DESIGNING MASS-OPTIMIZED PARTS USING SOLIDTHINKING INSPIRE WITH APPLICATION TO THE HYPERLOOP DEPLOYABLE WHEEL SYSTEM

摘要

Today's automotive and aerospace engineers are often faced with conflicting design goals; design for low cost or low weight. While advancements in aerospace materials, such as carbon fiber composites, have allowed engineers to design lighter parts, the cost to manufacture these parts is still very high. Similarly, recent advancements in additive manufacturing demonstrate an ability to produce lightweight, stiff structures, with a promise of future economic benefits including fuel savings, a result of optimized production part design. To realize additive manufacturing's benefits as they pertain to weight savings, design engineers must re-examine their approach to part and product design. This well-known challenge to improve the state of current design methods is being addressed through a "design for additive manufacturing" movement that remains an ongoing subject of interest in the additive manufacturing and design communities. The present paper demonstrates the use of the industrial software tool, solidThinking Inspire, as a preliminary study and detail design weight reduction tool for additive manufacturing. To illustrate the software's usefulness, a primary structural component of the Hyperloop Deployable Wheel System, developed at Ryerson University, was selected for optimization, and designed for additive metal manufacturing production. The significant weight savings and material savings realized are presented while the potential for fast design, development and production of the part are highlighted in a step-by-step process.