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Three software companies win Design World’s 2023 LEAP awards

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Each year, the LEAP Awards recognizes exceptional innovation that moves worldwide industries forward. LEAP stands for Leadership in Engineering Achievement Program, and this year’s expert judging panel selected the best of the best across multiple categories, including software. The 2023 LEAP Award winners in the Software category are:

 

Gold

ECM PCB Stator Tech
PrintStator

The judges commented: “This innovation is changing the way electric motors are designed and manufactured. Impressed with the numbers: 70% lighter than conventional options, efficiencies as high as 96%, and requiring just 20% of the raw materials.”

PrintStator is ECM’s proprietary Motor CAD platform. ECM pairs PrintStator with patented PCB Stator innovation to create next-generation electric machines with premium performance characteristics.

PCB Stators replace the bulky copper windings in traditional motors with an ultra-thin disc. PrintStator powers the design of PCB Stator electric motors that are smaller, quieter, and more energy and space-efficient.

Motors designed via PrintStator — incorporating PCB Stator technology — are up to 70% lighter than conventional options while achieving efficiencies in excess of 90% and requiring just 20% of the raw materials.

PrintStator allows any innovator — from a startup entrepreneur to a big-company engineer — to become an electric motor designer. Users simply dial in precise performance and dimensional specs to create custom electric motor solutions for multiple verticals, including HVAC, consumer electronics, e-mobility, medical, robotics, aerospace, and more. Furthermore, PrintStator’s advanced algorithms produce designs ready for manufacturing within minutes.

As the world rapidly electrifies and reduces carbon output, the global marketplace requires more efficient and customized electric motors that can be produced in a sustainable way. The challenge is how to meet that demand at scale, and PrintStator offers a solution.

Learn more about PrintStator on 3D CAD World, a Design World resource site, and by visiting ECM’s PrintStator website.

 

Silver

Rockwell Automation
Factory Talk Design Hub

FactoryTalk Design Hub by Rockwell Automation is a cloud-based platform with multiple integrated services, which automates and digitizes its industrial design services with a suite of Software as a Service (SaaS) offerings.

Industrial organizations can now transform their automation design capabilities with a more simplified, productive way to work powered by the cloud. Teams of all sizes, skill sets, and locations can work smarter through enhanced collaboration, improved lifecycle management, and on-demand access to cloud-based software. The result is increased design productivity, faster time to market, and systems that cost less to build and maintain.

FactoryTalk Design Hub improves the development and deployment of automation projects for industrial organizations while adhering to the latest security standards and information technology best practices. It enables teams to access designs on demand from any web browser with software that is always up to date and flexibly scales users and compute capacity to meet project workload demands.

FactoryTalk Design Hub includes five core services: FactoryTalk Optix, FactoryTalk Design Studio, FactoryTalk Twin Studio, FactoryTalk Vault, and FactoryTalk Remote Access.

Learn more about FactoryTalk on Rockwell Automation’s website and by watching this Design World video on OptixPanel HMI terminals enabled by Rockwell FactoryTalk.

 

Bronze

Gates Corp.
Design Power Mobile

Design Power Mobile is the next revolution in belt drive engineering and management. Gates Design Power is the home for all Gates power transmission digital design tools, and the new mobile version provides its customers and staff with features to support belt drive system engineering in the palm of their hands.

While the app provides access to the same state-of-the-art knowledge base, design guidance, and sophisticated belt performance models offered on our desktop version, the company also leveraged the mobile platform to introduce powerful new tools. The new cloud-based Facility Management module allows users to store, monitor, and share critical belt-drive details, and the extended support tools measure important physical belt-drive parameters using mobile device hardware.

Gates Design Power Mobile is available globally for iOS and Android as a free download in 15 languages. This new digital toolkit comprises six modules, including five all-new applications and a mobile-optimized version of our well-known Design Flex Pro drive optimization and design tool. Through this module, the mobile app provides another access point to the institutional knowledge bank and product performance models we introduced with Design Power in 2022. Users can now complete drive designs on the spot, then use new mobile features to store and share them intuitively and take basic belt drive physical measurements with just their mobile device.

Learn more about Design Power on Linear Motion Tips, a Design World resource site, and by visiting Gates’ Design Power website.

For the complete list of 2023 LEAP Award winners across all categories, visit https://www.designworldonline.com/2023-leap-awards-winners-are-announced/.

SolidWorks 2024 makes design engineers more productive

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SolidWorks 2024 is officially released to help engineers reimagine design. The What’s New in SolidWorks 2024 website is live and packed with information to get you up to speed on the latest enhancements.

The new SolidWorks 2024 aims to boost productivity, collaboration, and design speed. Image courtesy of SolidWorks.

The new version enables design engineers to:

  • Collaborate with other users, even if they are using an older SolidWorks version.
  • Employ new assembly modeling workflows to speed up large assembly design, documentation, and collaboration.
  • Speed up sketching and more easily capture and communicate design intent while reducing design effort.
  • Create drawings that communicate designs more clearly with standardized chain dimensions layout, efficient dimension reattachment, and reduced DXF export post-processing.
  • Reduce sheet metal manufacturing bottlenecks by adhering to sheet metal manufacturing standards.
  • Build and modify complex structures more easily.
  • Handle more complex electrical routing scenarios with new options for flattening, reorienting, and displaying wires and connectors.
  • Create more informative electrical documentation faster while reducing errors.
  • Communicate designs more clearly in 3D with the ability to display dual dimensions and export Hole Tables and custom properties.
  • Experience easier optimization and more advanced real-life rendering capabilities.

Learn about the top 10 new capabilities of SolidWorks 3D CAD 2024 and watch the launch video for software demonstrations:

SolidWorks
solidworks.com

Multiphysics simulation guides project decisions at construction sites

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A leading global cement supplier provides its customers with a compiled multiphysics simulation application that predicts curing times for concrete casting at construction sites.

Heidelberg Materials, one of the world’s largest suppliers of building materials, is putting multiphysics simulation into the hands of contractors with a compiled simulation app called HETT22. The app enables Heidelberg Materials’ customers to use simulation to make informed decisions regarding cost-effective casting strategies at construction sites.

The app predicts curing times and accounts for variables that affect concrete strength and durability, such as time, temperature, material selections, and casting technique. Ambient temperatures have a major impact on the curing time, and the app was built to use site-specific weather forecasts to provide the best possible predictions.

The simulation app’s user interface shows the temperature and strength of a concrete casting. Image courtesy of COMSOL.

“We provide HETT22 to our customers because of the value it adds for them at each decision point of a concrete casting job,” said Tom Fredvik, technical manager at Heidelberg Materials’ Sement Norge. “We see it as a core part of our tech support offering.”

Heidelberg Materials engaged consultancy Deflexional to create HETT22 and its associated models. After building the models in the COMSOL Multiphysics software, Deflexional used the software’s Application Builder to turn the models into a custom app, which they compiled into a standalone app using COMSOL Compiler.

In just six months after launch, HETT22 was downloaded more than 1,100 times.

Simulation results guide preemptive adjustments

The app also features a menu of Heidelberg Materials’ cement materials for the user to choose from. The company offers its customers hundreds of potential concrete recipes, including supplementary cementitious materials to be mixed with the concrete. By predicting the effects of choices related to physical conditions, a construction team can use the app to better manage the economics and carbon footprint of each project.

“We wanted HETT22 to help users predict the behavior of concrete that they may not be familiar with,” said Mikael Westerholm, project manager at Heidelberg Materials’ Cement Sverige.

Sharing the power of simulation

The Application Builder in the COMSOL Multiphysics simulation software makes it easy for users to build and maintain their own apps and the COMSOL Compiler add-on product makes it possible to turn them into standalone executable files with just a click. The compiled apps can be distributed to anyone, even those without a COMSOL license.

“The app developed for Heidelberg Materials by Deflexional is a perfect example of how simulation apps extend the benefits of simulation beyond the simulation engineer,” said Per Backlund, sales and marketing manager at COMSOL. “The collaboration between the companies resulted in an app that contains crucial knowledge about concrete curing, packaged in an intuitive user interface. When we created the Application Builder and our products for deploying simulation apps, we envisioned that our users would create apps that are accessible to anyone, no matter their simulation background. This project aligns perfectly with our vision.”

Read the full story on Heidelberg Materials’ work with simulation apps in the COMSOL User Story Gallery by visiting https://www.comsol.com/story/bringing-multiphysics-simulation-to-construction-sites-119421.

COMSOL
comsol.com

How computed tomography (CT) data analysis helps quality inspection

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Learn how TE Connectivity gains critical insights with Volume Graphics software throughout design, simulation, and manufacturing to achieve its ultimate goal of end-to-end quality inspection.

Simulation of an automotive charging unit.
Simulation serves a quality-measurement workflow early on by predicting material behavior and testing design parameters. A final CT production scan of this automotive charging inlet also informs the simulation about new variations and manufacturing distortions. Image courtesy of TE-Connectivity.

The all-digital movement is winning over manufacturers seeking more automation, connectivity, and reliability from their models and machines. Surveys from the Manufacturing Leadership Council and others show strong investments and results from Manufacturing 4.0 and related digital design and manufacturing initiatives. With a robust digital framework in place comes greater speed, depth, and agility in how product data is created and managed.

As impressive as interconnected digital-platform benefits are for traditional CAD/CAE/CAM disciplines, computed tomography (CT) data analysis for quality inspection has greatly expanded its reach and purpose within today’s growing digital landscape. Its new influence on the central tools of design, simulation, and manufacturing is significant; CT data analysis software is making these tools, normally used well upstream of it, even better in their roles.

Feedback from CT analysis to design and production

The establishment of model-based definition (MBD) is increasingly guiding engineering beyond drawings and hybrid approaches. The move away from manual readings of data to MBD creates deeper and wider information threads throughout product development, from product manufacturing information (PMI) files to machines and other programs.

It’s not just geometric annotations and manufacturing instructions that travel on digital threads. Companies are creating information loops to design, simulation and virtual testing that improve accuracy, conformance to specifications, and shorten time-to-production.

Virtual and physical quality workflow (left to right). Design part and define quality measurements; generate digital reports and simulation feedback to design, if needed; visualize and evaluate part from PMI; use AI within simulation and scan programs to optimize parameters; CT scan sample parts for real-world deviations. Post-design: prepare inline inspection macros and scan, analyze, and evaluate. Post-production: analyze field return parts and provide design feedback—resulting in continues improvement. Image courtesy of TE Connectivity.

These new development cycles are reinforcing a 40-year trend toward earlier and earlier decision making and less late-stage, at-production validation of products and methods of manufacture.

Setting the benchmark for quality inspection

It makes sense that a company engaged in connectivity and sensing solutions for electric vehicles, aircraft, digital-intelligent factories, wind and solar energy, cobots, IoT, high-speed connectivity, and more, would invest in MBD and advanced inspection methods. With a stated goal of helping create transformational technology change grounded in reliable and durable electronics products, TE Connectivity is serious about engineered quality.

That “engineered” path brings to bear the advantages of ISO geometric product specification (GPS) standards and virtual metrology against the limits of using classic design workflows. Old workflows use drawings, 2D, and 3D-digital systems and, while favorably less complex than MBD, can often lose information during model conversions and require high-effort, manual programming when creating quality-measurement programs.

“GPS is the only way to build true model-based systems and exact mathematical definitions,” said Alexander Stokowski, development director at TE Connectivity.

Stokowski, a certified Six Sigma Black Belt and lecturer for measurement technology and GPS at the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University (DHBW), has been involved for a decade in digital transformation. “GPS is important in deriving the center axis of the part, getting a 90° measurement direction, detecting points — and if you are not precise in a mathematical way on this you can’t realistically create, let alone automate, a measurement system,” he said.

For Stokowski and TE Connectivity, the journey toward MBD and GPS conformance and integration with CT data analysis began in the automotive-products division around 2012. That’s when the first pilot projects started.

“By the end of 2013, two years after we began,” said Stokowski, “we more or less made the decision to bring everything that was new product development into the CT measurement environment — aiming towards a 100% ratio.”

This pioneering decision, made early in the industry implementation of new ISO standards, sparked a close and intense collaboration between PTC (Creo), TE Connectivity, and Volume Graphics to create an integration around fresh ISO-compliant GPS capabilities.

Real-world molded sample of a high-power charging inlet combo body previously tested in Moldflow software. Image courtesy of TE-Connectivity.

In addition, TE-Connectivity’s principal engineer of molding simulation, Patrick Bertram, felt that inclusion of mold simulation simultaneous to the quality process was key to accelerating innovation cycles. Bertram then convinced suppliers Volume Graphics and Simcon to create an automated interface between the measurement and simulation-optimization software sets.

The full, multi-vendor integration allowed for greater use of model-based annotations and PMI, leading to a looping of virtual test and real-world measurement results back to design and FEA-mold simulation, and forward to prototyping, first article inspection (FAI), and production.

“We surprised people by implementing standards well before their final release dates,” said Stokowski. “Why wait 3-5 years when the directions, such how to display 3D annotations, are made clear in the ISO drafts?”

“STEP 214 and 242 didn’t work for our integration,” he said. “We used the application programming interface (API) in the Creo toolkit and ISO-GPS to establish our direct interface to VGMetrology and VGStudioMax software. There are customized, added special functionalities that let us reuse values derived from FAI. And that’s it: geometric dimension and tolerance (GD&T) capabilities from Creo and VGMetrology, along with the integration of Varimos from Simcon. No other software is needed to interconnect design and simulation with quality measurement.”

CAD model of inlet with PMI quality annotations listing tolerances. No data conversion is needed from Creo; detailed CAD PMI is automatically imported directly into VGMETROLOGY. Image courtesy of TE-Connectivity.

The first goal of TE Connectivity’s digital metrology program was to ensure that the as-designed parts matched the as-manufactured parts. In most cases, this means working with molded products with normal center-tolerance concerns in the tooling and typical push-out marks and small flaws. Mold simulation and virtual metrology help identify and resolve both functional and cosmetic aspects of producing molds and plastic parts. FAI leads to a feedback loop where 3D-model and simulation, mold, and manufactured part are reconciled and unified with few-to-no discrepancies. From there, quality templates are created from the Volume Graphics software for automated inspection.

“Ten or 15 years ago, designers didn’t really spend too much time thinking about the details coming out of the mold,” said Stokowski. “And much of that is taken care of now with tooling software and the automation loop we are creating. The full data is there for our interdisciplinary teams to see and use quickly.”

Quality’s return on investment (ROI)

The value of quality overall is not much debated. Quality builds brands, attracts customers and softens the back-end costs of warrantee claims, service labor, and revisiting process and design methods to find the root-cause of unanticipated problems.

On the other hand, financial managers often question all but fundamental operational investments and are happy with a profitable status quo. Engineers can find frustration in adapting systems that are new and even more complex than past programs. Investing in, learning and implementing quality upgrades can strain an organization in many ways.

“The real value of quality for TE Connectivity is the time we save,” said Stokowski. “Time and the value customers place on durable, reliable, superior products. What is the value of four-to-six weeks of development time saved in engineering and potentially realized in shipping? How is that calculated against machine and software costs? There are no exact answers. But we have a centre of excellence (CoE) that collaborates with customers, trains our personnel, and creates our quality infrastructure that contributes to innovation. That is a business value statement in and of itself.”

Time savings and the early engine-control unit

“We are on target for a 10-day turnaround for design, simulation, scanning and producing a digital metrology report,” said Stokowski. “So much is now going on upfront. We want as much done as possible before we hold a physical part.”

Volume Graphics has helped TE Connectivity in this front-loading and looping of data with their adaptive measurement templates. The templates can classify, localize, and segment defects using AI and machine learning. They also automate much of the scan analysis and then capture information for metrology reports. The goal at TE Connectivity is to lower analysis time from 10 days to five.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are powerful techniques for labeling, classifying quality data, localizing problems, and segmenting defects for identification and action during automated CT inspection. Image courtesy of Volume Graphics

One of Stokowski’s “classic design cycle” projects was taking place just before the full 2014 CT digital analysis initiative that used Volume Graphics software. It entailed mold and part development of an engine-control unit. The unit, belonging to the automotive sector, had more than 200 electric-connection pins and was the first of its kind.

“It took nearly a year and more than ten iteration loops to bring the part into drawing requirements,” said Stokowski. “It was an exhausting, never-ending story. And then just three-and-one-half years later, the first tooling replacement had to be done. You can imagine the team’s response! ‘Oh my goodness…we will need another year just to do the conditioning and correction loops,’ they thought, heads lowered. But by that time, we already implemented the process of digital metrology, and we made the mold design within one loop.”

A goal to cut development times by 75%

Today, TE Connectivity hopes to cut their mold and part development process to 25% of the time it took in the past. There will always be some manual tasks — a hands-on refinement of GD&T, or times to debate an issue or resolve a digital discrepancy in the “thread” that links programs. There aren’t the resources, either, for every mold to go through design of experiments (DOE). But the company’s critical molds will use DOE and all new molds will pass through the VGMetrology software.

Suppliers are taking on the new approach as well. Many have purchased virtual metrology systems of their own. Twenty-to-thirty percent of the external tool builders use the whole integrated digital system. Others go to scanning locations out-of-house and use the software internally. All tool builders do material compliance checking and basic measurements ahead of TE Connectivity conducting a full metrology report within the CoE.

Stokowski expects that eventually TE Connectivity’s quality process will be adapted by all suppliers, but that vision is not yet near-term — as cost and culture barriers exist for both GPS and virtual metrology. Meanwhile, his team and the CoE will work toward a future “push button” process even though they expect, for practical reasons, that it would apply to “75% of our work,” said Stokowski.

Automotive engine control unit (ECU) with 200 electric-connection pins. This was the first test part in TE-Connectivity’s effort to automate quality inspection. Image courtesy of TE Connectivity.

As a result of its quality-process improvement approach, many advances and milestones have taken place for TE Connectivity:

  • All new injection molded parts are implemented in MBD
  • 100% of injection molded parts are scanned, and there are no more tactile measurements
  • Part specifications are created in Creo to ISO-GPS standards and converted to a 3D PDF as a neutral document, where needed
  • The integration between Creo and VGMetrology software is direct
  • 75% of all product data is transported via PMI
  • Only isolated rework is done due to interface incompatibilities

For final part inspection, TE Connectivity has six scanners working inline in the EMEA region for injection molded parts. The scanners and Volume Graphics software look — post-metrology report — for key dimensions and targeted areas of a part rather than at the whole of the component. Costs and time weigh in here. But also, the upfront virtual design, analysis, and testing of parts so early in creation, combined with checks during first article inspection, ensure that compliance has been met and rechecked on the factory floor. The company maintains 23 scanners worldwide, a global license for Creo, and complete suites of Volume Graphics’ software. And it operates a competence center for integrating and distributing these digital technologies.

Quality is the end game

Business debates about how much to invest in technology are perennial, and the accounting science to unearth the facts is rarely used fully. But quality is the end game for many institutions and particularly for manufacturing. Quality is an aligning value that attracts customers, keeps customers, and centers engineering teams on what is important and so pervasive in its organizational impact.

“TE Connectivity’s quality tools and digital systems are telling us a lot about our products — how to improve them, why they behave in such a way, and how to spot and predict variation,” said Stokowski. “Most immediately, we are saving time and building great products that advance other fields such as e-mobility. “Virtual metrology and digitalization offer an endless box of treasures, if you chose to use them.”

Volume Graphics
volumegraphics.com

TE Connectivity
te.com

PTC
ptc.com

Design and Make companies prioritize workforce, sustainability, digitization

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Leaders and experts from industries that design and make places, objects, and experiences report more business resilience amid an increasingly uncertain global landscape, according to Autodesk’s 2023 State of Design & Make report, released earlier this year.

Globally, 79% of respondents said the world feels more uncertain than it did three years ago.

The State of Design & Make report names the most pressing drivers of change shaping today’s business decisions to help leaders make informed, strategic choices for the future. Image: Autodesk

To compile the report, Autodesk conducted a sweeping global study of more than 2,500 business leaders and experts across Design and Make industries, including architecture, engineering, construction, and operations (AECO); product design and manufacturing (D&M); and media and entertainment (M&E).

The top three challenges facing Design and Make companies today are attracting and retaining talent, managing costs, and responding to the volatile global economy and global events. The report also revealed striking differences in resilience and performance for companies classified as digitally mature or further along in using digital tools to transform their businesses.

  • More than half of respondents said their companies have hired employees who lack key skills but plan to train them.
  • Digitally mature companies are outperforming less digitally mature companies and the performance gap has widened since the start of 2020.
  • Nearly 95% of respondents said they expect their industry or organization to make sustainability-focused changes in the coming years.

“Autodesk has uncovered universal challenges and opportunities among industries that design and make the world around us,” said Andrew Anagnost, Autodesk president and CEO. “Across the globe, businesses large and small have made major operational changes over the last three years to stay resilient and relevant. Notably, those businesses which have embraced digitization and data to drive decision making find themselves better positioned to thrive – even against the backdrop of continued global economic uncertainty and turmoil.”

Navigating uncertain times

Globally, 79% of respondents said the world feels more uncertain than it did three years ago. An even greater share of European respondents (86%) felt this way. Factors contributing to the overall sense of unease included war, inflation, Europe’s energy woes, the pandemic, and ongoing refugee crises.

Encouragingly, nearly 6 in 10 respondents considered their company well prepared to handle unforeseen future crises. And leaders of digitally mature companies were 20 percentage points more likely to say they were prepared for future challenges than less digitally mature companies.

“The digital and AI processes are the driving force, allowing us to be personalized and agile,” said Matteo Barale, co-CEO of PIX Moving, an autonomous vehicle start-up.

Talent shortages lead all challenges and impede growth

The workforce has evolved more in the past three years than in the previous 25, said nearly 3 in 4 respondents. This is a startling assertion considering the previous quarter century included the rise of the internet, email, smartphones, mobile apps, and mobile computing, but shows how daunting workforce changes caused by the pandemic have been for employers. Attracting and retaining talent is the top challenge for 48% of respondents. Access to skilled employees is posing a barrier to business growth for 64% of respondents. Leaders of digitally mature organizations reported taking more active steps to address the problem.

A total of 93% of respondents said upskilling was important to their companies. Skills of the future included those related to technology, collaboration, and regulatory knowledge.

“In hiring, we’ve been able to attract a lot of people because of our technology infrastructure, which allows us to hire people around the globe,” said Jeremy Smith, CTO for visual effects company Jellyfish Pictures.

Sustainability goals increasingly important

The report showed a consensus emerging on the importance of sustainability. Some respondents said taking sustainability measures will eventually account for a substantial part of their revenue.

Among the findings:

  • 80% of respondents said improving sustainability practices is a good long-term business decision
  • 82% said customers are influencing their sustainability activities
  • Nearly 90% said their industry or organization has made changes to improve sustainability

Decreasing waste, using more recycled materials, and designing with sustainability in mind were among the top changes respondents reported their companies making.

“If we’re digitized, we’re at an advantage,” said Dr. Amy Hochadel, executive director of Global Business for Connected Places Catapult, the United Kingdom’s innovation agency for cities. “I think that’s going to become more and more critical as we deal with climate issues and changing environments.”

Digitally mature companies primed for growth

Digital transformation is boosting business by reducing costs, increasing innovation, improving performance, and enabling products and services to launch faster. Indeed, 79% of respondents said that the future growth of their company will depend on digital tools.

When Autodesk looked at business metrics including customer satisfaction, profit margin, and revenue from 2019-2021, overall:

  • More digitally mature companies outperformed less digitally mature companies
  • The performance gap between more and less digitally mature companies appears to grow

More digitally mature companies planned to increase investments over the next three years in:

  • Technology to improve project outcomes
  • Product or service innovation
  • New product or service development

Download the complete findings in the free, 55-page 2023 State of Design & Make report.

Autodesk
autodesk.com

A closer look at cloud-based Creo+

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PTC recently announced a major breakthrough for its industry-leading computer-aided design (CAD) solution. Creo+ combines the power and proven functionality of Creo with new cloud-based tools to enhance design collaboration and simplify CAD administration.

Building on the market-leading capabilities for model-based definition, simulation-driven design, and advanced manufacturing, the software as a service (Saas) includes real-time design collaboration tools to enable multiple team members to review, explore, and edit product designs.

Creo+ also includes the PTC Control Center application, powered by the PTC Atlas SaaS platform, which enables simple deployment and management of software licenses for cloud-based tools.

“With this latest development, our customers will be able to design faster, easier, and more collaboratively than ever before,” said Brian Thompson, general manager of Creo at PTC. “We’ve combined the market-leading design capabilities of Creo with productivity benefits that can only be achieved through the power of the cloud. Now, Creo+ users can collaborate on the same designs simultaneously with internal and external partners, which helps accelerate the development process and reduce redesign. This release is a significant milestone for our customers, for PTC, and for the entire CAD industry.”

With Creo+, customers have access to:

  • Real-Time Collaboration and Branching Tools: Teams can collaborate in real-time to review, explore, and edit product designs using a dedicated workspace with any number of people. This drives early design feedback from manufacturing, suppliers, and other stakeholders while promoting concurrent design rather than sequential design. Easy-to-use branching tools provide visibility to exploration activities, and when ready, these exploration branches can be merged back into the main design.
  • PTC Control Center: Administrators can deploy and update Creo+ across the organization from a single desktop, minimizing the time spent installing, configuring, and updating the software. Creo+ enables users to be more efficient when assigning and deploying named licenses and adjusting licenses according to user requirements. The PTC Control Center is accessible with a simple cloud-based interface.

Creo+ is fully upwards compatible from on-premises versions of Creo and is built on the same core technology as Creo, so no data translation is needed.

In addition to the release of Creo+, PTC announced the simultaneous release of Creo 10. With this solution, users can now design and simulate with composite materials for lighter products that maintain strength and durability.

Additionally, it introduces Ansys-powered thermal stress as well as non-linear materials and contact simulation, which significantly broadens addressable simulation-driven design use cases.

Creo+ includes all the capabilities of Creo 10.

For additional information on both offerings, read the “What’s New in Creo 10 – and Creo+” blog on PTC.com.

Siemens releases Calibre DesignEnhancer for IC optimization

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Siemens Digital Industries Software recently introduced Calibre DesignEnhancer software, an innovative solution that enables integrated circuit (IC), place-and-route (P&R), and full-custom design teams to dramatically improve productivity, boost design quality and reduce time to market by automatically implementing “Calibre correct-by-construction” design layout modifications much earlier in the IC design and verification process.

The latest in a series of “shift left” tools for Siemens’ industry-leading Calibre nmPlatform for IC physical verification, the new Calibre DesignEnhancer tool empowers custom and digital design teams to enhance physical verification readiness by quickly and accurately optimizing their designs to reduce or eliminate voltage (IR) drop and electromigration (EM) issues. By supporting automated layout optimization during the IC design and implementation stages, the Calibre DesignEnhancer tool helps customers deliver “DRC-clean” designs to tape out faster while improving design manufacturability and circuit reliability.

Before conducting physical verification on an IC design, engineers have traditionally relied on third-party P&R tools to incorporate design for manufacturing (DFM) optimizations, often requiring multiple time-consuming runs before converging on a “DRC-clean” solution. With Siemens’ new Calibre DesignEnhancer tool, design teams can significantly shorten turnaround time and reduce EM/IR issues while preparing a layout for physical verification.

The Calibre DesignEnhancer tool currently provides three use models:

  • Via modification automatically analyzes layouts and inserts up to 1 million+ Calibre-clean correct-by-construction vias to reduce the impact of via resistance on EM/IR and reliability. Because these modifications are based on a thorough understanding of the layout and signoff design rules, via insertion can help customers meet their power goals without impacting performance or area metrics.
  • Power/ground enhancement automatically analyzes layouts and inserts Calibre nmDRC-clean vias and interconnects in open tracks to create parallel runs that can lower resistance on power/ground structures and reduce IR and EM issues associated with the power grid. Customers using the Calibre DesignEnhancer tool have achieved up to 90% reductions in IR drop issues.
  • Filler cell insertion optimizes the insertion of decoupling capacitor (DCAP) and filler cells required for physical verification readiness. It replaces traditional P&R filler cell insertion processes, which helps to provide better quality of results and up to 10 times faster runtimes.

“In today’s challenging IC design environment, engineering teams working at advanced nodes are struggling to optimize layouts for manufacturability and performance within the given area and project timeline constraints in which they must work,” said Michael White, senior director of Physical Verification Product Management, Calibre Design Solutions at Siemens Digital Industries Software. “By using the Calibre DesignEnhancer software, designers can bring Calibre polygonal processing speed and accuracy into play earlier in the design cycle, which can help to avoid late design cycle surprises.”

The Calibre DesignEnhancer solution uses proven technology, engines, and qualified rule decks from Calibre, all of which can help customers generate results that are correct by construction, Calibre DRC-clean, and ready for signoff verification. It can read OASIS, GDS, and LEF/DEF as input files, and output layout modifications in any combination of OASIS, GDS, or incremental DEF files, helping design teams to easily back-annotate Calibre DesignEnhancer software changes to the design database for power and timing analysis using commonly preferred tools for further analysis earlier in the design creation lifecycle.

The Calibre DesignEnhancer tool integrates with all major design and implementation environments using industry interface standards, providing a user-friendly environment that requires minimal training and setup. Calibre DesignEnhancer kits are available now for all leading foundries supporting designs from 130nm to 2nm, depending on the use model and the technology.

For more information about the Calibre DesignEnhancer tool, visit: https://eda.sw.siemens.com/en-US/ic/calibre-design/design-for-manufacturing/designenhancer/

Ansys launches an AI virtual assistant for better customer support

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Expanding artificial intelligence (AI) integration across its simulation portfolio and customer community, Ansys announced the limited beta release of AnsysGPT, a multilingual, conversational, AI virtual assistant set to revolutionize the way Ansys customers receive support. Developed using state-of-the-art ChatGPT technology available via the Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, AnsysGPT uses well-sourced Ansys public data to answer technical questions concerning Ansys products, relevant physics, and engineering topics within one comprehensive tool.

Expected in early 2024, AnsysGPT will optimize technical support for customers — delivering information and solutions more efficiently, furthering the democratization of simulation. While currently in beta testing with select customers and channel partners, upon its full release next year AnsysGPT will provide easily accessible 24/7 technical support through the Ansys website. Unlike general AI virtual assistants that use unsupported information, AnsysGPT is trained using Ansys data to generate tailored, applicable responses drawn from reliable Ansys resources including, but not limited to, Ansys Innovation Courses, technical documentation, blog articles, and how-to-videos. Strong controls were put in place to ensure that no proprietary information of any kind was used during the training process, and that customer inputs are not stored or used to train the system in any way.

AnsysGPT screenshot
Shown here is an example of a question and response from AnsysGPT, which uses Ansys public data to generate tailored, applicable responses drawn from reliable Ansys resources. Image courtesy of Ansys.

“Ansys consistently delivers innovative solutions for its customers and with the beta release of AnsysGPT, Ansys once again stands at the forefront of the latest and most advanced technology,” said Erke Wang, managing director at CADFEM, an Elite Ansys Channel Partner. “By progressing customer support with AI-powered services, AnsysGPT will assist our team in delivering adaptive intelligence combined with expertise and training that empowers Ansys customers to extract even more value from Ansys solutions.”

In addition to providing expedited technical support, AnsysGPT will encourage customers’ individual learning and development by identifying appropriate resources to further examine specific topics of interest, including how AI/machine learning (ML) can enhance Ansys simulation.

“When trained responsibly, AI-powered virtual services can be a huge asset to both organizations and customers. AnsysGPT has been trained using Ansys data, which increases its reliability for Ansys customers,” said Anthony Dawson, vice president of customer excellence at Ansys. “Further, AnsysGPT complements existing AI integration across Ansys’ portfolio, including computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solvers that leverage AI/ML to improve turbulence models, structural tools that apply AI/ML to predict computational spend, and process integration and design optimization software that employs AI/ML to efficiently build reduced order models. We are confident AnsysGPT will add great value to our customer experience, providing more seamless support and useful information for Ansys customers.”

Ansys
ansys.com

SprutCAM to exhibit robots and digital solutions at EMO 2023

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The highly anticipated European premiere of the 17th version of SprutCAM X, a CAD/CAM system, and SprutCAM X Robot, an offline robot programming (OLP) software, will captivate visitors at EMO 2023, the world’s leading trade fair for manufacturing technology.

SprutCAM Tech invites industry professionals, enthusiasts, and the press to experience the latest innovations firsthand at booth E06 in hall 9.

The new features will be demonstrated live: The showcase promises to be an immersive exploration of the new features and capabilities that SprutCAM X 17 and SprutCAM X Robot 17 bring to the world of CAD/CAM systems.

Screenshot of SprutCAM X

Advanced AI Assistant Ency: SprutCAM Tech is proud to present Ency, an AI assistant that represents a breakthrough in CAM software. Visitors will be able to experience the power of AI-driven assistance that enhances the precision, efficiency, and ease of CNC operations.

Virtual Reality Solution: A remarkable addition to the SprutCAM X experience is a virtual reality solution. Using a VR headset, visitors will be able to immerse themselves in the control of robotic operations, providing a glimpse into the future of CNC technology.

Meet the experts: The SprutCAM Tech team has worked tirelessly to bring these features to life with the goal of revolutionizing the CNC industry and providing users with new levels of control and productivity. The SprutCAM Tech distribution network has already seen the presentation of the new version at the SprutCAM X World conference in June 2023. Employees of partner companies around the world are now actively preparing to start of delivery, implementation, and support of SprutCAM X 17 and SprutCAM X Robot 17. Visitors will have the privilege to interact with representatives of SprutCAM Tech and Datentechnik Reitz, the German distributor of SprutCAM Tech. These experts will be available at the booth to answer questions, offer demonstrations, and provide in-depth explanations of the innovations on display. Their expertise will ensure that visitors get a firsthand insight into the capabilities and benefits of SprutCAM X 17.

SprutCAM
sprutcam.com

Managing relationships in complex parametric models

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By Jody Muelaner, Ph.D. CEng MIMechE

One of the best and worst things about parametric CAD is the way everything can reference each other. While this can allow assemblies to fit together without tedious manual calculation and checking of assembly stack-ups, it can also lead to a lot of confusion. This article will look at how to maintain clarity and control in these complex models, with many parametric relationships between components within a large assembly. The examples refer to SolidWorks, but many of the same principles will apply to other software.

Why create interdependencies between sketches, features, parts, and assemblies

The reason for creating interdependencies between different entities comes down to ensuring design intent. If parts must fit together, perhaps with a particular clearance, then it makes sense to have the parts drive each other. This can ensure that if one part is updated, the mating part will also update, and the required fit will be maintained. This can also make it easier to ensure that everything fits in the first place. Forcing fits and alignments using relations is often more reliable, more convenient, and easier to update than individually dimensioning features and parts so that they will fit together and align in the required way.

In this very simple example, a hole for a grub screw must be aligned to a shaft. Therefore, rather than create a dimension for the vertical position of the hole for the grub screw, it references the sketch used to create the hole for the shaft.

Basic setup

A few changes to the standard configuration of SolidWorks can make working with complex relationships a lot easier. The most important of these is to turn on Dynamic Reference Visualization. This allows you to view the dependencies between features graphically within the design tree. Once this feature is enabled, simply hover over a feature to see which features are parents and children.

Dynamic Reference Visualization makes it very convenient to get a feeling for the relationships within a model, as you move the mouse over each feature, its parent features are indicated with a blue arrow and its child features with a purple arrow.

The same information can be viewed by right-clicking a feature and selecting Parent/Child. However, moving around the tree and seeing all the relationships dynamically is far more intuitive and builds up a much better understanding of all the different relationships in the model.

Viewing the Parent/Child relationships in a separate box really isn’t as intuitive as seeing them in the tree.

Dynamic reference visualization is turned on by right-clicking the top level of the feature manager tree and selecting the two icons to view parents and children, as shown in the following image.

Where features reference other parts or assemblies, relationships between different files can be viewed with the assembly tree. When a part is viewed outside of the assembly where these references are defined, the arrow will point up past the top of the tree with a note saying, “Out of context FILENAME.” This doesn’t mean the reference is broken, it simply means the feature that is being referenced isn’t shown on the feature manager tree. The name of the file that is being referenced is conveniently given. These external references can also be broken, locked, or unlocked from within the feature manager tree.

NOTE: Once an external reference is broken, this cannot be undone — it can’t simply be reactivated.

To break, unlock, or lock external references using dynamic reference visualization, first select the feature (these options aren’t available when simply hovering). Next, click the little blue circle to bring up the options, and finally click the option required.

Digging deeper into sketch relations

Dynamic reference visualization shows us which features contain relationships to a given sketch. However, it doesn’t allow us to see specifically which dimensions and geometric relations in the sketch reference the feature. Similarly, it doesn’t tell us which geometry in the parent feature is being referenced. The best way to get this kind of detailed information is by using the Display/Delete Relations PropertyManager. This powerful tool is viewed while editing the sketch. To open it, simply click the icon on the command manager (Sketch tab).

With the Display/Delete Relations PropertyManager open, you are presented with a list of all the relations in the sketch, including geometric relations and dimensions. Frustratingly, these are given different names than the ones you can assign to dimensions and use in equations. Instead, they are simply numbered according to the order they were created in the sketch. However, the tool allows you to identify which features are being referenced once you get used to it.

Firstly, you can filter the list of relations using the dropdown above the list or by clicking on a dimension or a feature. Selecting a relation from the list does two things. Firstly, it highlights the referenced entities, even if they were hidden. Secondly, it populates the Entities list within the PropertyManager. Although entities are given strange names within the list, when they are selected, their actual names appear under Entity, which is much more useful.

When a relation is selected from the Display/Delete Relations PropertyManager list, the Entities box is populated with the (usually two) entities involved in the relationship. These are given cryptic names, but they are also highlighted in the model. Note here that the Right plane was hidden but appears when the relation is selected. Confusingly, the Right plane is listed as Line2 in the Entities box, but when it is selected here, its correct name is displayed under Entity below (Right Plane of Block).

Naming dimensions and displaying their names

Dimensions are all given unique names with a sketch, which can be used within equations and help to identify relationships. These can be displayed while editing a sketch by turning on the option in the Hide/Show Items menu.

When sketches, features, and dimensions are given meaningful names, it becomes much easier to understand the intent of a model. For simple models, naming everything can be an unnecessary waste of time. However, if you’re getting confused about how the relationships in a model relate to each other, naming everything can really help to bring clarity and make tracing relationships much easier.

To name a dimension, simply select it and then edit the Primary Value in the PropertyManager. Note that the @ and everything to its right is automatically generated based on the feature that contains the dimension. While you can delete or change it, SolidWorks will immediately replace this reference.

Using derived sketches

When parts and sub-assemblies need to reference each other within an assembly, things can quickly get very messy. Often the best way to handle this is to define all the shared geometry in layout sketches and then bring these into the parts that must reference them as derived sketches. Once the derived sketch is created in a part, all the individual references made to entities in this sketch can be traced within the part without needing to trace references between parts and assemblies. A derived sketch can reduce a large number of separate references between files to a single, easily understood one.

Derived sketches are an exact copy of a sketch that is dynamically linked to the original. It is not possible to change any dimensions or add any features to a derived sketch — it appears as fixed geometry that is driven by the original sketch used to define it. While the lengths of lines and their angle to each other within a derived sketch cannot be changed, the position and orientation of a derived sketch must be defined by adding a few relations.

Layout sketches may be defined within the master assembly file or within a master part file. While the assembly may seem like the most logical place for the layouts, and placing them here can work, it can also be more convenient to use a master part. Using a master part for all the layout sketches means it’s possible to work on the top-level definition of the assembly without having the assembly open. This means model updates happen much faster, and if changes are going to make parts fail, you can deal with this later once the assembly-level changes have been worked out. In my recent article about mechanism synthesis for a folding bicycle, I defined the mechanism in a master part. This allowed an optimization script to loop through the part, solving thousands of different configurations efficiently. The assembly file for this bike includes the master part, allowing other parts to reference it. In this way, the link lengths and joint positions are driven by the master part file.

Derived sketches can be created within a single part, allowing a sketch to be effectively copied from one position and orientation to another. Most often, however, a derived sketch will be created by referencing a sketch in another part file, such as a master assembly or master part.

In our simple example of a block with a hole for a shaft, secured with a grub screw, suppose a second grub screw is required on the opposing face. If we want to make the diameter of the circle equal to the one for the first grub screw, we can’t simply set the two circles as equal, since they are on different planes and SolidWorks will not allow this relation. However, we could make the sketch for the second hole a derived sketch based on the first hole. The diameter of the second circle is now dynamically linked to the first. We can then add two relations to fix this circle in place. The center of the circle is vertically below the center of the first grub screw center, and horizontal to the center of the shaft hold center.

A derived sketch is created by selecting a sketch and a plane and then Insert > Derived Sketch. The selected sketch is the original sketch to be copied, and the plane is where the new sketch is to be located.

To create a derived sketch that references a sketch in a different part of an assembly, both the original sketch and the location for the new sketch must be in the same assembly. The part that is to contain the new sketch must be editable, which generally means selecting Edit in Context before selecting the sketch and plane and then creating the derived sketch.

It is a very good idea to maintain consistent names for derived sketches. The master part or assembly containing all the original sketches defines how they are named. Where these serve as the basis for derived sketches in other parts, the exact same name should be given. Where this would result in multiple sketches with the same name, simple as B, C, D, etc., onto the end of the name. SolidWorks will always add “derived” onto the end of the name for any derived sketch when displaying it in the feature manager tree. It can also be useful to have a naming convention for layout sketches which includes the plane on which they are sketched. For the folding e-bike I’ve been designing, the master part contains lots of derived sketches defining the bicycle geometry, folding mechanism linkages, transmission, and bearing arrangements. I grouped these by sketches on the Right plane, Top plane and Front plane.

The master part for a folding e-bike, with sketches defining the bicycle geometry, folding mechanism linkages, transmission, and bearing arrangements. These sketches reference each other extensively within this master part. Each individual part only needs to reference a few of these layout sketches by including them as derived sketches.

Keeping control of complex parametric models involves using a combination of dynamic reference visualization, sketch reference manager, naming conventions for sketches and dimensions, and derived sketches.

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