Global engineering company Renishaw is working with ‘autonomous topology optimisation’ expert ParaMatters to give manufacturers access to efficiently manufactured metal 3-D printed parts.
ParaMatters’ CogniCAD cloud solution enables users to easily upload part geometries for optimisation and automatically produce lightweight “macro, meso and lattice structures” using generative design principles backed up by high-resolution finite element analysis (FEA) validation.
ParaMatters says CogniCAD users are no longer constrained by traditional complex CAD/CAE/CAM tools; they can simply upload their part and follow the intuitive CogniCAD work-flow and interface to prepare a printable model.
Renishaw (
www.renishaw.com) has already used CogniCAD to reduce the weight of the upper mounting bracket for the Nightstalker motorcycle from ECOSSE Moto Works.
Michael Bogomolny, co-founder and CTO of ParaMatters (
www.paramatters.com), said: “We worked with Renishaw to establish a smooth work-flow that made it possible to automate the entire process from design to manufacturing.
"CogniCAD uses topology optimisation, computational geometry and high-performance computing to autonomously generate designs that are adapted to make the best use of AM.”
ParaMatters produced a design for the motorcycle bracket, which included a lattice structure to reduce the weight of the part.
Once redesigned, the bracket’s structural performance was validated using FEA (provided by CogniCAD) and assessed by fitting it on the motor-cycle; the results exceeded expectations. The final bracket was 35% lighter than the original part, the maximum stress was 20% less, and the fundamental natural frequency of the part was 2% greater.
In a new extension of the collaboration, Renishaw will use CogniCAD at its AM Solutions Center in West Dundee, Chicago.
ParaMatters will join Renishaw’s network of software vendors and will provide a ‘click to print’ capability.