SmartDO - Design and Process Optimization

How many times do you struggle to find the most appealing design and fit the limited budget at the same time? Difficult to optimize Design for Manufacturing on your plastic part? We have a tool which can find its own way to the target, from design to process - SmartDO. Interested? Let’s have a peek at how it works!

Everyone loves appealing design - not only from aesthetic aspect, but also from functionality perspective. Designers plot us the future and engineers make it present. Lighter, stronger, cheaper..etc, all these fascinating terms increase limitations for engineers to create the magic. And the challenge always arises - How to optimize design for manufacturing?
Take the illustrated washing machine cover for example. Producing the lightest part is the target. But how to reach the goal from design to manufacturing? Here’s how we do it by using SmartDO.

Firstly, we started from functionality design. A lightest cover should still withstand all the external forces to a certain level. Therefore, we created a parametric model with adjustable thickness at the base and peripherial regions, also for the ribs and their positions. This paramteric model was then taken into structural analysis for design validation. Once this Model Creation – Validation loop was established, SmartDO was connected to this loop and intervened parameter changes via result examination until the optimal output was obtained.
NX and Ansys were used for parametric model creation and structural analysis respectively in this case. External loading constraints for the lightest part are – when applying 5kg loading in the center, maximum displacement should be less than 1.8mm and maximum stress should not exceed 23MPa.

By SmartDO design optimization, the optimal part reaches 16% weight reduciton while the maximum displacement is 1.77mm and maximum stress is 22.77MPa!

Would you like to know more about SmartDO?
Please contact us: + 49 (0)241-565 276-0 or send us an email to info@simpatec.com .