May 2006

By DE Editors

Editor’s Pick of the Week—May 31, 2006SRAC Redesigns COSMOSDesignSTAR for 2006 Design analysis software for virtually all CAD programs now adds droptests, fatigue, and knowledge-based analyses, greater ease-of-use. Structural Research & Analysis Corp. (SRAC; Santa Monica, CA) has announced the release of COSMOSDesignSTAR2006 software, a completely redesigned version of the standalone designanalysis program that works with virtually all CAD programs. Inaddition to a new GUI (graphical user interface), COSMOSDesignSTAR 2006is said tooffer several new tutorial features and a variety of new analysiscapabilities that include what are called virtual connectors forassemblies, droptests, and fatigue life. Virtual connectors, according to SolidWorks,are new, knowledge-based tools that make it easy for analysis users toperform complex assembly analyses without difficult and time-consumingconnector modeling.COSMOSDesignSTAR 2006 now enables drop-test simulationfor both parts and assemblies. Greater ease-of-use comes from anupdated GUI, and the software offers a number of tools to help novices and infrequent usersuse the software effectively and quickly. These include such features as a QuickTips guidethat walks users through both the GUI and functions and a What’s Wrongutility that helps users analyze errors and learn whether such inputs asloads, restraints, and mesh are valid. In addition, a wizard calledthe Analysis Advisor takes beginners, casual users, and even befuddled power users through the analysisset-up and postprocessing stages. The Analysis Advisor also provides answers to such questions as whatstudy type to use, what to do if a mesh fails, and how to interpretresults.SRAC has added mixed meshing to COSMOSDesignSTAR 2006. This functionality makes it possible forengineers to simulate thick and thin components with a combination ofsolid elements for thick bodies and shell elements for thin parts. Theaddition of h-adaptive meshing enables the program to convergeautomatically to a correct solution by automatically refining the meshin critical areas until the solution converges.COSMOSDesignSTAR 2006 also introduces fatigue life analysis. This new analysis tool gives users the ability to perform fatiguestudies on assemblies that contain different material properties, andalso to be more accurate in predicting a product’s lifespan by usingactual loading conditions in the fatigue simulation. Fatigue lifeanalysis tools include Rainflow charts to help users determine theeffects of small stress cycles in their loading history, and possibleeffects over life.Nonlinear stress analysis capabilities have been expanded in version2006 of  COSMOSDesignSTAR.  Among the enhancements are theintegration of nonlinear material properties into the core materialdatabase, which eliminates duplication of data and effort caused bymaintaining separate lists. Additionally, nonlinear loads are definablethrough simple dragging and dropping from a linear static study.Further, you can now import physical test data for both hyperelasticand visco-elastic material models.In addition to its native support of SolidWorks 2006,COSMOSDesignSTAR now supports Autodesk Inventor, CATIA V4 and V5,Pro/Engineer Wildfire, and Solid Edge. COSMOSDesignSTAR alsosupports ACIS, Parasolid,and other modeling formats via STEP and IGES. COSMOSDesignSTAR 2006is fully compatible with COSMOSDesignSTAR 4.5.COSMOSDesignSTAR 2006 is available in three configurations, Designer,Professional, and Advanced Professional. To see a breakdown of eachbundle’s analysis features, click here. To register for an evaluation copy, click here. To view a number of feature-specific online demos, click here.For more information, visit SRAC’s COSMOSDesignSTAR pages or check out Al Dean’s review “Alive &  Kicking: COSMOSDesignSTAR 2006” in the March 2006 Elements of Analysis special supplement to DE.

Editor’s Pick of the Week—May 24, 2006 Laser Scanner for MicroScribe Digitizers Complex shapes that took days to captured now grabbed in minutes.Immersion Corp. (San Jose, CA) and RSI GmbH (Oberursel, Germany) havejoined up to offer the MicroScan, an add-on system that transforms 6DOF(six degrees of freedom) MicroScribe G2 and MX series digitizers intonon-contact laser scanning solutions. Immersion says that theresulting system is suitable for capturing complex geometriesquickly and with high detail in such environments as reverseengineering, rapid prototyping, metrology, and physical analysis.Further, the Immersion-RSI synergy does not impede the MicroScribe’swell-earned reputation for compactness and portability.The dual laser head MicroScan simply attaches to MicroScribedigitizer’s touch probe and connects to the MicroScribe accessoryport—no additional power supply is required. Once set up, you sweep the MicroScribe’s articulated arm, which “holds” the MicroScan,over your object of interest. The supplied software—MicroScanTools—provides a real-time preview of scanned data, enabling you tomake needed adjustments to point density on the fly. For example, youcan switch from a long laser line to the short laser line to increasedensity and better resolve high curvature regions.MicroScan software  converts point-cloud data into your choice oftext data or watertight 3D meshes (polygon data) in suchindustry-standard file formats as STL, DXF, and VRML. It alsoprovides tools for processing the raw scanned data, including most ofthe cleanup for noise reduction, hole filling, triangulation,registration, decimation, and merging of the files to provide a unifieddata set. The laser-scanned data is readily accepted by most widelydeployed MCAD/CAM/CAE applications such software as ANSYS, CATIA, Geomagic,Inventor, and Mastercam.Depending on your MicroScribe base model, the RSI scanner offers detailaccuracy ranging from 0.008 to 0.012 inches (0.2 to 0.3 mm).The  scanning rate is up to 28.000 data points per second. Thelaser scanner unit is compact, palm-sized device, measuring 6 inchessquare and weighing about 15 pounds.The MicroScribe and RSI laser scanning system is available as an optionfor MicroScribe G2 and MX series purchases. Pricing for a complete unit is less than $25,000.To watch a video of theMicroScribe-MicroScan in a reverse engineering setting, click here.Click here for a DCC presentation. A datasheet is available by clickinghere.

Editor’s Pick of the Week—May 17, 2006 Desktop Scanner Integrates with SolidWorks NextEngine quickly scans physical objects, makes fine, textured models in SolidWorks 2007.The NextEngine Desktop 3D Scanner from NextEngine Inc. (Santa Monica,CA) is a compact, high-resolution 3D capture system that convertsphysical objects directly into file format that will work within theupcoming SolidWorks 2007 directly. This means that engineers will haveinstant access to scanned data without any conversions or translations.The NextEngine Desktop 3D Scanner deploys proprietary multi-laser arraytechnology-known as MultiStripe Laser Triangulation (MLT)technology-and a rotary servo positioner with a companion gripper thatholds your object of interest. The positioner accommodates objectsweighing up to 20 pounds, and objects are auto-incremented underscanner control. The part gripper, which holds up to 10 pounds, let’syou adjust the object’s height, angle, and orientation.The scanning field size is 5.1 x 3.8 inches (macro mode) and 13.5 x10.1 inches (wide mode), or roughly about the size of a soda can and ashoebox, respectively. You can composite-capture larger objects usingsupplied software, so, in effect, there is no preset limit to anobject’s size.MLT, as its name implies, triangulates twin arrays of four Class IIIA,10 mW solid-state lasers. A variety of patents are pending, notesNextEngine. Its sensing source is twin 3.0 megapixel CMOS RGB imagesensors. Point density on target surface is 400 dpi (macro mode) and150 dpi (wide mode) with ±0.005-inch and ±0.015-inch dimensionalaccuracy in the macro and wide modes, respectively. The NextEngineDesktop 3D Scanner’s throughput speed is 50,000 processed points/secthroughput, which typically nets out to 90 seconds per scan of eachfacet.The NextEngine Desktop 3D Scanner physical unit measures 8.8 x 3.6inches and stands 10.9 inches high. It weighs about 5.5 pounds, andrequires a USB 2.0 interface to connect with your Windows XP/2000workstation. A minimum workstation would be a 2GHz PC with 1GB RAM, and64MB graphics memory. Recommended specs are 3GHz workstations with 2GB of RAMand 256MB of video memory. SolidWorks and NextEngine jointly developed a native file format thatenables access to scan data. Through a single button click, scanneddata is inside SolidWorks. A second button click, returns you toSolidWorks, from where you can work on the scanned model. According to NextEngine, SolidWorks 2007 will offer a set of tools tohandle point cloud and mesh data. In addition to SolidWorksintegration, scan files can be output in STL, VRML, as well otherformats, according to the company. The supplied software also offersalignment and trim tools.NextEngine Desktop 3D Scanner shipments will begin when SolidWorks 2007becomes available sometime this summer. The scanner costs $2,495.Pre-orders are accepted at the company’s website.To see a video of as The NextEngine Desktop 3D Scanner as it wasintroduced at SolidWorks World 2006, click here. While on theNextEngine site, click on the Products tab (top left) then the Demo tab(bottom right-hand corner) to see a video of the NextEngine 3D DesktopScanner in action.

Editor’s Pick of the Week—May 10, 2006 Tools Not Sacrificed for Faster Toolpaths Delcam USA adds advanced machining strategies to FeatureMILL3D.Delcam USA (Salt Lake City, UT) plans a June release of its FeatureCAMsuite of CAD/CAM software. New, advanced machining strategies in thecompany’s 3D CAM package FeatureMILL3D 3D are among the keyenhancements in FeatureCAM 2007 application suite. The new strategies,says the company, will help you realize faster calculation speeds for3D toolpaths, improve surface finish, and maximize tool life.Among the new strategies in FeatureMILL3D are arcing, race linemachining, finishing combination, spiral toolpath, and rest finishing.In general, these new strategies are said to help maximize tool life bykeeping the load on the cutter as consistent as possible and byminimizing sudden changes in the cutting direction that can placeexcessive loads on the tool. Additionally, the strategies do notrequire a slowing in the feed rate to execute.FeatureMILL3D’s rough and finish machining strategies now let you usearcing moves when approaching and leaving the job. Similarly, you canuse arcs to link the various cutting moves. Arc move strategies alsoinclude the ability to automatically insert arcs into roughingtoolpaths as the tool approaches a steep face. This eliminates suddenincrease in the load on the tool as it engages the steep surface andthe requisite feed-rate decrease to avoid damaging tools.

‹ ‹ An example of the new multi-pencil rest finisihing option in FeatureMILL3D. Click image to enlarge. 

The race line machining strategy means that roughing passes aresmoothed out progressively as the toolpaths move further from the mainform. This produces paths with a minimal number of abrupt changes indirection, allowing for faster machining, with less wear on the cutterand lower stress on the machine tool. You can combine race linemachining with trochoidal machining for more efficient metal removal.A new finishing combination option enables a mix-and-match of 3D offsetfinishing on flatter areas and Z-level finishing on steeper areas. Youcan calculate the 3D offset toolpaths with a varying surface stepover.This applies a constant cusp height over the part, resulting in is lesshand-finishing.FeatureMILL3D’s new spiral path milling strategy keeps the cutter inconstant contact with the job, eliminating may air moves and creatingsmoother toolpaths with minimal dwell marks. The software’s new restfinishing options include pencil machining (pictured above), in which the materialremaining is removed in a single pass, and Z-level rest finishing formaterial left on steep surfaces.For more information, go to the FeatureMILL3D web page by clickinghere. You can register for a free evaluation copy of the currentversion of FeatureCAM by clicking here. 

 Editor’s Pick of the Week—May 4, 2006 CFD for New and Occasional Users New release of STAR-Design said to provide intuitive CFD for designers. CD-adapco (London, UK, and Melville, NY) announced the release ofversion 4.04 of its STAR-Design CFD (computational fluid dynamics)software Tuesday. STAR-Design, according to the company, creates a userenvironment that’s intuitive enough to be used by engineers new to orlacking specialized training in flow and thermal simulationsolutions—as well as engineering managers and FE (finite element)analysts who will not be dedicated to CFD full time—but who still needto execute or understand CFD workflows. Further, STAR-Design 4.04offers a 3D solid modeler and geometry import that enables engineerswho are not particularly versed in CAD to create and manage simulationgeometry directly.STAR-Design leverages the same science that CD-adapco deploys in itshigh-end CFD applications, including polyhedral meshing. To make a longstory short, when compared to tetrahedral meshing, polyhedral meshing,requires fewer cells, half the memory, and a lot less time to reach thesame level of accuracy, according to the companySTAR-Design has what the company calls a number of features that enablequick but accurate what-if design evaluations, including postprocessingtemplates for easy comparison between designs. Its associative modelset-up means that changing the geometry does not mean that you have toredefine your problem.STAR-Design runs on 32-bit Windows and 32-/64-bit Linux and systems. For complete details, click here.