A digital safety net

(whimsical music) - [Narrator] So Jay and I have run the topology optimization of our bell crank. And now it's time to figure out if the part will actually work. And that brings me back to a story from my childhood. Growing up I was always intrigued by a paint farm, or at least I thought it was a paint farm, it was just down the street from me. All it really was was a bunch of pieces of metal and wood that were painted and sitting out in the elements. They sat there for years, as a test to see how long the paint would last. And even as a kid I thought that was funny, because in order to know if the paint was going to last for two years, it literally had to sit there for two years. And that seemed like an awfully long time to get an answer. So how do we go about running tests like these nowadays? In a time, and at a cost that's more reasonable? The answer is simple, digital simulation, including tools like finite element analysis. - What is finite element analysis, and why does it matter? - Well, finite element analysis is how most people these days evaluate complicated parts for structural, for actually all sorts of different types of analysis, we're going to focus on structural analysis at this point. The physics behind something complicated like this is quite complex. So what we do is we break this piece down into little known components. - Finite elements. - Like finite elements, there you go. And so we know the math, the equations, for each one of these little elements. And then we can combine them together in equation after equation after equation, building this up to this ultimate component we're looking at. But it creates a gazillion equations, well not a gazillion, actually, but a million. So that's why the advent of finite element analysis came along basically with the computer. - Okay, let's take a look. - Okay. It's actually not too complicated conceptually. You usually start with a solid model of some sort. In this case we did start with the solid model of the topology optimized part. It's actually a faceted model, and we did some magic in there to Convergent CAD, and actually make it so we could mesh it. We've actually already put the mesh on it, here. And the mesh basically is little finite elements, but they're solid, so they go, you know, obviously through the thickness of the part. And then after you have the mesh, which is defined here, we'd go into the area where we could apply loads and boundary conditions. So the door jamb is being held there, it's being forced there, and then we, like I said with the mesh, we've told the mesh what material it's made out of, which was the aluminum, and then we basically hit the solve button. You can take a look at the results. Different ways to look at results, we can look at displacements, and we can also look at stress. - If I didn't have this simulation, this test, what would I do? - You probably shouldn't do anything, 'cause you're going to spend a lot of money finding out it's wrong. And then you're way down the path of having made the part, right? Which basically means you have to create parts to make the part, you make the part, right? And then you put it in with the rest of the parts, and then you actually do-- - [Man] Then I have to cycle it. - Then you got to do the test, right? Which means you got to get motors, you've got to get-- I mean it just goes on and on and on, right? What you'll need to replicate this. - [Man] So, potentially there's a lot of time and money that I take out of the process by doing this kind of an analysis? - And performance. So, can you imagine matching up a car made now, with a car made 25 years ago? That's where you get your performance. You're going to get a much better part, performs better, right? You can eke out so much more digitally before you invest in it. - So we've got the topology optimized part, and we've run the analyses, the simulations on it, to improve our confidence that when we actually create this thing it's going to absorb and survive the stresses, the forces that we apply to it. Can we now put it back into the overall model, before we think about how we're going to produce it, see how it's going to function in that motion model? - Sure, and that would be part of the verification process. That's the topology optimized parts, right in there, right? So what we're doing is simulating this actually through a 1D and 3D simulation together. - [Narrator] The part ends up checking out in the motion analysis, but what if it didn't? What if an adjustment was needed? - The circle back and tweaking is huge, too. Our products are really good at, hey, something's changed, do you start from scratch again? No, you start from where you were, usually, right? So there's a lot of efficiency in this product in having a twin, digital twin. So as your model evolves, so will your digital content. And that's the kind of speed you need and flexibility you need in this day and age of the products evolving so quickly, and to make the best product you can. - We've kind of done it all, right? We have high confidence that this part is going to work, and we've actually inserted it back into the motion model to see how it's going to function within the context of the overall set of control systems. But I've never actually seen the part. - Right, it's time to leave the digital world, and make it the real world. - [Man] And try to figure out how to make this thing. - Yeah, and this is an ideal part for additive manufacturing. - [Narrator] To build the part, we'll travel to a city in the middle of a manufacturing renaissance. I have to hop a flight, but the bell crank will get there at the speed of light, thanks to the digital thread. (electronic music)