CAD Industry News

New inverse design method accelerates fuel cell development

May 25, 2023 By Rachael Pasini Leave a Comment

Toyota Research Institute of North America (TRINA) has developed a new simulation-driven inverse design methodology to accelerate the research and development process for fuel cell flow field plates. The methodology sets key performance objectives and directs algorithms to generate structural flow field forms that fulfill those objectives. The TRINA team engineered this approach by integrating the COMSOL Multiphysics software into its inverse design workflow.

“We think that the inverse design approach can revolutionize current design practice,” said Yuqing Zhou, a research scientist at TRINA. “We are enabling the next step in a long journey, even though we cannot know exactly where that journey will lead.”

The team at TRINA applied its method to the design of flow field microchannel plates, which direct the movement of fluid reactants in microreactors like hydrogen–oxygen fuel cells.

A metal flow field plate prototype. — This metal flow field plate prototype is based on one of the TRINA team’s generated designs.

TRINA is part of a large network of Toyota R&D teams that are working toward the development of a “hydrogen society,” where fossil fuel-burning engines, heating systems, and generators would be replaced by fuel cells that extract electric current from hydrogen.

“Fuel cell technology has the potential to provide clean energy globally,” said Margaret Lemus, VP of marketing at COMSOL. “To achieve this, the technology needs to become more efficient, and optimizing the designs is an important step. It’s exciting to see how simulation empowers researchers to explore different options and make informed decisions that can lead to more efficient fuel cell designs.”

Optimizing designs for flow, reaction, or both

During their research, Zhou and his colleagues recognized that they needed to optimize their design process before they could optimize their designs.

“We were seeking an efficient way of approximating what a more complex simulation would show. We have sacrificed some modeling complexity, which actually enables us to explore more elaborate designs in less time,” said Zhou.

When their design was optimized for fluid flow, the generated microchannel paths were straight and parallel, with little side branching. When the weighting factors in the objective function were adjusted to prioritize reaction uniformity, the method generated intricate microchannel forms.

Four COMSOL Multiphysics simulation results. — These simulation results from the TRINA team’s model show the pressure distributions resulting from four different microchannel flow field designs.

In a research paper, published in Chemical Engineering Journal, the TRINA team also notes that some have previously experimented with natural-looking, fractal, or hierarchical forms selected a priori for flow field channels.

“This is the first time that such large-scale branching flow fields have been discovered using an inverse design approach without assuming prescribed layouts,” said Zhou.

Toyota’s journey to developing fuel cells is discussed in further detail in the COMSOL User Story Gallery and in a keynote talk from COMSOL Day: Batteries & Fuel Cells.

COMSOL
comsol.com

Improving folding e-bike designs in SolidWorks by optimizing complex mechanism synthesis

May 25, 2023 By Rachael Pasini Leave a Comment

By Jody Muelaner, Ph.D. CEng MIMechE

BriefBike is an e-bike designed to fold in a single, almost instant motion, just like an umbrella. This is a great case study in mechanism design due to the many constraints that must all be considered to ensure the bike performs correctly when being ridden and folded and when in its folded state. I’ve written before about how the constraint-based sketch tools in SolidWorks can be used to solve some relatively simple mechanism synthesis problems. In this article, I show how these techniques can be extended, using scripting and data filtering, to solve a highly complex mechanism design challenge.

BriefBike was designed to fold as quickly and easily as an umbrella, but the initial design was a bit too wide, and there were issues with the way the height of the seat was adjusted. This work optimized the mechanism to provide a more compact fold with enhanced riding geometry.

In a previous article, I introduced how geometric constraint-based sketching can synthesize mechanisms. This article takes the ideas further, providing a real-world example of optimizing a mechanism with many different constraints. Most notably, it shows that it becomes impossible to formulate a single sketch that can encompass all these constraints to directly solve for the optimum solution.

The method, therefore, only uses the geometric constraint sketch to solve the mechanism for a given parameter set. This can be repeated many times for different combinations of input parameters, recording output parameters for each configuration. All the results can then be listed in a spreadsheet, filtered to remove configurations that don’t meet essential criteria, and sorted to find the optimum design. Using a spreadsheet at this stage also allows metrics to be calculated to combine parameters, even potentially creating a single objective function that can be used to rank designs using a single metric.

Using macros to solve large numbers of configurations

In practice, updating parameters in the sketch and recording driven parameters in a spreadsheet becomes time consuming and error prone as soon as there are more than a few parameters to update. For example, with seven parameters (or factors) and just three parameter values (or factor levels), there are 2,187 configurations. Even if you could update the parameters in the sketch and record the values in Excel for one configuration in just one minute, it would still take a week of tedious work. Using Excel-driven configurations in SolidWorks may seem like the obvious solution, but in practice, this doesn’t work well for a very large number of configurations. The solution is the use the SolidWorks API to open the file, read in the parameter set, rebuild the model, and store the results. We created an application to do this, which uses three simple text files for inputs and outputs:

Inputs.txt: This file is created by the user to define the problem to be solved. It has three lines:
- The file name of the SolidWorks part to open and interact with
- A comma-separated list of the driving parameters to be updated by the script
- A comma-separated list of the driven parameters to be recorded by the script
Parameters.txt: This file is also created by the user. Each line represents a different configuration as a comma-separated list of values, with each value corresponding to one of the driving parameters listed on the second line in inputs.txt.
Outputs.txt: This file is created by the script. It has a similar structure to parameters.txt, with each line also representing a different configuration as a comma-separated list of values for each parameter. In this case, it is the driven parameters listed on the third line of inputs.txt that are listed.

The mechanism design process involves first defining the problem in SolidWorks, generating configurations in Power Query, solving all configurations using a SolidWorks API script (we’re using an in-house code DimWorker.exe), and then identifying the optimum solution by analyzing the results in Excel. Experimentation and iteration are likely to occur at multiple points within this process.

Understanding the constraints

A demonstrator had already been created, which proved the bike could be unfolded in less than half a second. However, it was still a bit too wide when folded, and optimizing the mechanism to further reduce the folded width without impacting the important ride characteristics was proving challenging. The large number of constraints that needed to be simultaneously satisfied meant that a direct solution to find the optimum mechanism was not possible. This method of using a script to generate multiple solutions was therefore created.

The key criteria for BriefBike can be summarized as follows:

Folds and unfolds in a single effortless motion into a roller case format
- Less than 500 mm wide, able to roll behind a person through doors and crowds, and fit second-stage luggage fold
- Approximately 1,100 mm in height, providing correct grip height for rolling along
- Less than 150 mm thick to conveniently store flat against a wall and be held tight against the body when in confined spaces
- Transmission angles must be greater than 30° so the linkage does not bind
Second stage fold that reduces the height to under 700 mm to be within the standard luggage size for trains internationally (700 x 500 x 300 mm)
Stable two-wheeled trailing-link design when in roller case format, explained below
Riding geometry must be comparable with a conventional bicycle. The most important parameters are the head angle, trail, wheelbase, position of the bottom bracket between the wheels, and effective stem length. These parameters are illustrated where the parametric sketches are defined later in this article.
The frame must be structurally efficient. Dimensions measured on the sketch can be used as inputs to free body diagram calculations for truss joint forces at the Excel stage.
Parts must not clash with each other during the folding process, and various clearance dimensions with the defining sketches reflect this requirement.

What I mean by a stable two-wheeled trailing-link roller case format can be easily understood by considering the two different types of roller cases commonly available. First, there is the four-wheeled variety that you push in front of you. The four wheels form a reasonably stable base and roll along fine on smooth surfaces. However, if the surface is rough or you want to break into a run, the small base and high center of gravity mean they tip over easily. And then there are the two-wheeled roller cases that drag behind you. In this case, the base forms a stable tripod between the wheels and your hand. Even if you suddenly accelerate or run the case straight into a curb, the wheels lift off the ground and land again in a stable position, and there is virtually no tendency to tip over. While many folding bikes include wheels that allow them to be moved like a four-wheeled case, BriefBike is designed to be pulled along like a two-wheeled case.

BriefBike was designed to have a wide two-wheeled base that can be easily dragged behind you. This is quite unlike current folding bikes, which are more like the much less stable four-wheeled roller cases. Even when they are pushed on two wheels, they perform in the same unstable way because they are narrow and pushed in front of you. Only a flat, wide wheelbase dragged behind you provides stability required to move at speed over rough surfaces when the propulsive force provided by your hand is applied at a height way above the wheels.

The driving parameters define the mechanism using two sketches. First, a sketch defines the ride geometry using ten parameters, including the wheelbase, trail, head angle, reach, and crank length. The head angle is driven by a linear dimension, as inputting angles using the API proved more difficult.

The RideGeom sketch defined the important parameters affecting the handling of the bike. This was then used as a reference for the LinkSynth sketch, which solves for the linkages that enable the bike to fold.

The second sketch is the one that actually solves the mechanism synthesis problem. It achieves this by drawing the mechanism in the folded and unfolded positions, defining certain key parameters but allowing the constraint-based solver to determine link lengths and joint positions to achieve the required motion. A great deal of trial-and-error experimentation was required to find a robust way of constraining this sketch with dimensions that allowed many different configurations to be tested without the sketch failing to solve.

The LinkSynth sketch is where all of the mechanism synthesis actually happens. The main folding mechanism is a four-bar linkage; the ground link is not shown. The three remaining links are shown in the riding position with a thick dotted line and in the folded position as a thick solid line. Other construction, steering, and envelope geometry are shown with a thin line. The wheels are only shown in the folded position, and the front and rear axles of the frame are mated to the RideGeom sketch, which is hidden in this view. The fixed ground link is represented by having the joints where the links connect to it coincidentally. The links are set to be of equal lengths in the two positions, and angles are also forced to be equal by triangulating and setting equal length constraints on the diagonals.

The large number of parameters in the model means that even when using automation, parameter levels must be selected sparingly. If the 16 driving parameters were each given five values, there would be 150 billion configurations. With each configuration taking about 0.1 seconds to rebuild and store the parameters, this would take 480 years!

In practice, with larger parameter sets, memory issues with storing all the outputs mean the time per configuration can increase dramatically. Even much smaller parameter sets can therefore become unfeasible. So, while an automated optimization allows far greater experimentation than you could hope to achieve manually, you still can’t just get the computer to try every possible configuration. Therefore, it’s a good idea to start by manually exploring the parameters to determine which are most sensitive and then use the optimization code to explore combinations of potentially interesting parameter values. This design was explored through six iterations of optimization, with between 1,000 and 40,000 configurations in each.

Setting up Excel to generate configurations and filter results

Once you have selected a set of parameters to explore, you must generate a table with all the combinations. This is known as a full factorial set in the design of experiments. The easiest way to do this in Excel is by using Power Query, another Microsoft tool bundled with Excel. The process involves connecting tables in an Excel workbook to queries in Power Query. This is a bit too involved to explain fully here, but it’s not difficult and is explained well in this YouTube video. Once Excel has generated the table of configurations, this can be copied and pasted into Parameters.txt.

The 18 output-driven parameters were copied into an Excel table with the 15 input-driving parameters. An additional 25 columns were added to calculate other quantities from the parameter values; these included clearances between components and forces calculated at joints. All configurations were then filtered to ensure sufficient clearances and identify the most desirable characteristics, such as longer wheelbase, steeper head angle, more direct transmission angles, lower joint forces, and a more compact folded package. These selection criteria were drawn from driving and driven parameters and values calculated in Excel.

Results

This mechanism optimization work resulted in a bike with a longer wheelbase, steeper head angle, and longer trail, all resulting in a more stable ride. At the same time, the frame is more structurally efficient, and it folds into a much more compact package. You can find out more about BriefBike at http://www.betterbicycles.org.

COMSOL Conference returns to Munich in 2023

May 24, 2023 By Rachael Pasini Leave a Comment

The COMSOL Conference is returning in person this year in Munich, Germany, on October 25–27, 2023. The conference gathers users of modeling and simulation in a forum where they can share valuable insights and learn new modeling skills.

Attendees will be able to:

Connect with other practitioners in the simulation community
Gain inspiration from industry leaders
Learn new modeling techniques using the COMSOL Multiphysics software
Showcase their own research and case studies

Learn modeling techniques and connect with the simulation community

The COMSOL Conference will feature keynote talks, interactive poster and slideshow presentations, and minicourses where attendees can learn about the modeling capabilities of COMSOL Multiphysics and its add-on products.

“Attending the COMSOL Conference allows us to connect with worldwide companies and research institutions. The network and contacts are very important for us,” said Christoph Hollenbeck, an engineer at IMAGINE Engineering, a consulting company for mechanical and plant engineering technologies. “We also [look forward to] the minicourses on the use of COMSOL Multiphysics because, even as an experienced user of the software, there is always something new to learn. It is also very interesting to see in the keynote sessions how other companies use COMSOL profitably to gain knowledge and to improve processes or products.”

COMSOL Multiphysics is a simulation platform that is widely used in industry, government, and academia. At the COMSOL Conference, attendees can see the full span of areas where multiphysics modeling is useful.

COMSOL Conference attendees discussing multiphysics and looking at simulation on a laptop. — The COMSOL Conference provides attendees with the opportunity to learn new modeling skills.

“We want the conference to offer a space where knowledge transfer within the simulation community is made possible, and where COMSOL Multiphysics users can see examples of how the software is used and discuss their own technical challenges,” said Thorsten Koch, managing director of COMSOL in Germany. “For example, developers of electric vehicles and satellites will be able to come together to talk about thermal management simulation. The conference is a unique cross-industry gathering that we are looking forward to hosting.”

The Munich event is the first stop of the worldwide COMSOL Conference 2023 tour and the first in-person COMSOL Conference since 2019.

For more information and to register, visit the conference website: https://www.comsol.com/conference

Showcase your work

Abstract submission for the COMSOL Conference 2023 Munich is now open for attendees to showcase their use of multiphysics modeling and simulation as a poster and/or slide presentation. The program committee is accepting abstracts through July 14, 2023. View topics and all deadlines on the Showcase Your Work web page.

COMSOL Conference attendees at the poster session. — The poster session at the COMSOL Conference leads to knowledge exchange.

This is the first COMSOL conference for 2023. Additional conference locations for 2023 are Bengaluru, Seoul, Taipei, and Tokyo.

COMSOL
comsol.com

Hi, I’m Éncy, your SprutCAM X AI assistant

May 19, 2023 By Rachael Pasini Leave a Comment

SprutCAM Tech just released an update of SprutCAM X, which integrates ChatGPT technologies based on the OpenAI API to provide an AI virtual assistant and help engineers with CNC machining tasks.

A screenshot of SprutCAM showing the Ency chat AI wizard. — SprutCAM’s new AI assistant can answer questions about the software, robots, CNC machining, or almost any related topic. Image courtesy of SprutCAM.

The AI wizard is called Éncy (pronounced [ˈɛnsɪ]) and greets the user with the following message: “Hi, I’m Éncy, your SprutCAM X AI assistant. Ask away, and I’ll be happy to help!”

The AI assistant is powered by the OpenAI API, which uses deep learning models to understand and generate natural language. Engineers can communicate with the AI assistant using text commands in multiple languages, and the AI assistant responds accordingly.

Éncy can perform the following tasks:

Explain the G-code generated as a result of post-processing. Users can ask the AI assistant to clarify any line of code or command, and it will give a detailed explanation of what it does and why it is necessary.
Generate a G-code using a text description of the operations. Users can simply type what they want to do, such as “drill a 10 mm diameter hole at point (100, 25)” and the AI wizard will generate the corresponding G-code.
Write code in Python to create .dxf or .stl files. Users can use the AI assistant to create 2D or 3D models of parts using Python code. The AI assistant guides users through the process and shows results in real time.
Provide reference information for the industrial robot or CNC-machine when creating kinematic schemes in MachineMaker, a zero code application for building digital twins from SprutCAM Tech. Users can ask the AI assistant for any information about the robot or CNC-machine they are using, such as its dimensions, specifications, capabilities, limitations, etc.
Answer any question from a SprutCAM X user, even not related to the operation of the software. Users can chat with the AI assistant about anything, such as CNC tips and tricks, industry news, best practices, etc. The AI assistant will try to answer questions as best it can, or direct users to relevant resources if it doesn’t know the answer.

To create the above requests, CNC engineers can use various macros that are automatically adapted to the context of the task being performed.

A screenshot of SprutCAM's software and the Ency AI assistance chat box. — SprutCAM’s AI assistant can generate and explain G-code. Users can ask to clarify lines of code or commands for more detailed explanations. Image courtesy of SprutCAM.

“We are committed to creating software that enables our customers to seamlessly transition from CAD to finished parts with the fastest turnaround time in the industry. SprutCAM X with ChatGPT technologies will save you time, improve your productivity and enhance your creativity,” said Andrei Kharatsidi, co-founder of SprutCAM Tech.

The new update of SprutCAM X with AI assistant is available for download from the official website. SprutCAM X offers a 30-day trial license with no functional limits to test all the features and benefits of the software.

SprutCAM
sprutcam.com

Design sustainable packaging with the virtual twin

April 19, 2023 By Rachael Pasini Leave a Comment

By Raymond Wodar, Global Business Consultant — CPG-Retail Industry • Dassault Systèmes

Most manufacturers know (or want to know) about the digital twin, which the Digital Twin Consortium defines as “a virtual representation of real-world entities and processes, synchronized at a specified frequency and fidelity.” The digital twin and its more comprehensive successor, the virtual twin, promise to make manufacturing more productive and less wasteful.

However, a virtual twin goes beyond digital continuity by representing a product or system as it exists in the present and the past. The past includes the traceability and history of the product or system’s design, testing, and manufacturing. The virtual twin also helps manufacturers simulate how a product will operate and must be maintained in the future.

Two packaging designers evaluate a product using virtual twin technology. — Virtual twin technology helps manufacturers make the shift to eco-friendly packaging. Image courtesy of Dassault Systèmes.

Virtual twins help companies develop complex systems and products with hundreds or even thousands of parts. By applying virtual twin technology to the design process in the transportation and mobility industry, for example, planes, trains, and electric cars not only have more advanced features but are safer and more fuel-efficient. Similarly, healthcare companies can ensure better patient outcomes, and city planners can improve infrastructure and the quality of life for citizens.

Consumer packaged goods companies increasingly leverage virtual twin technology to design and manufacture more sustainable food and beverage packaging. This technology helps packaging manufacturers fully assess tradeoffs between cost and eco-friendly designs, and it simulates decisions from materials to future recycling options before producing physical packaging.

Decisions made during initial design phases determine up to 80% of a product’s environmental impact, including a product’s packaging. According to estimates, only 9% of all plastics are recycled, and American consumers throw out nearly five pounds of trash each day — the majority of which is food and packaging. Thus, it’s easy to see the massive opportunity to improve sustainability. Manufacturers will play a significant role in the circular economy by creating durable products that are more easily repaired and recycled.

Consider Biopak of Australia and New Zealand. The company began producing compostable packaging from renewable plant-based materials to reduce the number of single-use takeout food plastic containers going to landfills each year. Similarly, New York-based Evocative Design harnesses the power of hemp hurds and mycelium (the root structure of mushrooms) to develop insulating, water-resistant packaging. Contrast the 500 years it takes Styrofoam to decompose with the “mushroom packaging” that composts in 45 days.

Leading manufacturers employ the virtual twin from the molecular level to the system level to achieve sustainable packaging. Plastic container giant Amcor began using advanced software simulation through virtual twins to lightweight their products, reducing the weight of its hot-fill beverage bottles by up to 50% and cutting consumption of thermoplastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET) by more than 100 million pounds annually.

Like engineers developing an electric vehicle, Amcor’s packaging engineers applied these technologies to optimize the material placement and increase strength without adding weight. Running hundreds of simulations on a virtual 3D representation of a product reduced time and increased fidelity compared to testing physical prototypes, resulting in reduced development costs, project lead times, and waste.

The virtual twin goes much further than optimized box and bottle designs. A thorough and collaborative lifecycle assessment of a product in the early concept and design phase allows manufacturers to plan and validate its circular journey virtually before die-cutting or plastic injection molding begins.

Packaging designers can analyze which raw materials best suit the application. For example, by simulating the virtual twin of packaging for mushrooms, the designer or simulation analyst evaluates the optimal balance of cost, quality, performance, and recyclability to select the most sustainable option.

With validated packaging models in place, manufacturing virtual twins follow, which help packaging designers determine tooling investments, the optimal production floor layout, and workforce headcount well in advance. Using a virtual twin to simulate all processes and factory floor decisions not only saves significant financial costs but allows manufacturers to account for mistakes in the virtual world, which eliminate physical world mistakes and rework.

In addition, the virtual twin provides post-manufacturing visibility into last-mile delivery puzzles and solutions. Manufacturers can collaborate with logistics providers to optimize truckloads better and reduce instances of empty miles. Powerful algorithms applied to virtual twins help fine-tune shipping routes, adjust for traffic and workforce disruptions, and more. By optimizing logistics, companies can lower CO₂ emissions while minimizing shipping and warehousing costs.

The competitive pressure to make products, services, and operations more sustainable aligns with providing the best possible customer experience. Approximately 88% of consumers in the U.S. and U.K. combined want manufacturers to invest in methods, processes, and technologies that improve their environmental and social footprint. Some estimates expect the value of the global sustainable packaging market to hit $255 billion by 2026. With the right tools in place, such as the virtual twin and a platform for future-ready operations, consumer packaged goods companies can enable sustainable operations and support the circular economy.

Dassault Systèmes
3ds.com

Clinker coolers get an agile twist

April 14, 2023 By Rachael Pasini Leave a Comment

Claudius Peters makes the machines that make cement. Applying agile processes to product design calls upon CAD systems to optimize those machines.

By Jean Thilmany, Contributing Writer

Once used mainly to speed up software development, the agile method — which proponents say can slash product development time and costs — is making inroads into product development and manufacturing.

The goal of an agile product development process is to explore as many design options as possible during the prototyping stage.

“The idea is to find and qualify myriad ideas quickly. Computer-aided design software is a boon to the prototyping stage, where designers use CAD to quickly generate potential designs based on customer requirements,” said Thomas Nagel, operations director and chief digital officer at Claudius Peters, which designs and manufactures large materials handling systems for the cement and other industries. “Agile replaces the siloed work done by engineers for the past decades and calls for collaboration at all steps in the agile process.”

Pioneered in 2001, the agile method is ideal for companies that want to develop products quickly. It allows for product development while simultaneously gathering requirements and information. The method calls upon a five-day “sprint” to quickly find a new product that can subsequently be designed and built.

“The design sprint is an example of how you can define a new idea or fail efficiently in five days,” Nagel said.

CAD software helps the “sprinters” isolate the best design within one day. And a feature in some CAD packages, which Autodesk calls “generative design,” is particularly useful here.

“The feature generates several potential models based on design inputs and pairs well with the agile method,” said Nagel. “Essentially, designers enter their requirements, and the CAD package generates a number of designs that fit that parameter. Engineers then choose the best design to move forward with.”

Claudius Peters uses agile and generative design to make parts faster — Engineers at Claudius Peters redesigned a transport bottom for a conveyor system, cutting its weight and reducing its cost. Image courtesy of Claudius Peters and Autodesk.

Cloud-based CAD packages allow engineers to collaborate and see others’ designs in real time. This is important for another part of the agile sprint, in which engineers bring their designs to the table and meet to discuss which ones to move forward with.

When designers find a “viable” design — noting that it doesn’t need to be perfect or fully realized within the CAD software — they present it to a five-member team of professionals pertinent to a given field. If reviewers give it the thumbs up, the prototype is presented to the customer, who vets the product’s feasibility for their market. Only if the customer chooses to go forward do engineers get to work fully designing and detailing the product in their CAD system.

“The idea is to find a prototype of a viable product, with no bells or whistles, then show it to your customer,” said Nagel. “Then you go through different iterations until you have a product that might be good enough to develop.”

But what if the product doesn’t get past the review stage? Or what if the customer doesn’t approve? The agile method allowed designers to “fail efficiently” rather than spending a lot of time designing a product that was bound to fail.

“Get the failure over with and start the agile process again,” said Dave Martin, a configuration manager for Elroy Air, which develops autonomous aerial vehicles.

Replacing the waterfall

Many engineering companies stick to rigid product development structures, such as the waterfall method. Traditional waterfall development is a step-by-step process like the automobile assembly line, where employees are situated along the conveyor line and add the individual part for which they are responsible. Eventually, the automobile can be driven off the line. But there’s a catch: The next step on the conveyor line can’t be taken until the previous step has been completed.

“Think of a Gantt chart, where you have distinct, heavily planned sequential phases, such as concept, design, prototype, test, and product,” said Martin. “A design review gates each phase.”

With the agile method, only a “realistic façade” is needed for customer testing. This is where CAD, and generative design, comes in.

“You define how you will build the prototype and then get good, validated feedback from the customer,” said Nagel. “If the customer understands the meaning or purpose of your product, then it’s good enough to get the first feedback. The product doesn’t need to be ready or do everything you think. You’re just making a realistic approach.”

Engineers use agile for more than physical products. They also create digital twins, 3D-printed prototypes, and virtual-reality demonstrations.

Collaborating on a clinker cooler

Could the agile method be used to make improvements to a vast structure? Claudius Peters found the answer when its engineers were tasked to modify a giant clinker cooler.

A Claudius Peters clinker cooler. — Claudius Peters performed agile sprint cycles to measure the effects of modifications to a clinker cooler, a giant industrial machine used in cement production.

Clinker coolers are huge industrial machines — about half the size of a football field — that cool molten rock, called clinker, from 2,550° to 212° F. The molten rock is then used to make cement. The first step for the company is to scan the cooler, and the next step is to upload the file. Nagel’s team uses CAD, BIM, and analysis tools on Autodesk’s 360 platforms.

“We can upload this huge amount of data from all over the world directly to the BIM 360 platform. It could be a 20-gigabyte file from China, and the design engineer here in Germany can immediately start to work with this 3D scan,” said Lars Heidler, lead engineer at Claudius Peters.

“Today, when we start a new project, we normally start with a 3D scan of the existing plant. Those contain huge amounts of data that need to be transferred,” said Nagel. “Then we take what could be called a hybrid engineering approach.”

The engineers transferred the scans to Autodesk’s Navisworks simulation software. They then edited the designs within the Inventor 3D CAD software, also from Autodesk.

“All of a sudden, we could really measure and do everything,” said Nagel.

This information was vital, of course, when implementing an agile sprint to update and perfect a part of the system. The team could collaborate internally, and everyone could look at the 3D models and compare versions. Engineers could also background themselves using the 3D model as they prepared for an agile sprint.

“When I was an automation engineer, I could go into the model and see my switchboard and devices in the field and my cabling and know what I had to do before I rolled out another sprint for a client,” said Nagel.

For instance, his team performed a sprint for a client that sought a way to measure the effects of modifications to the cooler.

With internal tools, the engineers spent the week creating a prototype web page that allowed the customer to see how changing certain parameters would affect how the cooler functions.

A website depiction of Claudius Peters' clinker cooler design using agile methodology and 3D CAD software. — Using agile processes, Claudius Peters engineers created a web page with a simple CAD model so that customers could see how modifications to their machines would affect output. Image courtesy of Claudius Peters and Autodesk.

“They could enter some optics and operational data into the web page and get calculations and clinker cooler flow sheets,” said Nagel. “The feedback included technical data about factors such as, ‘What fans do they need and then how much heat would be recovered and what is the ROI.’”

The web page also included a simple 3D CAD model through which customers could get an up-close look at modifications to the space to give them an idea if this modification would make sense.

The web information wasn’t completed on the back end before the team presented it to the client. The presentation comprised a mock web page, which designers knew could be populated with pertinent information. They’d developed the prototype on Thursday — the fourth day of the one-week sprint — which is typically handed over to prototype creation.

“A realistic façade is all we need for customer testing,” Nagel stressed. “If the customer understands the meaning or purpose of your product, then it’s good enough to get the first feedback. The product doesn’t need to be ready or do everything you think it needs. You just make a realistic approach.”

Quick generation

Claudius Peters also used a piece of the agile philosophy to reinvent parts of the clinker cooler using generative design. Generative design is a little agile, only the CAD system quickly finds design alternatives based on input parameters. Then, engineers select the best design to continue to work on.

While the transport bottom for the conveyer system obviously had to carry a lot of weight, Nagel and his team knew the part could be made lighter and smaller to reduce cost and material use. They had already taken a stab at redesigning the part and cut between 30 and 40% of its weight.

“After just one generative design session of a few hours, the team created a handful of new designs, including for one component they called ‘the alien part,’” said Nagel.

The CAD design for the alien part was up to 70% lighter than the model design department had previously optimized.

But the alien part would require 3D printing, which was not a production method for Claudius Peters. So, the team figured that they could implement key elements of the generative designs in a way that could be fabricated through casting and welding.

In the end, the team settled on a design that reduced the part’s weight by 44 lb through material reduction. The new design also translates into around $100 savings per part. Because there are often 60 to 100 of these parts in a clinker cooler, that weight and cost savings make a big difference.

“The generatively designed part was lighter, simpler, more easily available, and more cost-efficient,” said Nagel.

Claudius Peters was founded in 1906. Nagel points out that if a 117-year-old company that makes enormous products for traditional uses can undergo a digital transformation using agile and generative design, younger companies that make smaller, less complicated products can undoubtedly follow suit.

Claudius Peters
claudiuspeters.com

High-fidelity modeling in metal AM

April 10, 2023 By Rachael Pasini Leave a Comment

By Garrett Clyma, CFD Engineer • Flow Science.

Melt pool flow dynamics is a critical and often overlooked aspect of the metal 3D printing process. Changes in heat input, powder, and alloy properties directly impact the melt pool evolution, affecting a part’s quality and mechanical properties. Since the melting process occurs at the microscale in space and time, it is quite difficult to do in-situ measurement and characterization.

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation provides a detailed view of the physical phenomena during 3D printing. It directly models the melt pool fluid dynamics as the laser interacts with the metal powder. CFD software provides a level of control and accuracy that cannot be replicated by measurement or lower-fidelity models.

More than 40 years ago, C.W. Hirt, the founder of Flow Science, established a computational technique for tracking the evolution of an interface between two fluids with drastically different densities — such as the free surface between air and water. This technique, called the Volume of Fluid (VOF) method, is the foundation of Hirt’s commercial CFD software, FLOW-3D. Since its original development, FLOW-3D and the VOF method have been used in research and design processes for a range of applications, such as dam spillways, high-pressure die castings, and inkjet microfluidics.

In the last decade, Flow Science engineers applied the VOF method to melt pool dynamics in the metal AM industry. The result was FLOW-3D AM, which combines the fluid solver in FLOW-3D with laser physics and powder dynamics to model the full process of powder settling, spreading, melting, and solidification in laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) and directed energy deposition (DED), along with the dynamics of non-laser-based AM processes, such as binder jetting and material extrusion.

A screenshot of a Flow-3D AM directed energy deposition (DED) powder simulation. — FLOW-3D AM simulates powder-based DED process parameters, such as powder feed rate, laser power, and scan speed. Image courtesy of Flow Science.

In LPBF, metal powder is spread over a build plate and subsequently melted by a laser beam into a specific pattern. The process is repeated hundreds or thousands of times to build a part layer by layer. Using the discrete element method (DEM), engineers can simulate the powder settling and spreading process in detail by accounting for the particle collisions, powder size distribution, and geometry effects of the blade or roller that spreads and packs the powder layer.

Once the powder bed is generated, a CFD simulation models the laser-material interaction during the melting process. To do this accurately, engineers must account for the large body of relevant physics, including the viscosity of molten metal, surface tension, heat transfer, laser reflection and absorption, phase change, recoil pressure, and solidification, among others. Clearly, there is a lot going on.

The norm in metal additive manufacturing is to use thermomechanical simulations to predict part-scale stresses and distortions. While useful, these models are lower fidelity in nature and cannot accurately predict track geometry and defects, such as keyholing, balling, porosity, and lack of fusion, which are all related to the evolution of the melt pool. Process parameters must be optimized to reduce the formation of defects and provide a low scrap rate for additively manufactured parts to compete in the industry.

By adjusting the process input parameters, such as laser power and speed, scan path, beam shape, and powder size distribution, in the software, researchers and engineers receive deeper insights into the physical phenomena at play behind the process issues, which can then drive the development of process parameter windows.

A screenshot of a Flow-3D AM three-beam laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) simulation. — FLOW-3D AM simulates powder settling and spreading on an LPBF build plate, accounting for particle collisions, powder size distribution, and geometry effects of the blade or roller. Image courtesy of Flow Science.

Keep in mind that high-fidelity modeling is limited by its high computational cost. The large number of physics being solved for is computationally intensive, meaning that simulations are limited to the mesoscale — track lengths on the order of millimeters and single-digit layers. The software also does not directly solve for stress and microstructure formation, although information can be gained about both using the accurate thermal data from a simulation in other models.

Despite these limitations, the value of the information obtained using high-fidelity modeling tools like CFD is an order of magnitude higher than that gained from lower-fidelity, part-scale tools. But since the AM process involves multiple scales, process design must rely on multiple tools. As of now, there is no modeling tool that can do everything engineers need, so integration is key. Each company or university uses different measurement, simulation, and in-situ process tools, and it is imperative that these tools can communicate with each other.

“The overwhelming number of process parameters in AM calls for automated optimization tools based on physics-driven simulations,” said Marcin Serdeczny, Ph.D., CFD engineer at Flow Science. “To drastically reduce the cost and time of new developments, we can no longer rely on a trial-and-error experimental approach. Tools like FLOW-3D AM are exactly a step in that direction.”

As the metal 3D printing industry advances, high-fidelity simulation tools will play an even greater role in manufacturing. With continued advancements in computing power, material science, and machine learning, the accuracy and capabilities of these simulation tools will only improve.

FLOW-3D
flow3d.com

3D printing software for an open SLS system

February 13, 2023 By Rachael Pasini Leave a Comment

Software manufacturer CoreTechnologie has entered into a partnership with printer specialist Weirather to realize an open system for SLS 3D printing of high-quality plastic parts. With the new application, the user works in the 4D_Additive software seamlessly from the CAD model until the dispatch to the Weirather printer.

A Weirather 3D printer and screenshot of CoreTechnologie's 4D_Additive software. — CoreTechnologie and Weirather partner to create an open system for SLS 3D printing of high-quality plastic parts.

Full control and flexibility

In the Build Manager of the new software version, all slicer settings and laser parameters can be freely adjusted beyond the predefined parameter sets. The user thus has the full control and flexibility of an open system. The software has a modern, fast, and easy-to-use graphic interface and innovative features such as automatic 3D nesting with optimal heat distribution.

The open 4D_Additive SLS and SLM Build Manager provide access to all slicing parameters. Laser speeds, hatching strategies, and path distances for contour, hatching, upskin and downskin, and laser and Z-compensation can be adjusted by the user beyond the standard settings and optimized for other materials.

The individual layers of the print job, so-called slices, are simply stored on the Weirather machine via the network in a standard svg format. This ensures optimal traceability and transparency of the workflow. After saving the packed slices in wls format, the jobs are visible in the printer’s job list and can be started immediately. Moreover, the integration does not require an internet connection of the printer or a print server and is thus completely self-sufficient.

Seamless process

With the 4D_Additive software, for the first time it is possible to accurately check, repair, and prepare print jobs according to CAD engineering standards based on the original CAD geometry. The software reads all common native and standard formats and processes CAD data as well as STL models with the hybrid core. The new tool covers the entire process from CAD model to the 3D printer. The software’s native interfaces avoid additional generation of STL data in the CAD system. The exact, lightweight 3D data are also used for nesting and allow a very compact description of the print job.

Extensive application possibilities

The open and independent technology enables quick adaptations, such as for new materials. A current example is Weirather’s optimiazation of the printing of polypropylene materials especially for the medical sector and the food industry, which was realized in just a few days.

CoreTechnologie
coretechnologie.com

Simcenter helps streamline electrification engineering projects

January 30, 2023 By WTWH Editor Leave a Comment

The latest release of Simcenter software for mechanical simulation helps streamline electrification engineering projects, assists new aircraft meet margins of safety, simplifies durability testing across many industries and more.

“Addressing complex engineering challenges such as developing products that are more powerful, yet greener, lighter yet stronger requires a fully-integrated CAE solution,” said Jean-Claude Ercolanelli, Senior Vice President, Simulation and Test Solutions, Siemens Digital Industries Software. “The latest release of Simcenter offers a host of powerful enhancements to help engineers meet those challenges efficiently and significantly faster than ever before, whether that is getting tire contact simulations solved 45% quicker or reducing airframe structure preprocessing by up to 80%.

The highlights in this release are applicable across all industries and workflows and bring new functionality to the Simcenter family of products. Highlights include:

For those exploring Additive Manufacturing (AM), build process simulation is a must, particularly when dealing with metals-based powder-bed fusion production methods. The complex nature of these processes usually require the AM engineer to collaborate with an experienced CAE expert. The latest release of Siemens’ Simcenter 3D software introduces a simplified application for simulation of the powder-bed fusion (PBF) build process that is easy to use for engineers without in-depth CAE expertise. Using a robust voxel-based mesh in the background, it can quickly model and simulate the PBF build process, allowing engineers to gain a good understanding whether a part will build successfully. More detailed analysis can then be performed by CAE experts also using Simcenter 3D, thus enhancing collaboration.

Following on from the introduction of the ability to launch simulations on remote HPC systems directly from within Simcenter 3D, engineers now have the ability to review simulation results directly from the Remote Simulation interface. This helps engineers determine if simulation studies ran correctly before transferring large results files back to a local workstation for in-depth evaluation.

It is now possible to model rigid surfaces and porous materials in a free-field simulation. This means that seats and other absorbing surfaces can be modeled as heavy air or a real porous material, while the rest of the cabin is modeled with regular air fluid elements.

Electrification is a major trend across the Automotive industry and development of new Electric Vehicle (EV) powertrains tend to be broken into silos for e-motor design, transmission analysis, NVH and acoustics. Simcenter mechanical simulation tools can help automakers break these silos by helping critical load, design and model information to flow easily between each of these disciplines for EV powertrain development. Beyond EV development, additional new capabilities in this release improve simulation of other automotive applications from NVH, to tires, to windshield wiper performance. Highlights includes:

–The new contact pattern display in Simcenter 3D helps analyze wiper contact patterns. By modeling the wiper as a flexible body combined with contact elements, the new contact pattern display will show easy to interpret results of the wiper forces across the windshield, allowing the user to learn how consistently or inconsistently the forces are distributed and if the wiper design is working as expected, without the need for costly and time-consuming physical testing.

Finally, the latest release of Siemens’ Simcenter Tire software has an updated road contact algorithm to reduce the large amount of road data exchange required to build the high-fidelity tire models required for driving simulators and Hardware-in-the-Loop set-ups. This means that computational performance is increased by up to 45% enabling the use of high-fidelity tire models in real-time applications.

The stiffness of thin structural panels in airframe structures can change depending on whether the panels are in compression or tension. The new Tension Only Quad element can convert the shells into shear panels if panels go into compression.

For the Aerospace industry, new capabilities reduce the number of models needed to simulate the behavior of thin aircraft skins and perform margin of safety calculations more quickly than ever before. In addition to the new improved airframe applications, Simcenter can help engineers better understand rocket launch dynamics by simulating the liquid sloshing in fuel tanks. Highlights include:

New standard calculation templates have been added to the margin of safety analysis tools within Simcenter 3D. These new templates automatically prefill all the inputs based on a set of rules so the engineer just needs to select the geometry to apply calculation to – removing the traditional reliance of custom script development and the associated maintenance costs.

A new capability in Simcenter Nastran software helps airframe engineers with thin skinned airframe structures that have different stiffness behavior depending on the load case; tension (membrane) vs. compression (shear). Today, engineers typically create multiple models and properties to account for all the different loading conditions. The new tension-only-quad will change from membrane behavior to shear behavior automatically so only a single model is needed to represent an airframe structure – reducing simulation preprocessing time by up to 80%.

While not isolated to aerospace and rocket applications, liquid fuel sloshing dynamics in storage tanks can pose a challenge to guidance systems. In this latest release of Simcenter Nastran, the new incompressible fluid model helps to predict slosh frequencies and hydro-elastic modes. In other industries, it can also be used for evaluating sloshing in cargo, ballast or fuel tanks of large ships, automotive vehicles, rail cars and much more.

Engineers can now simulate the complex multi-disciplinary magnetostriction effects that cause transformer noise. In addition, you can use these forces directly for noise and vibration assessment without leaving Simcenter 3D

For the Industrial Machinery industry, machine uptime is the prime driver, but machine manufacturers often lack the time or resources to physically test their machines to their limits. Here, Simcenter can help with new capabilities to help durability prediction without the need for specialist knowledge. Highlights include:

Simcenter 3D overcomes the need for separate toolsets and knowledge for proper durability by streamlining and automating strength analysis. Simcenter 3D can automatically calculate the parameters needed to adhere to the industry standard FKM guidelines. This means engineers can conduct durability analysis directly from their stress analysis results, to ultimately help machines meet operation requirements.

Industrial power transformers need to meet strict noise emission standards and qualify the EMAG-Acoustics models for transformer development. Simcenter 3D can now simulate the complex multi-disciplinary magnetostriction effects that cause transformer noise very quickly and accurately. Additionally, the forces calculated can be used both for noise and vibration assessment allowing electromagnetics and acoustic performance simulation within a single environment.

Lastly, industrial machines often have rotating shafts spinning at high speeds which can also vibrate. Engineers use rotor dynamics simulation and Campbell diagrams to understand the vibration frequencies at various operating speeds – but these are only applicable to linear systems. When working with non-linear bushing systems, Simcenter 3D allows the calculation of complex modes during a nonlinear harmonic response to generate a Campbell diagram so that critical speeds of a nonlinear system can be assessed, providing a greater level of understanding of complex rotating components.

Siemens Digital Industries Software
www.sw.siemens.com

SprutCAM X Robot includes models of almost 700 robot mechanisms from world-renowned manufacturers

January 18, 2023 By Rachael Pasini Leave a Comment

SprutCAM X Robot software, developed by SprutCAM Tech in Limassol, Cyprus, provides a convenient and natural programming environment that simulates the interaction between an engineer, robot, tool, and product as closely as possible. In 2022, the number of models in the online Robot library was increased by three times.

Screenshot of SprutCAM MachineMaker robot library — SprutCAM X Robot software includes nearly 700 components from world-renowned manufacturers in its Robot Library.

To develop a control program for an industrial robot and simulate all robot functions in a virtual environment, a technologist-programmer needs to create a real-world cell with robot equipment and production components in a CAM system or integrate a cell from external software. The Machine Maker add-on, a zero-code robot cell builder for SprutCAM X, allows manufacturers and integrators to quickly create an accurate digital twin of any robotic cell using an online library that supports the largest selection of industrial robot brands.

The online Robot library now includes 675 components from brands such as KUKA, Fanuc, ABB, TeknoMotor, AMB (Kress), SCHUNK, OnRobot, Joulin, Schmalz, Regal, Universal Robots, Güdel, Meltio, among others:

Robots, including heavy-duty and cobots
Single axis, 2-axis, and 3-axis positioners
Actuators, including moving grippers (end effectors)
Railing
Fixed objects such as tables, controllers, and fencing

The developers team at SprutCAM Tech keeps the library up-to-date with the most popular equipment. Manufacturers and integrators can request to add a 3D model of a robot or another piece of equipment to the MachineMaker online library by emailing.