Concept Laser and RSC Engineering GmbH (Cologne, Germany) have announced a strategic partnership for engineering of laser-fused components. The new partnership follows a market trend: In the past, there was a demand for designs that replaced cast or milled components. Today, more and more designers and engineers are realizing that additive manufacturing can open up entirely new approaches to design.
The LaserCUSING-oriented process suits bionic or lightweight components. In particular, it suits parts that must function or be resilient. RSC Engineering knows how to incorporate such benefits into the component development process.
Process-oriented design means leaving behind the traditional approach of substituting a milled or cast component. Additional functions are now possible, such as introducing aspects that promote part cooling, production of moving parts in a one-shot process without assemblies, or building lightweight structures that can withstand heavy stresses.
Hybrid manufacturing solutions (combination of conventional processes and LaserCUSING) can bring together the best of both worlds. It’s all about understanding new possibilities and using them in a targeted way. Additive design eliminates the need for substitution and produces new solutions.
RSC Engineering’s design activities are primarily in the areas of rapid prototyping, rapid tooling and rapid manufacturing. Reference components include solutions for lightweight design and functional integration. “Lightweight constructions are often used for component structures that cannot be adequately produced using traditional processes,” said Tim Richter of RSC Engineering, “whereas functional integration improves the quality of a component.” These approaches involve a range of strategies to determine reduction or avoidance of support geometries, integration of cooling channels, elasticity or increased rigidity through integrated lattice structures. ” ‘Virtual prototyping’ is an important concept. Going from a virtual prototype to the actual product is no longer a big process thanks to LaserCUSING,” continued Richter. “This means that we can often shorten the development process significantly.”
An exhaust gas probe developed by RSC Engineering is an example of intelligent additive design. The probe will determine the composition of engine exhaust gases in a test system. The exhaust gas is up to 2100°C and under high pressure. Because of these high temperatures, the exhaust gas probe also features cooling channels for coolant flow, in addition to six pipes for collecting the exhaust gas. Conventional exhaust gas probes are typically welded, which is a time-consuming process. By contrast, the exhaust gas probe by RSC Engineering was manufactured in one step, including all flow-optimized channels, using LaserCUSING. In addition, the reduced manufacturing cut costs by almost 60%.
The additive design process is based on a coordinated analysis and component design. During the first phase of the project, the potential of the component is systematically evaluated. What will it do? What were the advantages and disadvantages of previous solutions? Are there special objectives, such as cost reduction or lightweight construction? In addition to these criteria, the possible advantages of the LaserCUSING process are defined.
In the second phase, precise specifications are created. This involves drafting binding functional requirements, determining the timeframe and defining batch sizes. The third project phase is the actual design process. Noted Richter, “The key words here are design or redesign and simulation.” This involves evaluating and comparing alternative geometries as part of a virtual prototyping process. Physical functions then go through the various levels of simulation using DMU (digital mock-up), FEM (mechanical/thermal simulation) and CFD (thermal simulation). The final conclusions are examined with respect to the consequences for manufacturing. In the last stage, implementation in the production environment is analyzed as a QA measure.
Concept Laser GmbH
www.concept-laser.de
RSC Engineering GmbH
www.rsc-engineering.com
