APPLIED TECHNOLOGY DESIGN SOFTWARE DRIVING THE EFFICIENT DESIGN OF MACHINERY
Group Rhodes is an OEM which supplies an extensive range of machinery for metalforming, material handling and special purpose applications, particularly in the aerospace sector. It also specialises in the design and manufacture of technical fabrications and structural assemblies to international standards. Over the last decade the manufacturer has been working
with Symetri, which has supplied it with Autodesk design software solutions. Although it initially worked exclusively in 2D, it has more recently focused on migrating its designers to 3D software based around Autodesk Inventor 3D mechanical CAD design software, which helps drive the
efficient and effective design of the kind of large assemblies the manufacturer works on every day. Commenting on this, Ben Jennings, design office manager, said: “We predominantly use Inventor to ‘lay
out’ machines. We produce a conceptual design using Inventor, and are then able to generate accurate manufacturing drawings. Relevant parts can then be machined in a special manufacturing facility at the Wakefield site. Inventor can also be used to produce fabrication drawings as and when needed. Group Rhodes then uses this information to produce another set of drawings which effectively ‘tells’ the fitters and service engineers how to assemble the machines. Using the Autodesk tool has significantly reduced the time taken to produce designs, arrangement drawings and other ‘detailing’.” In addition, Inventor is also used for marketing purposes. Jennings adds: “As all of our products are
customised rather than being part of a standard range, it is important we can use the rendering capabilities of the tool to show off our work in 3D to prospective customers.” Group Rhodes is also using Autodesk Vault for file management and still makes use of 2D AutoCAD
Mechanical software. Symetri has played a key role in implementing all of the Autodesk software – introducing Group Rhodes to the new solutions, providing technical support and installing software upgrades as and when required. It has also run specific training on the Autodesk Inventor software. Currently, the company has over 20 design engineers in its design offices in Yorkshire and Lancashire. When
needed, around a third can be spared for intensive bespoke training on the Autodesk software, provided by Symetri but tailored to Group Rhodes’ specific needs, particularly with regards to heavy engineering design in which the company specialises. After a short induction period, new designers will typically be sent on an in-depth training course on the Autodesk software. In the future, the pace of technological change in Group Rhodes’
core markets – from oil and gas to clay working, and from aerospace to environmental – looks set to accelerate still further. Autodesk software, plus the design expertise and support of Symetri, and Group Rhodes’ own focus on quality and innovation, will position the manufacturer well as it looks to build further on its success.
Symetri
www.symetri.co.uk Enter 200
SIMULATION SOFTWARE
Cressall’s liquid cooled resistor EV2 can be deployed alone or in banks. In the latter case an input manifold is required, the design of which was critical to creating a resistor with suitable cooling for medium voltage industrial applications. The design was achieved by using
ANSYS multi-physics engineering simulation software. An initial manifold design was produced in Autodesk Inventor and then imported into ANSYS. Next, the ANSYS Boolean capability was used to ‘invert’ the model and obtain the manifold’s enclosed cavity shape. ANSYS then generates a finite element mesh of this cavity, and once boundary conditions for the manifold wall and inputs/outputs are applied, the model can be solved and the output flow rates calculated. The first results showed that the central outlets received more fluid flow than the ones at the extremities. To correct this, some design
modifications were necessary. However, the ANSYS model could easily be adjusted to investigate the effect of various diameter combinations. A final design was chosen such that the maximum mass flow variation across all outlets was reduced to just 8%. This satisfies the requirement for each resistor in the bank to receive the same cooling effect.
Cressall Resistors T: 0116 273 3633
www.cressall.com
Enter 201
Power distribution from the smallest to the largest.
ENCLOSURES POWER DISTRIBUTION CLIMATE CONTROL
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