FE-DESIGN

Machine slide with reduced material usage and minimized deformation

Customer request

The optimization of a slide for a high-speed milling machine to be cross-accelerated with 2 g raised the question if the traditional box ripping used for this purpose was actually the best solution. A time-consuming manual study undertaken in 1997 had already shown a significant improvement in which deformation could be reduced by 50 % and the weight of the component by 15 %. Due to an improved castability of the mould, manufacturing costs were also reduced by 15 %. This part was used as a reference during the evaluation with the optimization software TOSCA Structure to determine if an even better design suggestion could be proposed.

Our solution: Topology optimization

The design space available was defined in the optimization model and the connecting surfaces of the component were excluded from the surrounding components to avoid any modifications. Areas that did not play a part in the force flow were successively reduced in their stiffness or removed during the algorithms from TOSCA Structure. Requirements pertaining to manufacturing methods could be included at this stage as in this example, such as confirmation of the demoldability etc. The design suggestion could be imported to the CAD system and could be converted to a castable design with very few modifications.

Benefit for the customer

This example achieved a further 30 % reduction in deformation compared to the manual solution of previous years. In comparison to the original box ribbing which represents the prevalent design in mechanical engineering, this design has an advantage of 65 %. When the automatic topological optimization process with TOSCA Structure is compared to a manual topology optimization, the time taken in engineering hours was only 22 % and computing time 32 %. A significant reduction in costs and time was achieved. Heidenreich & Harbeck AG has been able to position itself as a premium partner to its customers and to guard against economic fluctuations through the expansion of its engineering services by the use of topology optimization.

Traditional box ripping

Manual optimization (15% weight reduction)

Automatic topology optimization (further 2% weight reduction)

Deformation for design with traditional box ripping (4,8 μm maximum deflection)

Deformation for manually optimized design (2,8 μm maximum deflection)

Deformation for result of topology optimization (1,7 μm maximum deflection)

24.08.11