Introduction to Product Design
Once a manufacturing company decides to launch a new product, the first thing they look at is the design of the product. Product design optimization facilitates companies to optimize the product shape, size, topology and topography. This in turns reduces the weight of the product and still enhances its strength. It helps companies analyze the product design to identify the weaker design areas which might not be able to perform under the desired stress, conditions or boundaries or loads. It then also highlights the areas in the product design that might not require the material layer thickness as much as it is provided. The modern intuitive optimization solutions then produce the design that removes the material from the areas in the product design where that much of material might not be required and provided additional support to the weaker areas in the product design by adding more material. Product design optimization thus subtracts and / or adds material to strengthen and enhance the product performance. It reduces the material from the unwanted areas in the product design and adds the material where it is much required. It enables the users to optimize the use of material and nowhere do the companies have to compromise on the quality of the product.
Product Design Optimization Explained
Since there may be many other products in the market that offer the same features, it is important for manufacturing companies to design a product in such a way that it is unique. The process of introduction, growth, maturity and decline of a product is termed as product lifecycle management or PLM.
The product design process typically consists of the following steps:
At each stage of product design, the engineer / designer has to work under the following constraints:
- Functional constraints (overall geometry, forces involved, etc.)
- Operational and environmental safety constraints
- Quality constraints
- Manufacturing constraints (production, assembly, transport, etc.)
- Time constraint (design delivery schedule, production schedule, etc.)
In addition, product design engineers also have to deal with aesthetic constraints, legal constraints as well as ergonomic constraints.
Altair’s OptiStruct™ it a well tool for Product design optimization. It takes a CAD file, mounting constraints, material used and loading forces as an input to analyze it. The automatic optimization algorithm then performs many iterations automatically and provides an approximate ideal material distribution pattern to optimize the product weight. User can utilize this pattern to develop a suitable optimized CAD model. In the process it also performs stress analysis on the product to understand the weaker and the stronger parts of the component. It also facilitates design optimization by reducing the thickness of the material from the unwanted places. All these processes make the product lighter and still retain or even enhance its strength. It also simplifies shape optimization through automated shape vector generation for boundary shape changes.
This technology facilitates to produce robust but still lighter products at reduced costs. It thus increases the profitability and provides users the competitive edge over the others.
Product Design Optimization Services
Product design is a specialized service that requires engineering knowledge as well as an artistic lookout. There are numerous parameters that govern the design of a new product. Take the simple case of designing a bumper for a new car in the field of automobile engineering. It has to be sturdy, lightweight, rust and water resistant and also gel well with the design of the car. It also should not exceed the overall permitted length of the car, should be made from material that is easily available and be cost effective. Product design optimization thus requires specialized software and domain experts to interpret and optimize the parameters. Most of the time, companies want to concentrate on manufacturing and marketing a product rather than design it. They therefore prefer to outsource the entire product design optimization process to companies that specialize in this service.
What to Look for…
A good product design optimization services company should: