Altair Case Studies Innovative Lightweight Design and Manufacturing for Commercial Vehicles

	Innovative Lightweight Design and Manufacturing for Commercial Vehicles Altair

Innovative Lightweight Design and Manufacturing for Commercial Vehicles

Altair

Technology Category	Functional Applications - Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES)
Applicable Industries	Automotive Construction & Infrastructure
Applicable Functions	Facility Management Product Research & Development
Use Cases	Additive Manufacturing Rapid Prototyping
Challenge	Germany's largest independent engineering partner to the global automotive industry, EDAG, was seeking innovative processes to streamline vehicle development, particularly in the area of lightweight design for both passenger and commercial vehicles. The automotive industry is faced with the challenge of increasing fuel efficiency and meeting legal requirements on emissions, while ensuring safety and competitive pricing. Traditional methods of manufacturing often require design proposals to be adapted to manufacturing constraints, which can limit the potential for lightweight design. In a recent project, EDAG engineers were tasked with developing and manufacturing affordable lightweight constructions of a commercial vehicle that could meet individual customer specifications without major changes in production facilities. This required a process that not only offered the best design approach but also incorporated the requirements of the selected manufacturing method. Read More
About Customer	EDAG is Germany's largest independent engineering partner to the worldwide automotive industry. Founded by Horst Eckard in 1969, the company has grown to employ over 7900 employees worldwide and had a total turnover in 2013 of € 632 Million. EDAG offers its services to all of the automotive industry – from OEMs to suppliers and works with some of the most exciting automotive brands in the world. The company has widespread expertise in integrated development and in the production of vehicles, production facilities, derivatives, and modules. EDAG is continuously seeking new technology and innovative processes to streamline vehicle development, particularly in the area of lightweight design. Read More
Solution	EDAG leveraged its engineering knowledge to combine state-of-the-art computer-aided engineering tools with new production technologies such as additive manufacturing. The company used the best practice optimization tool OptiStruct to develop a lightweight biomimicry structure of a truck cabin and chassis, which was then manufactured using additive manufacturing methods. This combination of topology optimization and additive manufacturing allowed EDAG to fully benefit from the design freedom of additive manufacturing. The engineers conducted multi-physical optimizations and combined strength and crash demands of the vehicle to find the optimal solution for the final design. The result was an optimized frame structure that integrated a large number of functions and provided a significant weight advantage compared to a non-optimized structure, manufactured with conventional construction methods. A specially designed safety cell inside the cab was also designed and analyzed to protect occupants from typical injury risks in crash scenarios. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Functional Applications - Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES)

Applicable Industries

Automotive

Construction & Infrastructure

Applicable Functions

Facility Management

Product Research & Development

Use Cases

Additive Manufacturing

Rapid Prototyping

Challenge

Germany's largest independent engineering partner to the global automotive industry, EDAG, was seeking innovative processes to streamline vehicle development, particularly in the area of lightweight design for both passenger and commercial vehicles. The automotive industry is faced with the challenge of increasing fuel efficiency and meeting legal requirements on emissions, while ensuring safety and competitive pricing. Traditional methods of manufacturing often require design proposals to be adapted to manufacturing constraints, which can limit the potential for lightweight design. In a recent project, EDAG engineers were tasked with developing and manufacturing affordable lightweight constructions of a commercial vehicle that could meet individual customer specifications without major changes in production facilities. This required a process that not only offered the best design approach but also incorporated the requirements of the selected manufacturing method.

About Customer

EDAG is Germany's largest independent engineering partner to the worldwide automotive industry. Founded by Horst Eckard in 1969, the company has grown to employ over 7900 employees worldwide and had a total turnover in 2013 of € 632 Million. EDAG offers its services to all of the automotive industry – from OEMs to suppliers and works with some of the most exciting automotive brands in the world. The company has widespread expertise in integrated development and in the production of vehicles, production facilities, derivatives, and modules. EDAG is continuously seeking new technology and innovative processes to streamline vehicle development, particularly in the area of lightweight design.

Solution

EDAG leveraged its engineering knowledge to combine state-of-the-art computer-aided engineering tools with new production technologies such as additive manufacturing. The company used the best practice optimization tool OptiStruct to develop a lightweight biomimicry structure of a truck cabin and chassis, which was then manufactured using additive manufacturing methods. This combination of topology optimization and additive manufacturing allowed EDAG to fully benefit from the design freedom of additive manufacturing. The engineers conducted multi-physical optimizations and combined strength and crash demands of the vehicle to find the optimal solution for the final design. The result was an optimized frame structure that integrated a large number of functions and provided a significant weight advantage compared to a non-optimized structure, manufactured with conventional construction methods. A specially designed safety cell inside the cab was also designed and analyzed to protect occupants from typical injury risks in crash scenarios.

Impact #1	The combination of optimization and additive manufacturing opened up revolutionary opportunities in the commercial vehicle sector. The flexibility of the manufacturing method allowed for the creation of designs inspired by nature that were customized to the individual requirements of the use case with optimal material usage. The engineers realized that complex, topologically designed geometries could be manufactured from data sets in series and that in a wide range of models without limitations, without tools and in one production step. This paved the way for the technical and economic manufacture of customized trucks for all operating requirements. The use of OptiStruct and optimization in general played an important role in extending the development capabilities and including manufacturing requirements in the design process right from the start.

Impact #1

The combination of optimization and additive manufacturing opened up revolutionary opportunities in the commercial vehicle sector. The flexibility of the manufacturing method allowed for the creation of designs inspired by nature that were customized to the individual requirements of the use case with optimal material usage. The engineers realized that complex, topologically designed geometries could be manufactured from data sets in series and that in a wide range of models without limitations, without tools and in one production step. This paved the way for the technical and economic manufacture of customized trucks for all operating requirements. The use of OptiStruct and optimization in general played an important role in extending the development capabilities and including manufacturing requirements in the design process right from the start.

Benefit #1	Significant weight advantage compared to non-optimized structures manufactured with conventional methods
Benefit #2	Fully meets the ECE R29-3 standard (EU regulation for passenger safety in vehicle cabins) which will come into force in 2017
Benefit #3	Optimized interface between the chassis and cab thanks to the degrees of design freedom gained by using additive manufacturing methods

Benefit #1

Significant weight advantage compared to non-optimized structures manufactured with conventional methods

Benefit #2

Fully meets the ECE R29-3 standard (EU regulation for passenger safety in vehicle cabins) which will come into force in 2017

Benefit #3

Optimized interface between the chassis and cab thanks to the degrees of design freedom gained by using additive manufacturing methods

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Overview

Innovative Lightweight Design and Manufacturing for Commercial Vehicles

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit