Fraunhofer IAPT introduces Additive Design Toolkit for Synera
The Fraunhofer Research Institution for Additive Production Technologies (IAPT), Hamburg, Germany, has released an Additive Design Toolkit (ADT) for Synera, an automation platform specifically designed for engineers. This toolkit is designed to help with the unique challenges posed by Additive Manufacturing.
With Additive Manufacturing, small geometric features, cavities, and varying surface qualities can have a significant impact on the final part’s quality and integrity. Additionally, determining the optimal part orientation and support structure placement can be challenging due to the complexity of freeform geometries in AM.
The Additive Design Toolkit looks to address these challenges and streamlines the design process for Additive Manufacturing, assisting engineers in evaluating and optimising parts via Design for AM.
The ADT offers a range of features in hopes to facilitate the evaluation and optimisation of part designs for Additive Manufacturing such as the:
- Evaluation of part design, with the ADT helping to identify small geometric features, cavities, and surface regions that may impact the final build quality
- Support structure estimation, whereby ADT determines the optimal location and volume of support structures is crucial for successful Additive Manufacturing
- The ADT can seamlessly integrate with part design optimisation workflows, enabling engineers to explore various design candidates and manufacturing orientations efficiently
The Additive Design Toolkit aims to reduce the time and effort required for manual design guideline checks. This helps to decrease engineering costs and speed up the design iteration process. Additionally, it looks to automate the AM process, enabling the evaluation of large numbers of design options quickly and effectively. The ADT also looks to lower the barrier to adoption of AM by empowering newcomers by providing tools and insights that simplify the design process.
