3D Print Pod Prototype is a part of the International Hyperloop Pod Competition hosted in Valencia 2021. From the mind of Elon Musk, the motive was to create the fifth mode of transport was born and then entrusted in the capable hands of university students all around the world.
One of the most promising was Hyperloop CHF team which employed the use of the BCN3D Epsilon W50 and BCN3D materials for molding and end-use parts for their unique streamlined 3D printed POD prototype.
Objective OF Hyperloop Competition
The basis of the Hyperloop competition is to build upon the blueprint for a superfast train that will change the future of the way we travel. Essentially, passengers will be contained in a protective pod that ‘floats’ above the track, for a luxurious journey to reach destinations in record timing.
3D Print Pod Prototype to Accelerate Process
The ecosystem between the design programs and 3D printing technology was easy to introduce, faster, and more efficient and thus boosted their workflow. Saving time and money and having more freedom in their design gave Hyperloop CHF the upper edge they were looking for.
3D printed end-use parts were also included directly in the stabilization system. Wheels were printed in TPU for its ability to withstand high temperatures and its strength. The brackets were made of carbon fiber for a sturdy, reliable support system. Hyperloop CHF explored a variety of different materials to see how the properties could advance their prototype. They came to the conclusion that ABS would perform best in this case for its high-temperature resistance.
The team was proud to be one of only 4 out of 11 teams to pass all the tests, an extra impressive feat as the only team from a vocational training center to make it to this stage. The next move for the finalists is to persevere with their goal of reaching 550kmph and improve by focusing on the propulsion system and outer shell. An invaluable learning curve that has equipped the students with the knowledge of 3D printing design and production and set them up for a future of making waves in Industry 4.0.
3D printing technology is rapidly changing the way manufacturers in all industries across the globe manage their production processes. There must be something unique about this cutting-edge technology for so many companies to be adopting it at an accelerated pace – but what exactly is so exceptional about 3D printing, and why should you care?
The fast iteration of 3D printing, in combination with the diverse materials that are available, make it perfect for prototyping. Shoe company Camper’s use case is a great example. The fast and precise prototyping made possible with 3D printers gave Camper’s designers the creative freedom they needed to validate new designs quickly and easily test out new materials.
By employing 3D printing in the model creation process, doctors like Gustavo Nari have been able to develop and fabricate more accurate and sophisticated biomedical models. This in turn has led to an improved surgical planning process.
CIM UPC found that they could save up to 3-8 thousand euros on one of their projects by switching from traditional methods like SLS, MJF, and MS to in-house 3D printing. They were able to manufacture parts in less than 48 hours at a lower cost per part, while also using the same materials used in injection molding.
2.Robotics through Additive Manufacturing
Not only does 3D printing make it easy to create parts for robots, it is even possible to manufacture an entire robot using a 3D printer. the BCN3D Moveo robotic arm is open source and reproducible by 3D printers at a low cost, with parts which can easily be modified and customized for the exact use case.
3. Mountain Rescue Motorcycle Parts manufacture through 3D Printing
The team at ELISAVA was able to use the Epsilon W50 to produce big end-use parts, such as the fender, for a mountain rescue motorcycle. A total of 19 end-use parts were created using 3D FFF technology and a variety of different materials.
3D Printing Light Fixtures through the use of biodegradable materials which are a renewable resource made from Nature. These lights are available in Unique shapes and sizes depending on the requirements.
Customizing has always been an issue of cost in designing specific or different sizes as the required quantity of the product is low.
This branch of brand Lichtdivisie designs and produces environmentally friendly light fixtures to cater to projects of all needs and specifications.
With a name derived from the Japanese word for being at one with nature, they follow through with this philosophy with the help of some BCN3D Sigma D25 printers, in order to minimize waste and utilize biodegradable materials.
“As a company, we feel responsible to produce environmentally friendly products in order to reduce the pollution of traditional methods.” – Luisa Cisneros, Marketing Manager at Yuugn.
This company uses biodegradable PLA enhanced with carbon fiber is employed for its strength and resistance to high temperatures, two vitally important considerations in the lighting industry.
The IDEX Technology in the Sigma Series saves time, money, space and is eco-friendly. It also allows for fast prototyping of the customized pieces required for each client, and the ability to produce locally also contributes to a more ecological output.
“I would recommend the 3D printers of BCN3D to all companies who want to experiment with more environmentally friendly production methods.” – Martijn Broekhuis, CEO of Yuugn.
So what lies ahead for the bright future of Yuugn? The company hopes to continue in its exploration of new eco-friendly materials and one day use solar power as a direct way of powering its printers. The pairing of the values that Yuugn deeply cares about with 3D printing as the tool that allows them to do so is allowing the company to set the standard for other manufacturers hoping to make a difference.
Siemens Teamcenter facilitates communication between people in product designs throughout organizations where the electrical and mechanical engineers are often hundreds, maybe thousands, of miles apart.
Unfortunately, sharing and aligning the overwhelming amount of designs can be unmanageable, making this simple task risky to any collaborative project. But good news, electrical ECAD MCAD collaboration using PLM can make the process no longer a headache.
Corporations with multiple activities and domains are looking for their single source of truth that can be lost in the remote communications of a global company. Therefore, there is a need for a single system that supports ECAD MCAD collaboration, including the work in progress designs, changes, final output, and documentations.
Siemens Teamcenter PLM
ECAD MCAD Collaboration
Teamcenter is the solution for collaborating designs between ECAD and MCAD products. It is capable of delivering a unique arrangement of designs eliminating the misalignment in the design lifecycle process.
By managing the electrical harness designs that represent the Electrical CAD and Mechanical CAD, Teamcenter then takes the designs through a seamless life cycle from inception to manufacturing.
Teamcenter communicates with Capital and NX
The video below walks you through how Teamcenter seamlessly works to align electrical ECAD MCAD collaboration. The video starts with an electrical engineer who wants to create a logical design from the electrical subsystem. The electrical engineer sends the design through Teamcenter to control the flow of information to the mechanical harness. This is happening while the mechanical engineer is concurrently developing the packaging space of the harness in the product context.
The mechanical engineer modifies the MCAD model in Siemens NX to accommodate physical connectivity to devices or other harnesses in the product platform. The mechanical engineer communicates the modification and limitations back in Teamcenter. The electrical engineer then receives the modifications through the change manager in the capital harness and decides to update the harness drawing in the capital harness.
This process improves the communications between the electrical and the mechanical engineers using the Teamcenter integrations and solves the problem of wrong designs that leads to manufacturing an incompatible product (harness).Teamcenter seamlessly works to align electrical ECAD MCAD collaboration
Electrical and Mechanical Design Management Integration
ECAD MCAD collaboration across the globe can be unmanageable, increasing the risk level of any collaborative project. Teamcenter manages the flow of designs and the links of those designs effortlessly. It doesn’t matter whether they are electrical or mechanical representations. Teamcenter works with any analysis and has a single source of truth. As a result, you will never need to worry about working in a remote or global environment within your organization or in the customer-vendor relationship.
Siemens Teamcenter Product Cost Management supports cost engineering in designing and implementing specifications at the lowest total cost of ownership, and lowest carbon emission, and in balancing the design with the costs of procurement, manufacturing, and assembly. With the provided robust database, benchmark data, and analytic capabilities, product and tool costs can be calculated with near-surgical precision.
With Teamcenter Product Cost Management version 9.3, we have further expanded our capabilities enabling customers to benefit from the latest innovations. With the following, I’d like to share with you some of the main improvements.
Siemens Teamcenter : Optimizing product, and carbon emission strategies through environmental and economic transparency
The carbon footprint calculator for Siemens Teamcenter Product Cost Management 9.3 provides the opportunity for cost engineers to calculate carbon emission along with their cost calculations. Teamcenter Product Cost Management supports the calculation of emissions for energy usage in production systems, calculation of emissions based on used raw materials, purchased parts, and material compositions. This is then rolled up the assembly tree for a result.
Calculation of carbon emissions for a door panel switch
The carbon footprint calculator is aimed to be used at the early stages of the product life cycle within the development process, and not after the start of production where typically legacy systems take the lead from then onwards. The emission factors are hosted in the multidimensional master data (with dimensions like region, customer, supplier, date, or any other), and the solution looks up the best value for the end-user depending on the calculation parameters. The final goal is to allow cost engineers to manage a full roll-up, for both, cost and carbon footprint predictions. Teamcenter Product Cost Management supports you in analyzing the cost and environmental footprint of a product at each stage of the development process which provides greater transparency, enables smarter trade-offs, and informs stronger CO2-emission strategies.
Accurate “should cost” calculations with improved and extended knowledge database
We continuously update our location database with the latest actuals for wages and labor burden, prices for natural gas and electricity, rental costs, and interest rates. With version 9.3, 65 countries and a total of 543 regions within the Americas, APAC, and EMEA with new global location data are available. We also implemented an “overview at a glance” for selected countries which provides insight into our research methodology. The machine data content is enhanced frequently. There are also new rubber injection molding machines added to the database.
Updated global production site and machine data
Extend global reference data by material prices and overhead rates
The key factors for successful “should costing” are the right material prices and overhead rates. Therefore, there is a new full-fledged global reference data module that includes raw material prices and industry average overhead rates.
In version 9.3, there are 10,000 ferrous, nonferrous, and plastic materials. The material prices and overhead data consist of more than 10,000 standard material prices for major standards of materials.
Extend Global Reference Data by Material PricesMaterial Classification and Material Details
Furthermore, overhead reference data newly contains material overhead cost (MOC); residual manufacturing overhead costs (RMOC); sales, and general administration costs (G&A); research, and development cost overheads (R&D) from more than 65 countries. Customers that are dependent on the automotive industry will receive insights into automotive industry-specific material prices and overhead rates that are segmented on region level.
Extend Global Reference Data by Overhead RatesResidual Manufacturing Overheads
Updates are made 1-2 times per year on reference data: production sites, substance, machines, overheads, and knowledge domain processes data. On the new material prices data, the updates are provided 4 times per year.
Try to imagine doing this on your own… What will be the cost be? How many opportunities would you be missing out on? With the value provided by Teamcenter Product Cost Management 9.3, you can save time and money by leading the research on your own and completing “should cost” calculations much faster.
Precise quotes by supporting custom list-properties in project assumptions during multi-year lifetime calculation
With version 9.3, you can select for every item in the project assumptions custom list properties that are used in lifetime calculation. This capability provides you an extra dimension in quotation and control of prices used in the lifetime calculation. More precise quotes are provided since project-specific custom list properties can be selected for material, cost factors, and exchange rates.
Quick quotation solution for toolmakers as software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering
The NX Mold Connect application (available October 1st) is a cloud-native collaboration platform for designers and mold makers to facilitate injection molded part manufacturing by design validation and cost estimation. Within the SaaS solution NX Mold Connect, you can execute different designs for manufacturing analysis. You can also perform feature recognition analysis like NX Feature2Cost. With the analysis of the part, ribs, undercuts, and openings will then be determined. These values can be used for a quotation in Teamcenter Tool Costing.
Further improved and new capabilities in Teamcenter Product Cost Management
Teamcenter includes further enhancements and new capabilities to support improved usability and increased performance, such as automatic saving of the table configuration on the user level, new master data documents in the new user interface, and much more.
With the new updates, you can balance emissions with cost impact across the entire product portfolio. Further, you can lead short and long-term cost and carbon footprint scenario planning by monitoring product-cost impact over time, including market dynamics.
