product design | Simulation
issues,” Henry says. Gaining access to project critical information earlier in the design process is one of the key benefits that the latest predictive tools can deliver, according to Henry. Few product designers are familiar with every aspect of plastics moulding or understand that simply added features such as grilles or fillets can cause complex problems further down the development path. That’s where the integration of some of the basic predictive tooling features of Moldflow into the CAD
will not be a problem. It could be that more warpage is predicted, for example.
That may mean extra mould closed time unless it is designed out,” Henry explains. The situation is even more challenging where there
Above:
Optimising part filling helps manage risk
is no previous project or process experience to fall back on, says Henry. Then, predictive tools can be used to tell the moulder whether a project is even feasible. “The tools are there today to allow people to assess whether a design is feasible from both a performance point of view and a manufacturing point of view. They can yield information on part weight, shot weight, cycle time, and even as far as lifecycle or fatigue perform- ance. This information allows a moulder to make a judgement on whether they are able to take on a job and to go to the quotation knowing just what the project entails,” he says. “It gives the user a lot more confidence. If modifica-
Below:
Simulation tools can give designers greater confidence
tions are required to make the project manufacturable they can go back to their customer and say: ‘This project will need this modification or these changes, are you willing to do that?’ It’s much better to have that information before the moulds have been made, the first parts have been produced and you are facing
environment can be really beneficial. “The designer can see in the CAD system how a part will fill, where the sink marks and air traps might be, and the potential mould costs. They can also get help with undercuts and draft angles and there are alerts that can warn about excess thickness or pressure to fill. There is even the opportunity for the CAD designer to check things such as impacts on cost and on the environment –the ability to be recycled,” he says. These basic Moldflow tools are available as add-ons
to Autodesk Inventor and ProEngineer, with a similar suite under development for the Solidworks environ- ment. Files can also be imported from other CAD platforms direct into Moldflow. Henry points out that these basic tools do not replace the functionality of its standalone Moldflow Advisor and Insight products, but they bring a certain amount of qualified design verifica- tion into the early stage of design. “This CAD based approach is all about getting a
design to production quicker,” says Henry. “The traditional way was for the part designer to give the design to somebody to analyse for any potential issues and it would go backwards and forwards from there. But if the part designers can start to see issues at the design stage, then what is passed on will be a more finely tuned component with more of the issues eliminated.” By bringing manufacturing considerations earlier
into the design process it is possible to make major impacts on leadtimes and costs, Henry argues. He points to the example of Microsoft, where predictive tools are used at the concept stage on parts such as keyboard bases to determine any potential filling or warping problems before any features or details have been incorporated. As the design moves along it can be optimised throughout by a process of continual and repeating predictive analysis loops. “That’s the word we like to use now – optimised. But
rather than optimise at one stage of the process we are optimising at every stage. Moldflow used to be a troubleshooting tool but now it is being used up front,” he says.
One of the areas where this “optimisation” is making 50 InjECTIOn wOrlD | january/February 2012
www.injectionworld.com
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