 2022

July 25, 2022 By WTWH Editor Leave a Comment

A drawing might contain elements that were defined once but are no longer used. Common examples of this include:

Blocks that are defined but not inserted anywhere.
Layers that do not contain any objects.
Named components that are no longer used.

These unused (or unreferenced) definitions use disk space and can significantly increase the size of your drawing. The AutoCAD software provides you with Purge tools to remove these items. The various Purge tools are available in the Manage tab>Cleanup panel, as shown below.

Purge Tool

The (Purge) tool opens the Purge dialog box, where you can select the category of the item that you want to purge (such as Blocks, Layers, etc.). You can also expand the list for any category and select individual items to purge. The Preview area of the dialog box displays the image of the item to be purged.

Options:

If the Confirm each item to be purged option is selected, you are prompted to verify each item before it is purged.

To completely purge all of the unreferenced elements in the drawing, select the Purge nested items option. For example, this enables you to purge any unreferenced layers that are part of (or nested in) an unreferenced block definition.

The Purge Unnamed Objects area provides you with the options of purging Zero-length geometry and Empty text objects separately.

Selecting the Find Non-Purgeable Items tab in the dialog box displays a list of items that are in use and cannot be purged. Select an item to display the information about why it cannot be purged. Detailed information, such as the number of items on each layer and their effect on the size of the file, is also provided. You can also click the Select Objects button to zoom in to the specific non-purgeable object.

Overkill Tool

Another cleanup tool that is available in AutoCAD 2022 is the:
(Overkill ) tool. Use this tool to remove duplicate and overlapping geometric objects, such as lines, arcs, and polylines. Examples of the changes made by the Overkill command include:

–Deleting duplicate line or arc segments.
–Deleting arcs that overlap portions of circles.
–Combining partially overlapping lines drawn at the same angle.
–Deleting zero-length and overlapping polylines.

I hope that you will find the above Purge tools handy for cleaning up your drawings. I have provided a fully detailed section along with a hands-on practice in the Working with Blocks chapter in the AutoCAD 2022 Fundamentals learning guide.

Renu Muthoo, Learning Content Developer, ASCENT
Renu has worked with Autodesk products for the past 20 years with a main focus on design visualization software. Renu holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering and started her career as an Instructional Designer/Author where she co-authored a number of Autodesk 3ds Max and AutoCAD books, some of which were translated into other languages for a wide audience reach. In her next role as a Technical Specialist at a 3D visualization company, Renu used 3ds Max in real-world scenarios on a daily basis. There, she developed customized 3D web planner solutions to create specialized 3D models with photorealistic texturing and lighting to produce high quality renderings.

Filed Under: Autodesk Tagged With: Autodesk

FRAMEpro lets you bring Bosch Rexroth’s modular aluminum profile system directly into CAD environments

July 13, 2022 By WTWH Editor Leave a Comment

With the new FRAMEpro plug-in, directly transfer CAD files for Bosch Rexroth’s modular aluminum profile system elements into popular CAD environments Autodesk Inventor and SOLIDWORKS from Dassault. Users of both systems can reduce engineering time and help avoid errors from media breaks and potential incorrect entries. Automatically set connections and profile configurations and adjustments in the event of changes, intelligent macros and useful functions will save valuable time when planning and designing with Bosch Rexroth’s proven modular aluminum profile system.

FRAMEpro complements the CAD environment by integrating a library of models and data that are kept up to date by Bosch Rexroth on an ongoing basis. Because CAD data no longer need to be transferred from external sources, manual imports, transmission errors or duplicate data are now a thing of the past.

Automatic connections and intelligent macros

Intelligent macros establish connections automatically, saving time and making it easier for users who no longer need to place components themselves. Profile configuration processes are also set to automatically match connector types. Other macros make it easier to incorporate panel elements and doors.

Lean ordering processes

FRAMEpro further supports design engineers and planners with practical search, sort and filter function. The selected profiles are placed in a 3D line model – centrally or with an offset – and can also be rotated. Accessories such as connectors, cover caps, bases and wheels can then be placed on the profiles.
FRAMEpro automatically transfers all components used including profile machining processes to a parts list which can be used to request a quote or place an order. Once the construction process is complete, the plug-in also lists the strut profiles used, including the necessary sawing and drilling steps.

Automatic adjustment dimensions

If the dimensions in the 3D sketch are changed, FRAMEpro immediately adjusts the length of the placed profiles accordingly. Because all other components are connected via placing constraints, they are also automatically adjusted. This saves valuable time and resources.

All in all, the intelligent CAD plug-in, FRAMEpro, plays an important role in making it even easier to design structures using Bosch Rexroth’s modular aluminum framing portfolio and streamline ordering for a quicker time to market.

Bosch Rexroth
www.boschrexroth-us.com/framepro

Filed Under: News Tagged With: boschrexroth

The latest release of Siemens’ NX software

June 27, 2022 By WTWH Editor Leave a Comment

Siemens Digital Industries Software announced that the latest release of Siemens’ NX software, an industry leading product engineering solution, brings greater electronic co-design, collaboration, and intelligence capture and reuse capability. These empower engineering executives across every industry to find productivity improvements and greater efficiencies in their engineering departments.


The latest release of Siemens’ NX brings new collaborative tools for mechanical/electronic teams, greater knowledge capture and reuse, and more holistic optimization along with a number of extensions

“Innovators and pioneers, from clean-sheet start-ups to household name brands, are adopting NX and choosing us as a trusted partner, as we explore the future of design, engineering and manufacturing together,” said Bob Haubrock, Senior Vice President, Product Engineering Software, Siemens. “This latest release brings enhancements to our users across the board, enabling them to work more intelligently between multidisciplinary teams, capture and reuse more knowledge and achieve that optimum design more efficiently than ever before. Alongside brand-new functionality, our significant investments to core technologies, such as sketch and convergent modeling, will further improve the toolsets that our community of users relies on every day.”


NX extends its electronic design collaboration capabilities further with a robust workflow for rigid and rigid-flex PCB designs, leveraging Siemens’ leadership and expertise in the electronics/electrical engineering space with Siemens EDA (formerly Mentor Graphics).

Part of the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio of software and services, NX delivers productivity and user-experience enhancements across a broad range of capabilities.

Leveraging our leadership and expertise in the electronics/electrical engineering space with Siemens EDA (formerly Mentor Graphics), NX extends its electronic design collaboration capabilities further with a robust workflow for rigid and rigid-flex PCB designs. These are especially important given increased product complexity and packaging constraints.


The latest release of Siemens’ NX brings greater support tools to help take advantage of additive manufacturing, from end use parts to more efficient mold cores and cavities.

Users will notice a new codeless approach to Feature Templates that enables the reuse of the knowledge embedded into NX data during design. This elevates user-defined features to the next level, extending data reuse from pure parametric geometry features to include PMI, requirements checks and more. The key benefit is a jump start of efficient knowledge reuse and greater collaboration amongst design and engineering teams.

NX is renowned for its leadership in complex shape development and whatever the industry sector customers operate within, aesthetic quality is now just as important as functionality, efficiency and performance. The latest release of NX brings new tools to help develop the forms designers need and their customers demand, whether that’s updates to curve creation and editing with parametric features or to NX Algorithmic Modeling which better support convergent modeling workflows enabling more efficient ways to complex patterns and shapes.

NX Topology Optimizer now fully replaces and surpasses our previous solution capabilities. Part optimization within the context of an assembly now considers design and manufacturing constraints and makes simultaneous optimization of multiple design spaces with independent materials possible.

The recently introduced NX Design Space Explorer for multi-objective optimization also now offers multi-run support to fine tune ranges and refine searches and Simcenter™ HEEDS™ software run options are now fully integrated and cover baseline, random seed, and normalization factors. This will enable customers to benefit from both cost and time savings through automation of complex optimization tasks helping them to achieve faster time to market during the design engineering phase of product development.

“Today’s mechanical products are complex, and engineers need to integrate mechanical, electrical and electronics. Bringing the data from each of these disciplines can create design friction, which needs to be resolved quickly,” said Arvind Krishnan, industry analyst, Lifecycle Insights. “A good example is the placement of a cooling fan in an electronic housing. The engineers benefit by working in a collaborative environment. So, when there is a change in the electronic board design, the mechanical engineer responsible for the fan and housing design can respond, and vice versa. NX provides best-in-class electromechanical design tools, smoothly weaving together the different needs of the mechanical, electrical, and electronic disciplines into exactly that tightly integrated collaborative environment.”

For additional information about the latest release of Siemens’ NX, read the NX overview blog post or watch the Youtube Premiere event on June 21, 2022 from 11:00 am Eastern Standard Time – it will also remain available to view at any time and can be embedded where required.

Siemens Digital Industries Software
siemens.com/software

Filed Under: Siemens Digital Industries Software Tagged With: Siemensdigitalindustriessoftware

How to get everyone on the same page

June 13, 2022 By WTWH Editor Leave a Comment

Making both CAD renderings and BOM information available to all systems on the factory floor and outside its doors cuts costs and raises productivity, whether the product is new or remanufactured.

Jean Thilmany, Senior Editor

For many years, a three-dimensional product remained locked inside the computer-aided design system, meaning only the engineers who had designed the model could access its associated data. Sometimes that information was shared with a select few people in manufacturing to assure engineers the part could be manufactured as defined.

In today’s digital age, manufacturers saw no reason for that information to go to waste.

They knew that model data could be used in a myriad of ways to improve efficiencies and cut costs. It could drive the build of a digital twin, for example, that mirrors how the product is operating in the real world. It could be associated with bill of material information to predict how much raw material to procure and to manage logistics.

Beyond the factory floor, marketing departments could refer to the models to answer potential customer questions. And they would certainly be a boon to service and repair people, who could consult them to learn more about a part and a product.

But freeing that information from the CAD system has come with two pretty significant drawbacks. The first is that CAD models must be essentially translated before they can be used by other software systems across the company. The second is the offer of data visualizations to any number of users. If they can see a rendering of the product, and can dive down into its individual parts they can better understand how the product works and to repair and maintain it.

And then there’s Industry 4.0, which moves to digitize the entire manufacturing plant. The move necessitates pushing product models—and the 3-D data they contain—across the extended enterprise to business systems like the enterprise resource management system.

Vermeer makes heavy-use equipment like this mini skid steer. The company recently updated the way it engineers and manufacturers work together on new product development.

“Access to 3-D models and product data across the extended enterprise has been a major barrier to collaboration for cross-functional teams for decades,” says Dan Murray, who founded Vertex. The company takes CAD information into the cloud and turns it into a high-quality rendering that is tied to the BOM.

The rendering software allows models and information to be quickly and easily shared with the ERP, the product lifecycle management, marketing, and many other business systems. That data has use beyond the factory walls. Repair and service people, for example, would easily be able to reference a simulated model on their tablet.

That’s a big key for Vertex. The rendered CAD models—no matter how intricate—are available on tablets and even smartphones, Murray says.

He showed the example of an intricate airplane model that included CAD information for every part on the aircraft, no matter how small. The rendered results were almost instantly viewable on a smartphone. Data-heavy sets like these can take several minutes to load even on a powerful desktop computer. To see the model pop up quickly and to manipulate it—zoom in on a part, move the drawing, and look up part information—in real time can actually be startling, just like the internet itself was in its early days.

For Industry 4.0, software like Vertex’s enables companies to integrate 3D visualization anywhere along the digital thread. Gartner research defines the digital thread—and by extension a product’s digital twin is “a virtual representation of a product, process, or system from inception, through production, to operation.”
The digital twin is made up of three main elements, says Mairi Kerin, a mechanical engineering professor at the University of Birmingham in England. It’s comprised of:
• a real product in real space
• a virtual product in virtual space
• the connections of data and information that tie the “products” together
For digital efforts to move forward within manufacturing, product data must be easily integrated across all the systems that will use it, says Sonal Naik, managing director of Deloitte Catalyst, a consultancy that helps startups by connecting their prototypes with a larger community,

“As manufacturers continue on their digital transformation journey, the value of having data at the fingertips of all workers—whether it’s on a factory floor or in field service—is only growing,” Naik says. “When we turn that data from text into pictures and videos, it drives even more value.”

A thread through the middle
Though the digital thread ties every stage of a product by defining it in digital forms, the term mostly refers to products in their first go-round: from initial inception to creation. What’s not as discussed is how digital transformation applies for what’s called “middle-of-life” or remanufacturing, use.

The capability to share CAD models across many types of software systems holds great potential to drive that sector forward, say industry watchers including TWI, a membership organization in Cambridge, England, that consults with remanufacturing companies, offering information on engineering, materials, and joining technologies.

Remanufacturers rebuild and recover previously sold, worn, or nonfunctional product that can be rebuilt and recovered. They do this in a number of ways, including by disassembling and cleaning the product, repairing it, or replacing worn or obsolete components, according to TWI.

The remanufactured piece can be returned to a “like-new” or even a “better-than-new” condition. The process differs from recycling in that products retain their general form, even if it includes remade parts. With recycling, the product is broken down into component parts, which are then remade into something completely new, the consultancy says.

Those in the remanufacturing industry need straightforward access to a product’s digital twin: but that’s not always so easy for products that may have been produced a while ago or those where original manufacturers can’t provide a digital twin. After all, the digital factory is still in its infancy. Many companies don’t maintain model information and visual files.

The problem is compounded by the fact that no ultimate, universal definition of the digital twin—not to mention associated standards—exists today, say a team of four researchers who write about the challenges of using a digital twin for remanufacturing in the May 2022 issue of the International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology.

At every stage of the asset’s life, there is a need to update the virtual twin to match that of the real one,” writes Kerin, lead author the manufacturing journal paper. “However, there is still a need to access data from previous key points in the asset’s life.”

To use primary digital records, including a digital twin, in middle-stage remanufacturing, the researchers propose a unified modeling language that can be applied to generic assets to be remanufactured.

For example, the original as-built CAD data the digital twin provides can help remanufacturers find a way to machine a vital part they need to remake a product.

The researchers propose what they call digital siblings, which provide information about a product at different states of creation and use. These include the data information used to make the part, of course, as well as digital data on how the part might appear in the future states and at what manufacturers call end-of-life, which is when a product can no longer be used or remade, Kerin says.

The sibling could help remanufacturers determine if a product is at the end of its life, or if it could be remade.

“That way, remanufacturers have visibility of the previous state, current state, and potential future states of the asset whether that be a component, product, system, or process,” she says.

In addition, remanufacturers can use the bill of material data tied to the sibling to ensure their product will meet the definition of “remanufactured” by matching or surpassing the “as-new” performance the BOM depicts. If their parts lists match those of the original product, remanufacturers can be pretty sure they can say their products are “good as new.”

The generic asset model the researchers propose for digital siblings would use unified modeling language (UML), which is a standard way to draw software models, sketch out designs, or document existing designs and systems. To be useful for future digital sibling users, engineers will need to denote possible future processes the part might undergo. This could be part of the UML model before the original build is released, Kerin says.

Of course, an engineer drawing an original part model can’t be expected to know how the product will be remade, but the possible future processes give insight into the recoverable parts of an asset, she says.

Engine makers, for instance, might prioritize digital siblings for valves over pistons.

“A piston seizure can cause a catastrophic failure and unrecoverable engine; however, a valve seizure is likely to need only a cylinder head replacement making remanufacturing a more realistic proposition,” Kerin says.

When a piston seizes, the entire engine goes down with it; when an engine valve seizes the part can be remade and the engine is brought back to life.

Remanufacturers could also refer to a digital sibling to help plant the remanufacturing process, which today remains fairly manual and few decisions are automated. The CAD software used for original design does automate some processes. If an engineer changes the geometry within one part area, the software updates the measurements for other areas accordingly, she adds.

The digital tool could also be used to help simulate how a product functions before remanufacture and how it will perform after its remade.

“Simulate is significant when predicting life expectancy, failure modes, and processing outcomes for remanufacturing,” Kerin says.

No more sticky notes
To see how model data can best be shared within a typical manufacturing process, take the example of Vermeer Corp., which makes industrial and agricultural equipment. The company recently implemented Vertex to help with design review and approval.

Vertex makes the software that translates CAD data into useful visualization and information accessible on many systems, including tablets and smartphones.

Design reviews across departments often required slide decks created from CAD screenshots. Of course, they were not interactive.

The most complete review of design—called the milestone review—happens at the company after a physical prototype is built, says Ethan Roth, project engineers for Vermeer’s hose and harness routing team.

“After the technicians build the prototype, every relevant group in engineering and non-engineering visually reviews it in person,” says Roth. “There was no great way for those groups to provide notes and for engineering to aggregate them.”

Vermeer had come up with a manual solution; team members placed notes on the physical prototype with change suggestions. Of course, the notes resulted in rounds of follow-up emails and procedures and could result in late-stage, expensive design changes, Roth says.

The company has improved collaboration through its move to Vertex, which gives everyone access to full-scale model visualization, he says.

Milestone design reviews can now be done using virtual prototypes because the cloud-based software doesn’t use much computing power when compared to software housed on site. Team members can now leave feedback directly within the model rather than on sticky notes.

Also, the virtual reviews ensure that physical prototypes more closely follow design intent, saving time and cost, Roth says.

Vermeer, like many other manufacturers is taking steps into its digital future. And it’s finding that, by pushing CAD data out to many other departments, it can save significant time and money.

Murray, who owns Vertex, isn’t surprised.

Expect your technician to carry a tablet and to call up a full-scale CAD model of your dishwasher in the future. That can only make repairs easier and faster—and hopefully cheaper for the person who pays the repair bill.

Filed Under: News

Using CFD to optimize hydrodynamics performance for the America’s Cup

June 6, 2022 By WTWH Editor Leave a Comment

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. announced that three teams competing in the 37th edition of the America’s Cup will be counting on Cadence computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solutions to help them improve overall race performance: four-time winner and defending champion Emirates Team New Zealand, Challenger of Record INEOS Britannia, and New York Yacht Club American Magic. The America’s Cup is the pinnacle race in sailing and offers incredibly competitive and exciting racing for sailing enthusiasts around the world. The next highly anticipated edition will be held in 2024.

Hydrofoiling technology made a sensational impact on the race in the 2013 America’s Cup, which was illustrated in an exciting race between Emirates Team New Zealand and Oracle Team USA. Hydrofoils are the wing-like structures attached under the hull of a race boat that lift the boat out of the water at increased speeds, making it appear to fly above the surface. Emirates Team New Zealand has been leveraging Cadence’s Fidelity™ Marine technology for their hull and hydrofoil design ever since the race in 2013. In 2021, they raised the coveted Auld Mug trophy, the oldest in international sports, for the fourth time.

Hydrofoiling and efficiencies in the water are critical when every second counts in highly competitive racing. With an increasing demand for efficiency, fidelity and speed in the water, Cadence CFD solutions offer multidisciplinary technologies that enable design teams to analyze and model real-world scenarios, enabling them to determine optimal designs for maximum performance, long before the first prototype touches the water.

“The AC75 yachts used in the race actually spend most of their time flying above the water,” said Dan Bernasconi, technical director Emirates Team New Zealand. “By having a hull design optimized for hydrodynamic takeoff and touchdown efficiency, we are much more equipped to predict performance. Cadence Fidelity Marine is the leader in hydrodynamic modeling and simulation and is an important part of our comprehensive tool suite.”

INEOS Britannia, which is competing in its third consecutive America’s Cup campaign, has a strong team lined up for the event. The team plans to learn from the experience of its previous two campaigns to lead a hard charge towards bringing the America’s Cup to Britain for the first time in its history.

“Simulation and CFD are the principal tools used to predict and refine the performance of our America’s Cup race boat,” said Martin Fischer, INEOS Britannia chief designer. “When it came to selecting a provider for these services for AC37, we at INEOS Britannia believe the Cadence Fidelity solutions will best fit our needs.”

New York Yacht Club American Magic, formed in 2017, is driving towards a vision to “win back” the cup. The team name includes a nod to the New York Yacht Club’s 101-foot schooner “America” that won the first race back in 1851, as well as to “Magic,” the first yacht to successfully defend the Cup in 1870. In that first race, “America” finished eight minutes ahead of their closest rival and thus garnered the namesake for the race.

“American Magic has selected the Cadence Fidelity Marine software as its primary CFD tool for hydrodynamic analysis and design as it continues to provide state-of-the-art numerical simulation capabilities for marine applications,” said Len Imas, PhD, American Magic Design Team. “Among commercial and research codes in use today, it remains the industry leader over the course of multiple America’s Cup campaigns by providing robust and accurate results and expanding functionality in areas involving high-performance hull and appendage design analysis, marine vehicle dynamics and fluid-structure interaction.”

Cadence
www.cadence.com/go/americascup

Filed Under: Cadence Tagged With: cadence

COMSOL announces events on simulation in biomedical technologies

May 31, 2022 By WTWH Editor Leave a Comment

COMSOL is announcing COMSOL Day: Biomedical Technologies to be held online, twice, on June 2 and June 9. On both days, the event will focus on simulation applications in medical technology, life sciences, and medical device design. In a series of technical presentations, attendees will see how COMSOL Multiphysics is being used to design biomedical devices and understand the underlying physical phenomena of these devices. Keynote speakers from L’Institut Jean Lamour (IJL), Abbott, and the University of Maryland School of Medicine will discuss the use of multiphysics simulation for device design, applications in neurostimulation, and the development of thermal therapy for brain cancer, respectively. At the June 2 event, there will also be a panel discussion on material data and its importance to biomedical simulation applications.

In addition, there will be seven COMSOL presentations at each event:

Trends in Biomedical Technologies
Blood Pump Validation
Electromagnetics Applications Within Biomedical Technologies
Ultrasound and Hearing Aids in Biomedical Technologies
Biochemical Sensors and Tests
Bioheating of Tissue
Microfluidics and Separation in Biomedical Technologies

Modeling and simulation (M&S) have been used for biotech applications for decades and are continuing to reach more ground within the industry as they further advance biomedical technologies, such as smart devices that are able to monitor various aspects of a user’s health. In fact, M&S has been recognized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a tool that plays a “critical role” in the development of public health applications, and simulation has even been proposed as a way to run in silico clinical trials.

“Simulation is growing within the biomedical field. A lot of progress has been made and there are countless success stories,” says Mao Mao, technical account manager for biomedical applications at COMSOL. “Since the FDA is supportive of its use, modeling and simulation are going to be an integral part of how medical technologies are developed in the future.”

A benchmark model of the fluid flow in a centrifugal blood pump.

The COMSOL Day: Biomedical Technologies event dates and start times are as follows:

June 2 at 10 a.m. CEST (France)
June 9 at 11 a.m. EDT (USA)

The events are open to all, and attendance is free of charge.

COMSOL Day Program Details

Participation from any region at any of the events is welcomed. All presentations are in English.

COMSOL Days are popular online events applicable to people who work in industries and areas where COMSOL Multiphysics® can benefit their modeling and simulation projects. All COMSOL Days cover a wide range of subjects, including how to turn COMSOL models into specialized simulation apps for engineers who do not have a background in modeling.

The events feature 1-day programs with keynote presentations, technical sessions, panel discussions, and more. COMSOL Days will continue throughout 2022 with multiple events held each month.

COMSOL
www.comsol.com

 

Filed Under: COMSOL, News Tagged With: COMSOL

With Cadence’s CFD software, McLaren can investigate optimal designs in less time

May 31, 2022 By WTWH Editor Leave a Comment

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. announced that it has become an Official Technology Partner of the McLaren Formula 1 Team. Through the multi-year partnership, McLaren has access to Cadence Fidelity CFD Software, which provides innovative aerodynamic prediction tools that can help accelerate the team’s path toward victory.

In racing, shaving off a fraction of a second per lap can make all the difference when it comes to a podium finish. McLaren will use the Cadence Fidelity CFD Software, a comprehensive suite of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solutions, to investigate airflow. The team will also leverage Cadence’s computational software expertise to tackle design projects that require advanced compute power and precision.

“We’re delighted to welcome Cadence to the McLaren Racing family. Cadence is a technology leader that prioritizes innovation. Its CFD and advanced electronic technologies will be crucial assets for our design operations. We look forward to a fast-paced collaboration that supports our constant drive to boost our on-track performance. The Monaco Grand Prix is a fantastic event to launch our partnership, and we’re excited that Cadence will join our brand across multiple race series this weekend by running on the Arrow McLaren SP cars for the Indy 500,” said Matt Dennington, director of partnerships, McLaren Racing.

“As part of the McLaren Racing family, we’re bringing our Fidelity CFD Software to the team and supporting the team in its ongoing pursuit of boosting performance. We will collaborate with McLaren to continually push and innovate. We’re looking forward to the multi-year partnership and achieving milestones together that put the team on the road to victory,” said KT Moore, vice president, Corporate Marketing, Cadence.

Cadence
www.cadence.com

Filed Under: CFD Tagged With: cadence

HyperX CAE software sizes natural fiber-reinforced composite wind blade

May 6, 2022 By WTWH Editor Leave a Comment

In conjunction with the launch of its new HyperX structural analysis and design software here at JEC World 2022, Collier Aerospace Corp. is spotlighting the tool’s real-world application in sizing a 7.4-meter natural fiber composite wind turbine blade. The blade’s development was a collaboration between the Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering at Hongik University in South Korea and Samwon Millennia, Inc., a software reseller. Together, the aim was to evaluate the viability of replacing E-glass fiber with natural plant-based flax fiber reinforcement to reduce the environmental impact of end-of-life blades.

In addition to sizing, Collier Aerospace used HyperX software to define materials and ply layups and determine dimensions to help ensure the blade met all of the team’s performance requirements. The new software was used throughout the blade’s structural design stages, including laminate stacking sequences, ply boundaries and layup stacking order.

Collier Collier Aerospace Corporation’s new HyperX® structural analysis and design software was recently used in a real-world application to size a 7.4-meter natural fiber composite wind turbine blade. The blade’s development was a collaboration between the Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering at Hongik University in South Korea and Samwon Millennia, Inc., a software reseller. Together, the aim was to evaluate the viability of replacing E-glass fiber with natural plant-based flax fiber reinforcement to reduce the environmental impact of end-of-life blades.

“The impressive functionality of Collier Aerospace’s HyperX software made an incredible difference in the design and development of the natural fiber composite wind turbine blade,” said Professor Yeonseung (Y.S.) Lee of Hongik University. “Since the software optimizes all requirements at once rather than one at a time, it enabled our team to arrive at a workable solution quickly despite the lower mechanical properties of the natural materials. The expert assistance provided by Collier Aerospace helped our team identify a workable blade design that is largely reinforced with natural fibers.”

“Design requirements for this wind blade project included cost-effectiveness and reliability at a minimum weight to help maximize annual energy production,” said James Ainsworth, Director of Engineering for Collier Aerospace. “Our biggest challenge was meeting performance requirements with natural fiber composites, which do not provide as much stiffness and strength in epoxy resin as E-glass fibers. Using HyperX software, we provided design assistance in optimizing the flax fiber-reinforced composite blade to meet deflection limits to ensure tower clearance, determine spar cap location and the required thickness at each span-wise station, and reduce mass to lower fatigue loads and extend useful life.”

As a result of the wind turbine blades being difficult to recycle commercially, various groups are studying methods to dispose of end-of-life blades in a more environmentally benign manner than landfilling, or to recapture material for reuse in subsequent applications. Another approach, and the one taken in the Korean study, is to reduce the environmental impact at the start of the design process by opting to use natural fiber reinforcements rather than carbon or glass fibers. First, natural fibers are far less energy intensive to grow, harvest, and clean than the production of carbon or glass fibers. Second, since they are derived from living plants, natural fibers sequester carbon dioxide and nitrogen during their growing cycle and then keep those gases locked up in plant tissue during their use as a composite reinforcement.

The final blade design uses a hybrid of natural fiber and E-glass reinforcement. It is slightly heavier (7.4 percent) than the original glass fiber-reinforced blade, but that additional weight was deemed technically tolerable to gain the environmental benefits of using natural fibers. Currently, the wind blades are being produced using vacuum-assisted resin infusion molding.

Collier Aerospace 
www.collieraerospace.com

Filed Under: CAE Tagged With: collieraerospace

COMSOL completes the working environment for modeling and simulation projects with the Model Manager Server

April 26, 2022 By WTWH Editor Leave a Comment

COMSOL announces a major update to the COMSOL Multiphysics software version 6.0. The update builds out the Model Manager server with a web interface — an asset management system — to make it easier for COMSOL users and nonusers alike to manage models, simulation apps, and supplementary and auxiliary files.

COMSOL Multiphysics: from building models and apps to managing simulation projects
Through two decades of development, COMSOL Multiphysics evolved from a software that solved partial differential equations to one that defines the nature of multiphysics modeling: being able to build models with any combination of physics phenomena via the Model Builder. Thereby, engineers versed in the underlying physics and using software to build models began using COMSOL Multiphysics across technology-driven industries, academia, and research organizations for modeling and simulation. Next, COMSOL introduced the Application Builder and concept of simulation apps to expand the realm of who could access simulation to include those who had not traditionally been able to work with models and simulations.

Today, COMSOL completes the environment for managing modeling and simulation projects for product and process design through the recently introduced Model Manager and the Model Manager server with its accompanying asset management system.

About the Model Manager Server and its Asset Management System
Released in December 2021, the Model Manager allows you to:

–Search through models for particular parameter names and feature strings.
–Track model development through version control with model comparison and merging capabilities.
–Upload, link, and administrate supplementary and auxiliary files to a modeling and simulation or development project.

A screenshot from the Model Manager UI within the COMSOL Desktop® that shows the different databases that have been set up to administrate and structure models, along with branching, version control, feature lists, and the folder system used to manage the simulation. The model tree of a selected model can be previewed without opening the model.

The Model Manager has now been complemented by the Model Manager server’s asset management system, which is accessible through a web interface. In the asset management system, an asset can be considered as a container for links to your model versions, attached supplementary and auxiliary files, as well as various custom metadata fields. With the asset management system, you can itemize assets through model and app files, adding abstracts, setting permissions, and even include thumbnail images of the model at hand.

“As an extension of the COMSOL Multiphysics® simulation platform, the Model Manager server’s asset management system is useful for administrating and managing your models, apps, and simulations in a corporate network environment set up to your own liking,” says Sr. VP of Sales Phil Kinnane. “This could be project-based, model-based, team-based, or similar, according to how you want your organization to structure and organize such work.”

A web interface of the Model Manager server asset management system that shows different assets and metadata (asset type, author, distribution, etc.)

 

Clicking into an asset allows you to add files and metadata (abstract, thumbnail image, product requirements, etc.)

A collaborative environment to cover all elements of an organization
The Model Manager server is a database system that can be managed from either the COMSOL Desktop or a web-based UI. A local installation of any license type of COMSOL Multiphysics with the Model Manager and a local database is usually the initial step for a modeling engineer to acclimatize themselves to how this system can be best used within their organization. From there, full deployment can occur by installing the Model Manager server on a central server. Local installations of COMSOL Multiphysics can connect to the central server with the Model Manager server. “I think organizations will start by moving the tens and hundreds of COMSOL models they have been developing over the years to their asset management systems as a communal model library,” adds Kinnane. “Instead of chasing down the many engineers using the software for different purposes, they can now find and search through those models as a centralized repository instead.”

The full power of the Model Manager Server
COMSOL CTO Ed Fontes describes how the Model Manager server will take an organization’s simulation-driven project to the next level: “The true power of the Model Manager is not only in its ability to manage your simulation data, but in being able to version control and audit your actual model-building process.” He adds, “there are a number of simulation data management systems out there, but COMSOL has focused the Model Manager on the model-building process, such as to easily browse through the model tree of certain models or search for specific features like domain settings, boundary conditions, or study types to revisit, update, or even reuse.”

Internal or external customers may use the database system to keep track and use results from a project. They may also use simulation apps and provide feedback about their measurement and test data by uploading them and reports to the relevant asset. And, of course, contributors on the model development can also add their auxiliary data, such as CAD files and specifications, to the project. “In all,” says Fontes, “the Model Manager server and asset management system truly provide the complete working environment for modeling and simulation projects.”

COMSOL
www.comsol.com

Filed Under: COMSOL Tagged With: COMSOL

Verisurf Software debuts new 2023 release

April 26, 2022 By WTWH Editor Leave a Comment

Verisurf Software, Inc. will be demonstrating Verisurf 2023 at Control, Stuttgart, Germany, May 3 -6, Hall 3, Stand 3312. Verisurf 2023 continues to refine metrology workflows with added features designed to reduce time and improve the efficiency of automated quality inspection and reporting, scanning, reverse engineering, and tool building.

Verisurf 2023 continues to refine metrology workflows, including automatic conversion of 3D CAD annotations to MBD feature controls. Built on a CAD platform, Verisurf software can read and edit MBD and associated intelligent GD&T.

Verisurf software is built on a CAD platform and is committed to Model-Based Definition (MBD). Verisurf 2023 takes this a step further with automatic conversion of 3D CAD annotations into MBD and intelligent Geometric Dimensioning & Tolerancing (GD&T). This new automatic feature will further reduce the time needed to set up inspection plans, reduce input errors, and increase process control.

“Working closely with our customers we balance the ongoing development of Verisurf software between enhanced productivity and repeatable process control; our focus on automation satisfies both,” said Nick Merrell, executive vice president of Verisurf.

In addition to showing the 2023 release and its many new features at Control, Verisurf will be showing various measurement, inspection, reverse engineering, and tool building applications, including:

–Coord3 programmable CMM with Renishaw, REVO 5-axis measuring system
–Robot-based 3D scanning, inspection, and quality reporting
–Master3DGage portable CMM with an optional laser scanner
–CMM Master, programmable, portable CMM solution

Verisurf Software, Inc.
www.verisurf.com

Filed Under: News Tagged With: verisurfsoftware

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