Altair to reveal new design processes and software tools for Additive Manufacturing
October 19, 2016
Development of the Airbus APWorks’ Light Rider electric
Altair, headquartered in Troy, Michigan, USA, has announced it will showcase the latest versions of its software at this year’s formnext powered by TCT, in Frankfurt, Germany, November 15-18. The company will display its simulation software suite HyperWorks® 14.0, concept design and optimisation tools solidThinking Evolve® and Inspire® 2016, highlighting new design processes for the development and manufacturing of innovative products.
In addition, Altair and its customers will also present their projects developed with Altair’s software solutions. Highlights at the booth will be Altair’s Simulation-driven Innovation™ approach, the development process chain of the Airbus APWorks’ Light Rider, the world’s first prototype of an additive manufactured electric motorcycle, the 3D printed antenna bracket by RUAG Space and the entire development and manufacturing processes of a cast aluminium component, developed jointly with Altair’s partners HBM nCode and voxeljet.
The frame design of the Airbus APWorks’ Light Rider that will be displayed at the event is an example of the symbiosis of topology optimisation and Additive Manufacturing. Its structure is based on optimisation results generated with Altair’s OptiStruct® technology, supported by HyperMesh® for pre-processing tasks such as meshing and HyperView® for post-processing the analysis results.
The cast aluminium component also to be displayed at the booth was designed and optimised with Inspire, then nCode DesignLife was applied to conduct a fatigue analysis and finally solidThinking’s Click2Cast® software was used for a casting simulation. The created design resulted in a casting mould, 3D-printed by voxeljet. This process ensured that the component benefited from all of the positive characteristics that 3D printing and casting offer.
“We are very much looking forward to presenting our solutions, including our Simulation-driven Innovation approach at formnext,” stated Mirko Bromberger, Director Marketing and Additive Manufacturing Strategies at Altair Engineering. “Additive manufacturing is making headlines across industry as companies discover and take advantage of the inherent flexibility as well as the potential weight advantages the method offers, when combined with design optimisation techniques. As we will present with the example of the Light Rider, when topology optimisation and Additive Manufacturing are combined, it is possible to produce a structure that is lighter and stiffer than a traditionally manufactured part. The visitors to formnext can expect a very broad and informative program, highlighting solutions for the different production and engineering disciplines.”
Visit Altair at formnext, hall 3.1/booth E 50 and at the TCT conference programs in hall 4.2.
