Latest News
December 1, 2004
By DE Editors
ESPRIT 2005 certified for autodesk inventor 9The ESPRIT 2005 CAM system has been named an Autodesk Inventor Certified Applicationbecause of its robustness and interoperability with Autodesk Inventor 9, saysits manufacturer DP Technology. ESPRIT now accepts Autodesk Inventor 9 part and3D mechanical design system assembly files with a simple push-button transferfrom within Autodesk Inventor. The feature is free to Inventor end users as anadd-in solution and is available on DP Technology’s website.
ESPRIT covers programming for 2- to 5-axis milling, 2- to 22-axis turning, 2-to 5-axis wire EDM, multitasking mill-turn machining, and B-axis machine tools.The company says that ESPRIT 2005’s feature exchange technology allows clearerCAD to CAM communication, streamlines the CNC programming process, and createsgreater programming automation, eliminating the time required for input and verificationof data associated with part features. Its process-driven adaptive technologymakes use of end-user expertise and in-house programming skills, which are storedin the patent-pending KnowledgeBase. This database automatically chooses the mostsuitable process to machine a given feature, including cycles, cutting tools,speeds and feeds, and all associated machining parameters.
Other improvements in the latest version include new options in dynamic solidsimulation, a redesigned user interface to simplify defining the physical characteristicsof the NC machine, new milling settings for high-speed surface roughing, a newwire EDM feature selection that speeds and automates programming, and additionalrotary milling support for faster, more flexible rotary machining with an enhancedWrap Contouring machining cycle. For more information, visit dptechnology.com.
DP Technology
Autodesk
Semiconductor Thermal Models Now Availableon SmartParts3D.com
Design engineers can now download complex, calibrated thermal models of powersemiconductor packages from Philips to incorporate in their Flotherm simulationsvia the SmartParts3D website. The approach saves time and also increases thermalmodeling accuracy using models created and validated by experts at Flomerics andPhilips. Models are available now for the TO220 series packages, and models forisolated TO220, D2-PAK, D-PAK, SOT223, SO8, and LFPAK packages are expected tofollow soon.
The web-based library at SmartParts3D.com contains models for fans, heat sinks,air filters, and interface materials as well as IC and power semiconductor packages.The library is searchable by part family, description, manufacturer, model number,and performance criteria. Companies already contributing to SmartParts3D includeBergquist, Chomerics, Delta, Dow Corning, ETRI, Honeywell Electronic Materials,HS Marston Aerospace, Micronel, Papst, Sanyo Denki, Thermagon, Universal Air Filters,and many others. For more information, visit flomerics.com.
Flomerics
SmartParts3D
Philips
MfgQuote will use SolidWorks’ free eDrawings 2D and 3D CAD viewing applicationas the publish and view technology on MfgQuote.com, its online marketplace forbuying and selling custom manufacturing services. According to MfgQuote CEO andPresident Mitch Free, “collaboration between buyers and suppliers is a crucialpart of sourcing. ... With eDrawings our buyers can securely show their drawingsto prospective suppliers without revealing sensitive design data.”
With eDrawings suppliers are able to view and interrogate design files that haveenough detail to accurately submit quotes for production. Some have describedeDrawings as doing for CAD drawings what Adobe Reader has done for printed documents.SolidWorks says eDrawings can be sent via the Internet using 95 percent less bandwidththan traditional CAD files.
MfgQuote
Solidworks Corp
Softcover International has decided to offer the raster editing and drawing toolsof its low-cost professional raster-to-vector converter, Scan2CAD, free of chargeto any PC CAD user who needs to clean up dirty scanned drawings. The free editorcan be downloaded with a working evaluation copy of Scan2CAD v7 from softcover.com.
Version 7 automatically converts scanned paper drawings (rasters) into editableDXF (vector) files for editing in any PC CAD program. Tidying up a dirty scanis an essential part of this process. The Scan2CAD evaluation program is a fullyworking raster editor with no restrictions on loading, editing, or saving cleanedraster files, and will open any size raster saved in BMP (bitmap), TIFF, CAL,PNG, JPG, or GIF.
The imported raster file can be color, gray scale, or black and white, and theautomatic or manual color reduction tools will reduce scans from millions of colorsto a more CAD-practical 256 colors (the AutoCAD maximum) or less, typically 8or 16 colors. Among the supplied raster editing features are tools to rotate bydegrees, rotate by line, remove speckles, remove holes, thin-thicken lines, thickenpixels, outline, and warp. The raster editing tools allow the user to cut, copy,move, and paste parts of the drawing, as well as to crop and mirror the rasterimage. The PC CAD user can also draw and edit raster lines, rectangles, circles,arcs, points, Bezier curves, and solid filled areas.
Comprehensive information on raster-to-vector conversion in general and Scan2CADin particular can be found at softcover.com.
Partnership integrates CATIA V5 with Virtual Reality
Fakespace Systems, Inc., which specializes in immersive visualization solutions,has joined with Dassault to integrate two new solutions available for CATIA Version5 Release 15 (V5R15) that give engineers and designers working with CATIA V5 DigitalMockup (DMU) access to virtual reality features in native V5 PLM. To help driveimmersive environments using PC clusters, Fakespace has integrated its solutionswith ENOVIA DMU Navigator 3, which enables high-end visualization and evaluationthrough virtual reality, providing services, configuration, and operation of thevirtual reality features of the V5 platform.
Conduit for V5 will enable CATIA V5, DELMIA, and ENOVIA users to leverage clustersto drive large-scale visualization environments such as the multichannel, immersiveCAVE (Cave Automatic Virtual Environment) and PowerWall. A second solution, CDVI(CATIA Drivers for Visualization and Interaction), is a set of drivers for othervirtual reality devices—like wands and gloves—to be enabled in CATIA V5 and ENOVIAV5.
BMW in Munich, Germany, has chosen Conduit for its new Projekthaus so that nativeCATIA V5 3D digital prototypes, running on clusters, can be displayed in large-scaleCAVE, wall and workbench environments.
Dassault Systemes
Fakespace Systems, Inc.
UGS Releases Full PLM Based on Microsoft
UGS has released a product lifecycle management (PLM) solution built on the Microsoftplatform. Teamcenter and NX provide product knowledge management, collaboration,and digital product development solutions that are seamlessly integrated withWindows Server System and Office System. UGS also announced the availability ofTeamcenter support for SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 3 Standard Edition and EnterpriseEdition on Windows Server 2003, while Microsoft said it was developing the Programfor Collaborative Product Development (CPD), a go-to-market initiative to partnerwith market leaders to deliver Microsoft technology to a segment of the PLM market.
UGS and Microsoft plan to jointly pursue sales opportunities where the goal isto increase awareness and demand for PLM solutions. The two companies will communicatethe joint value proposition of UGS solutions built on the Microsoft technologyplatform. According to Daratech, the global market for PLM software and servicesis expected to grow by a compounded annual rate of 8 percent through 2007 to reachmore than $9.2 billion. The product data management and collaboration segmentof the PLM market is expected to grow 16 percent annually.
The Teamcenter support for Microsoft SQL Server gives UGS customers a choiceof information technology (IT) platforms for Teamcenter’s product knowledge managementand collaboration solutions. It is expected to lower the overall cost of the solution,opening the door to businesses in the small- to mid-range markets. Customers arealso able to use other SQL Server-based enterprise solutions, such as WindowsSharePoint Services, SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services, and BizTalk Server, amongothers—all within a common IT infrastructure.
UGS
Microsoft
Using Time for Innovation — Not Process
If the grand experiment of knowledge-based engineering (KBE) seemed to tank inits early days because of a few products that required users to have serious programmingexpertise, today’s extension of that—using a knowledge base to automate design—islooking like the Boston Red Sox in game four of the ALCS. All systems are go.
That’s the assessment, minus the baseball simile, of Gary Kuba, vice presidentof marketing for RuleStream Corp. He was in the process of finalizing the company’snew presentation of rules-driven product management (RPM) when he stopped by ouroffices. Formed in 1999 to reverse how “industry was doing the right thing inthe wrong way for almost 20 years,” the company has developed a program, RuleStream,for the build-to-order market that assures it is designing for manufacturabilitywhenever a client places an order.
Kuba demonstrated the process using a model of a large gravel or sand conveyor.In partnership with Aras (see Briefings, November 2004), a PLM developer, andSolidWorks, RuleStream presents a user-friendly approach to KBE. When an operatorenters information gathered from the client in the friendly interface (in Englishterms), the database is searched for options gathered from previous designs, andpresents choices to the user based on these rules. For example, if the materialto be carried on the conveyor is sand, RuleStream creates a tapered belt systemso the sand won’t fall off the sides. Say the belt has to extend 120 feet, theprogram automatically designs the superstructure to carry the load according toestablished structural mechanics. The model is generated, according to dimensionsand constraints placed by the designer, in a fraction of the time it would taketo do by hand.
“The result is more time for innovation,” says Kuba.
With a client list that includes companies like Babcock and Wilcox, New HampshireBall Bearings, GE Industrial Systems, and Floway, RuleStream has gotten some nicefeedback. Customers report their ROI is anywhere from two to nine months out,and that’s based on an investment that can range from $50,000 to $500,000 dependingon how many CPUs are dedicated to its server, how many seats of software are needed,and how deeply an organization wants to invest in the process. The benefits aresaid to also include the capture of experience and knowledge that won’t disappearwhen an expert retires or changes jobs. Plus, RuleStream begins to work immediatelyupon entering information (rules); gradually at first, but exponentially fasteras projects add up.
Kuba is quick to point out this is not a PLM solution, for it doesn’t deal withthe extremes of that spectrum, but falls squarely into its center. It makes itpossible for manufacturers to automate all the routine processes of their operation:generating designs for quotes, communicating changes to all divisions that needto be notified, creating bills of material, writing cover letters, and makingillustrations for clients, and it does it all accurately.
Not only does RuleStream cut the time and cost of product development, but itmakes it possible for companies to respond to more RFQs. It’s a process that letscustomers see the value of streamlining certain rote processes so they can concentrateon developing more innovative products.
Jonathan Gourlay is the features editor for Desktop Engineering
Rulestream
