Technology Category
- Drones - Multirotor Drones
- Robots - Autonomous Guided Vehicles (AGV)
Applicable Industries
- Automotive
Applicable Functions
- Product Research & Development
Use Cases
- Time Sensitive Networking
- Vehicle Performance Monitoring
About The Customer
TRW Automotive is a leading automotive supplier based in the U.S.A. The company is among the world's largest automotive suppliers and is recognized as one of the top financial performers in the industry. TRW Automotive supplies more than 40 major vehicle manufacturers and holds leading positions in all of its primary product categories. One of these categories is braking systems, where the company has developed a reputation for innovation and quality. The company's commitment to leveraging technology to improve efficiency and competitiveness is evident in its approach to the design and validation of brake rotors.
The Challenge
TRW Automotive, one of the world's largest automotive suppliers, faced a significant challenge in the design and validation process of brake rotors. Vehicle manufacturers require both virtual and empirical validation for design proposals, and the maturity of these proposals often determines the awarding of new business contracts. To remain competitive, suppliers like TRW Automotive must become more efficient in their design and validation processes. This need for efficiency has driven the automotive supplier base to further leverage and expedite upfront Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE). However, the traditional CAE process, which involves a sequential approach to pre-processing, solving, and post-processing, was proving to be too long and inefficient. This process had to be repeated for each design concept and across various analysis types. If the final analysis did not meet performance targets, the process had to be started over, wasting valuable time.
The Solution
To address these challenges, TRW Automotive developed a novel approach for the evaluation of brake rotor designs that significantly improved analysis throughput and expedited the design cycle. They built a custom template within the ANSYS Workbench environment that captured various analysis types specific to brake rotor design needs. This brake rotor template automatically read in CAD model, applied loads and boundary conditions, and ran the entire analysis suite. The template approach allowed for simultaneous design evaluation of thermal, stress, and dynamic performance. It also enabled concurrent development of multiple design proposals and a full assessment of design performance. This innovative solution increased automation, brought analysis to the upfront of the design cycle, and allowed for a more thorough evaluation of design proposals.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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