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DEs Digital Edition by Steve Robbins

Welcome to the latest digital edition ofDesktop Engineering. We hope you you enjoy

having access to this issue, as well as archived issues, anywhere you have an Internet

connection. But many of you have contacted us to ask if theres a way to read the

digital edition while offline. The answer is: Yes, you can!

There are a few ways to do it. You can download each issue as an Adobe Air file, which will

maintain the functionality of the digital edition, or as a PDF for maximum compatibility on tablets.

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this screen and follow the download instructions.

Thank you for your comments. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to improve your

experience with the digital edition. You can reach us [email protected]. DE

Sincerely,

Steve Robbins, Executive Editor

Desktop Engineering

You Can Take it With You

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July 2013 / deskeng.com

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Degrees of Freedom by Jamie J. Gooch

2 DESKTOP ENGINEERING July 2013 /// deskeng.com

As I type this, Im surrounded by the ghosts ofmanufacturings past in Pittsburgh. This is whereAndrew Carnegie built the steel company that hesold to J.P. Morgan to create U.S. Steel, and where

Nikola Tesla consulted with George Westinghouses engi-neers on AC motors. This is also where public-private part-nerships helped right the citys economy after the U.S. steelindustry collapsed in the 1980s. It was the perfect backdropfor a discussion on the future of U.S. manufacturing.

Michael F. Molnar, chief manufacturing officer, National

Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and Directorof the Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office,was one of the keynote speakers at the RAPID 2013 Confer-ence and Exposition held last month in the Steel City. Hesaid while the U.S. enjoyed its 100-year run as the worldslargest manufacturer, the rest of the world was focused onadvanced manufacturing technologies.

Define and ConquerWhat are advanced manufacturing technologies? Accord-ing to the Presidents Council of Advisors on Science andTechnology Report to the President on Ensuring AmericanLeadership in Advanced Manufacturing, it is a family ofactivities that (a) depend on the use and coordination ofinformation, automation, computation, software, sensing,and networking, and/or (b) make use of cutting edge mate-

rials and emerging capabilities enabled by the physical andbiological sciences, for example nanotechnology, chemistry,and biology. This involves both new ways to manufactureexisting products, and especially the manufacture of newproducts emerging from new advanced technologies.

Molnar seemed to take a page out of Pittsburghs his-tory as he discussed the need to bridge the gap betweengovernment funding of public research and private industry.To that end, the Obama Administration has launched com-petitions to create three new manufacturing innovation in-stitutes with a Federal commitment of $200 million acrossfive Federal agencies: Defense, Energy, Commerce, NASA,

and the National Science Foundation. These instituteswould build off what has been learned via the National Ad-

ditive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII) pilot.NAMII works with public and private entities with the goalof transforming the U.S. manufacturing sector.

There is a gap between government and universityideas and private sector products, said Edward Morris, thedirector of NAMII, who followed Molnars presentation atRAPID 2013. NAMII is building a bridge across that gap.

The Department of Defense will lead two of the newInstitutes, focused on Digital Manufacturing and DesignInnovation and Lightweight and Modern Metals Manu-

facturing, and the Department of Energy will be leading thethird new institute on Next Generation Power ElectronicsManufacturing, according to the White House.

The three new manufacturing innovation institutes willjoin NAMII in a National Network for Manufacturing In-novation (NNMI) as part of the Administrations vision of15 such institutes across the country. The President has re-quested Congress fund a one-time $1 billion investment toexpand the network.

The Race is OnOn the second day of the RAPID 2013 Conference and Exposi-tion, additive manufacturing industry researcher and consultant,Terry Wohlers, provided some context to the countrys positionin world of additive manufacturing (AM). Though AM is by nomeans the only type of advanced manufacturing technology, it isa high-profile segment that many countries are keen to dominate.

Wohlers, who recently returned from China, said the Presi-dents call to action on advanced manufacturing was heard loudlyand clearly there. He heard it mentioned a number of times onhis trip. Chinas central government is already funding AM to thetune of $245 million for a 7-year pilot program.

One strategy the country may pursue is to buy its way

in, Wohlers said, to meet its goal to become the No. 1 coun-try in the AM industry in the next three years.History has a way of repeating itself, and advanced manu-

facturing initiatives seem poised to become this generationsSpace Race. But the initiatives mean more than braggingrights. As Pittsburghs resurgence in the last 30 years andNAMIIs initial success both illustrate, public-private part-nerships can work. They require leadership from govern-ment, academia and private industry to succeed.

For more information, and to get involved, visitmanufacturing.govandnamii.org. DE

Jamie Gooch is the managing editor ofDesktop Engineering.Contact him [email protected].

Advancing Manufacturing

Advanced manufacturinginitiatives are poised to become

this generations Space Race.

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Copyright 2013 COMSOL. COMSOL, COMSOL Multiphysics, Capture the Concept, COMSOL Desktop, and LiveLink are either registered trademarks or trademarks of COMSOL AB. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners, and COMSOL AB and itssubsidiaries and products are not afliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or supported by those trademark owner s. For a list of such trademark owners, see http://www.comsol.com/tm

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Multiphysics tools let you build simulations that accurately replicate theimportant characteristics o your designs. The key is the ability to include

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MULTIBODY DYNAMICS: A swashplate mechanism is usedto control the orientation of helicopter rotor blades.

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July 2013 VOLUME 18/ISSUE 11

EDITORIAL

Jamie J. Gooch | Managing Editor

Kenneth Wong | Senior Editor

Anthony J. Lockwood | Editor at Large

Heather Piinger | Copy Editor

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Tony Abbey, Brian Albright, Mark Clarkson,

David S. Cohn, Randy Frank, John Newman,

Frank Ohlhorst, Beth Stackpole, Peter Varhol,

Pamela J. Waterman

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DEPARTMENTS

2 Degrees of FreedomAdvancing design and manufacturing.

By Jamie J. Gooch

7 Virtual DesktopIntel debuts Haswell, COMSOL adds

new modules, Autodesk partners with

NetSuite, and Dell pitches a new

entry-level workstation.

By Kenneth Wong & Beth Stackpole

10 Engineering on the EdgeTurn your iPhone into a low-cost spectro-

photometer, Rolls-Royce goes supersonic

car project, Google and NASA get behind

D-Wave quantum

computer, and

a sound camera

diagnoses auto

trouble.

11 RapidReady TechbotObjects preps

a full-color desktop 3D printer, 3D printing

saves childs life, Wohlers Report released,

and GE makes significant investment in

additive manufacturing.

12 Editors PicksProducts that have grabbed

the editors attention.

By Anthony J. Lockwood

21 Fast AppsEngineering case studies.

39 Advertising Index

45 SpotlightDirecting your search to the companies

that have what you need.

48 CommentaryDo you have a simulation plan?

By Nicholas M. Veikos

deskeng.comRAPID READY TECH BLOGRead all about making digital designs physical @ rapidreadytech.com.

ENGINEERING ON THE EDGE BLOGSee the future of engineering technology @ engineeringontheedge.com.

MOBILE ENGINEERIncorporate mobile technologies into your workflow.@ mobileengineer.com.

VIRTUAL DESKTOP BLOGRead Kenneth Wong @ deskeng.com/virtual_desktop for

a closer look at lifecycle components via articles, podcasts and video reports.

NEWSLETTER REGISTRATIONNewslink; Editors Pick of the Week; Check It Out; Virtual Desktop; Focus onAnalysis and Simulation; Focus on Engineering IT & Computing; Focuson MCAD; and Focus on Rapid Technologies.

DE MOBILE BETACheck out our mobile app for Android and iOS by visitingwbxapp.com/de-mobile on your mobile device, or scan theQR code to the right.

DEON TWITTERFollow us @ DEeditor

LIKE DEON FACEBOOKVisit DE@ deskeng.com/facebook

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At the beginning of June, Inteldebuted its fourth-gener-ation Core architecture,codenamed Haswell. The big

splash occurred at Computex in Taipei,Taiwan, at the Taipei World TradeCenter Nangang Exhibition Hall. Thenew product lineup includes: Intel Core i7-4770S, 17-4770TE, i5-4570S, and i4570TE for the desktop; Intel Core i7-4700EQ for mobile; and Intel Xeon E3-1275 v3, E3-1225 v3,

and E3-1268L v3 for workstations.Wes Shimanek, Intels workstation

segment manager, reveals that Haswellprocessors contain a substantially highernumber of execution units in the in-tegrated graphics. According to Intel,Without the need for a discrete graphicscard, the built-in graphics features deliversmoother visual quality, improved ability

to decode and transcode simultaneousvideo streams. Additionally, the new plat-form can also support up to three inde-pendent displays, enabling one system todrive multiple screens. Haswell productswill support OpenGL 4.1 and DirectX11.1, according to Shimanek.

By providing CPU-integrated graph-ics that can tackle routine CAD visualiza-tion, Intel is pushing back against GPUmaker NVIDIAs encroachment. For per-formance-hungry users, NVIDIA would

recommend augmenting the CPUscapacity with additional GPUs.

Intels Shimanek advocates an alter-nate strategy: Save a little on graphicsand invest in solid-state drives. When youdo that, you can actually impact a broaderarray of applications that users employ inthe day in the life of an engineer. (Au-thors Note: For more, read Changes Brew-

ing in the Power Game, June 2013)Haswell marks Intels first use of

transactional memory in hardware, amethod of incorporating transactionsinto the programming model used

to write parallel programs (Source:Transactional Memory: Synthesis Lec-tures on Computer Architecture, James R.Larus, Microsoft; Ravi Rajwar, Intel, Mor-gan & Claypool Publishers). The methodis expected to yield performance gainsin highly parallel applications such asrendering and simulation.

K. Wong

by Kenneth Wong & Beth Stackpole Virtual Desktop

In COMSOL Multiphysics 4.3b,new features come in the form offive new modules, each tailored toaddress a specific type of simula-

tion. COMSOL Multiphysics 4.3 givesusers the option to deploy the softwarestraight from within SolidWorks CAD

interface with LiveLink for Solid-Works. In Version 4.3b, the same inte-gration is made available to AutodeskInventor with LiveLink for Inventor.

Version 4.3b also marks the debutof LiveLink for Excel, a plug-in that al-lows you to conduct simulation scenarioswith multiple parameters using Excelspreadsheets. The plug-in could poten-tially be deployed so users unfamiliarwith COMSOL interface could launchand complete simulation jobs solely from

within Microsoft Excel. All the LiveLinkplug-ins and specialized modules require

COMSOL Multiphysicsfoundation product. Modulesrequire additional licensing fees.

The Multibody Dynamics Moduleis meant for those who need to studythe interaction of rigid bodies and flex-ible bodies. Its capable of simulating

transitional and rotational displace-ments, locking, prismatic joint, hingejoint, cylindrical joint and more. TheWave Optic Module, capable of elec-tromagnetic wave propagation, is agood tool to simulate the behaviors ofoptical fibers and sensors, bidirectionalcouplers, plasmonic devices, metamate-rials, and laser beam propagation.

The Molecular Module targetsusers dealing with mass spectrometers,semiconductor processing, satellite

technology and particle accelerators.Bjorn Sjodin, vice president of product

management at COMSOL, explainsthe module is commonly used to simu-late doping semiconductor wafers.The Semiconductor Module, by con-trast, simulates operations in pn junc-tions, bipolar transistors, metal-oxide-

semiconductor field-effect transistors(MOSFETs), metal semiconductorfield effect transistors (MESFETs),thyristors and Schottky diodes. TheElectrochemistry Module can be usedfor glucose and gas sensors, amongother things.

But according to Sjodin, COMSOLis working on a toolkit that will allowusers to develop their own customizeduser interface. This could be of tremen-dous help to users beyond traditional

aerospace and automotive markets.K. Wong

Intel Haswell Signals Shifting Focus

COMSOL Multiphysics 4.3bIntroduces New Modules

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Virtual Desktop by Kenneth Wong & Beth Stackpole

Its no secret that Autodesk hasstaked its bet on the cloudas a key differentiator for itsProduct Lifecycle Manage-

ment (PLM) 360 offering. Now thecompany is touting a partnershipwith enterprise resource planning(ERP) cloud provider NetSuite Inc.,making closed-loop integrationwith ERP another ace in its quest tobuild out a winning PLM hand. Thepair is promising to build seam-

less integration between AutodesksPLM 360 cloud PLM platform andNetSuites cloud-based businessmanagement suite, including theNetSuite Manufacturing Edition.

The result, officials from bothcompanies say, will be an end-to-end cloud-based solution that sup-ports the full spectrum of activitiesrelated to designing and manufac-turing products from ideation,through manufacturing, service andmulti-channel sales. The compa-nies are working with AutodesksPLM Connect cloud-based tool tocreate the integration between theplatforms, says Brian Roepke, Au-todesks director of PLM.

End-to-End VisibilityTiming for the partnership makessense, officials say, because manufac-turers are in need of a system that can

deliver end-to-end visibility whilealso being easy to configure and de-ploy in the face of continuous time-to-market and costing pressures.

Manufacturers have increasingchallenges and pressures aroundproduct development and managingtheir supply chains, says RichardBlatcher, Autodesks senior industrymanager, at a press conference an-nouncing the extended partnership.Gone are the days when tradi-

tional, build-to-stock manufactur-ing is the way forward today, its

the way of the past. Autodesk PLM360 and NetSuite together deliver aplatform thats rapidly configurableand can support continuous productinnovation.

The idea is to build bidirectionalintegration between the systems forseamless data flow in support of awide array of workflows. Two exam-ples that Autodesk cited include:

Approved vendor lists andvendors audits: Creating a tight,

closed-loop cycle between ERP andPLM aids in the vendor approvaland procurement process by makingsure everyone in the cycle are kepton the same page from engineersspecifying components and partsto warehouse personnel maintain-ing optimal levels of inventory ofthose parts. With closed-loop in-tegration, if a vendor is marked asinactive in the PLM system after anaudit because it fails to meet qualitystandards, its status is automaticallyreflected in other relevant work-flows like purchasing or inventorymanagement, ensuring that employ-ees in those departments no longerorder or maintain those parts.

Intelligent change manage-ment:The bidirectional integra-tion takes change management toanother level, ensuring all the infor-mation from the PLM system is fed

into NetSuite and properly docu-mented, propagated and managed inboth PLM and downstream manu-facturing. This would ensure thatan engineering change order (ECO)affecting a bill of materials (BOM)is also reflected in the manufactur-ing BOM, so that a work order forassembly routing processes is prop-erly updated, for example.

Easing Integration

PLM-to-ERP integration continuesto be a sticky point for companies

orchestrating widespread adoptionof PLM. While Autodesk is notreselling NetSuite or creating anERP/PLM service bundle as partof this partnership, the alliancedoes take challenging integrationissues off the table for customersinterested in both NetSuite andAutodesks offerings, particularlysmall- and medium-sized businesses,notes Tom Gill, an independentPLM consultant.

It also opens up both companiesfor expansion into new customerconstituencies in Autodesks case,NetSuites universe of non-PLMusers. In fact, Blatcher says that70% of Autodesk PLM 360 custom-ers had no prior PLM implementa-tion prior to using the cloud-basedoffering.

Expanding PLMIn addition to the NetSuite partner-ship, Autodesk is also touting otherareas of expansion around PLM360. The company has broadenedits relationship with other cloudservice providers, including Jitter-bit, which delivers integration soft-ware, and Octopart, a cloud servicespecializing in material compliance.Autodesk has also gone live with thePLM 360 App Store, which servesas a template library of different

business processes that users canleverage in their PLM environment.The PLM 360 apps are available toAutodesk PLM 360 customers freeof charge.

In the traditional softwaremodel, companies have to buy newmodules every time they want toexpand their ecosys tem, Roepkesays. With PLM 360, we want tokeep it simple and let them expandtheir system without buying more

modules.B. Stackpole

Autodesk Partners with NetSuite for ERP

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Workstation performancefor about the price ofa desktop. Thats howDell pitches its new

entry-level workstation T1700. Thenew unit is available in small formfactor and mini-tower configura-tions. Theyll be powered by theIntel Xeon processor E3-1200 v3,based on Intel Haswell architecture.

GPU options for the T1700 in-cludes AMD FirePro and NVIDIAQuadro cards. According to Dell,the T1700 is the industrys smallestentry-level tower workstation.

As an entry-level product, theT1700 targets the budget-conscious2D and 3D design software users.T1700 models are designed andcertified for engineering, architec-ture and finance professionals. Theworkstations also are ideal for highereducation and high-school studentsworking with 2D, entry-level 3Dsimulation or multitasking with de-manding applications, Dell says inthe announcement. Dells rival HPtargets the same segment with itsentry-level Z210 workstation, pricedbeginning $569. (Authors Note: Formore, read HPs first entry-level work-station: Z210, April 2011)

The new workstation comes

with Dells Performance Optimizersoftware, meant to automaticallytune software performance on yourmachine. The software also handlesdriver updates and system usageanalysis. At press time, Dell had notannounced the price for the T1700.

Rack-Mountable WorkstationDell has also launched a new rack-mountable workstation, the DellPrecision R7610. Although fully

functional as a workstation, thisproduct is meant for data-center de-

ployment. With this setup, the work-station can be deployed in a secureservice room, physically away fromthe users desktops and cubicles. Dellpartner Teradacis PC-over-IP re-mote terminals serve as the interme-diary control devices to connect theworkstations and the users.

As Dell says in the announce-ment, A single workstation canbe used by four users withoutsacrificing performance. The newR7610 achieves this via GPU pass-through and certifications withCitrix XenServer 6.1.0 using CitrixXenDesktop HDX 3D Pro, whichallows all the resources of a dedi-

cated discrete graphics card to beuniquely shared with multiple usersin a hosted-shared environment ormade available to a single user orvirtual machine in a vir tualized en-vironment.

In a remote PC setup, the optionthat gives you the best performanceis the one-to-one connection. Thatswhere the processor power andmemory of one physical machineare made available to one exclusive

user remotely. But if your work-load is light and you dont need

the full force of the entire machineconnected to you, you may divideup one physical R7610s resourceamong four remote users. Thevirtual GPU sharing, however, iscurrently only available as a one-to-one setup. In the future, NVIDIAand its partners may improve thevirtualization technology to allowGPU sharing among multiple usersor devices.

Memory TechnologyThe R7610 comes with Dells ReliableMemory Technology, described as aDell patented code programmed atthe BIOS level that eliminates virtu-

ally all memory errors and thereforethe need for extensive full memorytests, IT support calls and memoryDIMM replacement. This technol-ogy, according to Dell, can identifybad memory sectors and quarantinethem so you wont write to them.In addition, it can also alert you toreplace a memory module if its toodamaged to be reliable.

The Precision R7610 was firstmade available May 21, at a starting

price of $2,179.K. Wong

Dell Launches New Entry-level

and Rack-mountable Workstations

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Engineering on the Edge Future Focus

10 DESKTOP ENGINEERING July 2013 ///deskeng.com

Turn Your iPhone

into a Biomed LabBored with your iPhone? Try turning

it into a low-cost spectrophotometer.Researchers at the University of Illinois at

Urbana-Champaign have come up with an

iPhone app and a cradle that will let users

detect toxins, proteins, bacteria, viruses

and other biological material.

Using the built-in camera, the phone

takes a picture of a normal microscope

slide, which the app analyzes for

differences in wavelength that a photonic

crystal built into the cradle can reflect.

According to the researchers, the relatively

low-cost system (the optical components

in the cradle amount to about $200)

can perform as accurately as a $50,000

laboratory spectrophotometer.

MOREengineeringontheedge.

com/?p=4689

Rolls-Royce Backs

Supersonic Car ProjectRolls-Royce has signed up to provide its

EJ200 jet engine for the Bloodhoundsupersonic car project, which hopes to

drive a car past the 1,000 mph mark.

The jet engine will help get the vehicle

to 350 mph, then ignite a rocket motor

that will move the car

at supersonic speeds.

The current land

speed record is

763 mph, and members of the teamthat set that record are involved in

Bloodhound.

According to the Bloodhound

website, the development team

is making considerable use of

finite element analysis (FEA) and

computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in

the 3D design of the vehicle.

At press time, the car is being

assembled at a technical center in

Avonmouth, Bristol, England. It will make

its record-breaking attempt on a dry

lakebed in South Africa.

MOREengineeringontheedge.

com/?p=4662

Portable Sound Camera

Can Diagnose Typical

Automobile Troubles

K

orean designers have come up with

a portable sound camera that canbe easily set up and used to pinpoint the

source of specific noises coming from an automobile.

A sound camera uses a microphone array to visualize the distribution of

sound. Previous systems were fairly large and cumbersome. Researchers in

the Department of Industrial Design at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science

and Technology (KAIST) developed a portable version that targets the types of

abnormal noises that come from industrial equipment.

The 4-lb. SeeSV-S205 has five microphone arrays that can capture 25 sound

images per second. An optical camera in the unit sends images to a computer,

which can overlay the sound patterns with the image of the vehicle or equipment.

MOREengineeringontheedge.com/?p=4608

Google, NASA Back

D-Wave Quantum

ComputerGoogle andNASA are getting

behind the

D-Wave quantum

computer, and

have partnered to

start an artificial

intelligence (AI)

lab at NASAs

Advanced Supercomputing Facility at the

Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, CA.

Google is interested in how aquantum computer could speed up its

search engine and possibly its voice

recognition program. NASA wants to use

the D-Wave to design AI that can assist in

space exploration.

Just how fast is the D-Wave? One

test found the quantum computer could

solve a specific problem in a half-second,

while the next best competing system

required 30 seconds to achieve the

same result. A separate test found that

the D-Wave could solve more problemsin a set period of time than conventional

computers, at a rate of about 3:1.

MOREengineeringontheedge.

com/?p=4636

Google Flies a KiteGoogle X has acquired Makani Power,

a company specializing in wind turbine

technology that uses a kite-like concept

to harness wind energy.

The Makani turbine actuallylooks more like a miniature plane

than a kite. It is a tethered wing that

generates power by flying in large circles

where the wind is stronger and more

consistent. According to the company,

it eliminates 90% of the material used

in conventional wind turbines, and can

access winds both at higher altitudes

and above deep waters offshore.

MOREengineeringontheedge.

com/?p=4680

For daily coverage on the future of engineering technology, visit EngineeringOnTheEdge.com

7/27/2019 Desktop Engineering on July 2013

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Making Digital Designs Physical Rapid Ready Tech

deskeng.com /// July 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 11

Full-color Desktop 3D

Printer ComingAt press time, new

startup botObjects waspreparing to launch its

first product, a full-color

desktop 3D printer.

While the woods may

be full of desktop 3D

printers in general, full-

color systems are a bit

rarer. botObjects ProDesk3D is a material

deposition system that uses a five-color

polylactic acid (PLA) cartridge system to

build objects. The cartridges are filled

with primary colors that, according to thecompany, can be mixed and matched to

provide full color.

The company is claiming 25 prints,

with a 10.8 x 10.8 x 11.8 in. build area.

That large a build area for a desktop 3D

printer is fairly impressive, offering plenty

of room for most prototyping needs. The

ProDesk3D also sports a dual-extruder

head, comes with a self-calibrating

build platform, and runs on botObjects

ProModel software.

MORErapidreadytech.com/?p=4044

GE Tests AMs PotentialIn late 2012, GE made a significant

investment in additive manufacturing

(AM) technology when it acquired Morris

Technologies, and its 3D printing service,

Rapid Quality Manufacturing. Now the

corporate giant is getting ready to flex its

AM muscle with a large-scale industrial

test of 3D printing.

GE Aviation, in cooperation with

the French aircraft and rocket engine

manufacturer Snecma, will be leveraging

AM to build nozzles for its LEAP engine.

The company intends to begin full

production by early 2016 at the latest.

Each LEAP engine requires 10 to 20

nozzles, and GE will need to manufacture

around 25,000 of the nozzles each

year. That level of production is beyond

the norm for AM. You can be sure other

businesses will be keeping an eye on

GEs progress to see whether 3D printing

scales up as well as the company hopes.

GE will be using laser sintering

techniques to build the nozzles.

MORErapidreadytech.com/?p=4081

Research Begins on AM

Graphene MaterialThe evolution of additive manufacturing

(AM) will rely as much on materials as

on process, resolution or build envelope.

American Graphite Technologies (AG)

wants one of the materials used in

future AM products to be graphene. The

company recently announced a letter of

intent with several Ukrainian research

facilities, including the Kharkiv Institute of

Physics and Technology (KIPT), to find a

way to incorporate graphene into AM.

Combining graphene and 3D printing

could lead to entirely new areas of

production. Graphene conducts electricity

3D-printed Tracheal Splint

Saves Babys Life

Doctors at the University of MichigansC.S. Mott Childrens Hospital have

used 3D printing to save a childs life. From

the time Kaiba Gionfriddo was six weeks

old, the bronchus responsible for moving

air to his left lung would collapse, leaving

him unable to breathe. Doctors werent

optimistic about the babys chances.

Fortunately for the Gionfriddo family, Glenn Green, M.D., and his colleague, Scott

Hollister, Ph.D, both of the University of Michigan, had been experimenting with a

bioresorbable tracheal splint.

The custom medical device was designed using a CT scan of Kaibas trachea/

bronchus. From there, the design was fabricated with a 3D printer before being sewnaround Kaibas airway. No additional surgery will be required to remove the splint

after Kaibas bronchus grows and stabilizes on its own.

MORErapidreadytech.com/?p=4251

For daily coverage of rapid technologies, visit RapidReadyTech.com

better than copper, which means

computer architecture could be partially,

or completely, created simply by using an

AM system.

MORErapidreadytech.com/?p=4060

Wohlers ReleasesReport for 2013Wohlers Report, produced on an annual

basis by Wohlers Associates, tracks the

3D printing industry as a whole and

offers analysis and company information

pertaining to additive manufacturing (AM)

along with other useful information. The

latest report weighs in at 297 pages and

covers important developments in AM

over the last 18 months. A couple tidbits

from Wohlers Associates include:

The market for 3D printing in 2012,

consisting of all products and services

worldwide, grew 28.6% [compounded

annual growth rate, or CAGR] to $2.204

billion. This is up from $1.714 billion in

2011. Growth was 24.1% in 2010.

By 2017, Wohlers Associates

believes that the sale of 3D-printing

products and services will approach $6

billion worldwide.

MORErapidreadytech.com/?p=4263

7/27/2019 Desktop Engineering on July 2013

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Editors Picks by Anthony J. Lockwood

Each week, Tony Lockwood combs through dozens of new products to bring you the ones he thinks will

help you do your job better, smarter and faster. Here are Lockwoods most recent musings about the

products that have really grabbed his attention.

12 DESKTOP ENGINEERING July 2013 /// deskeng.com

Release 2013a of the MATLAB technical

computing environment and Simulink graphi-

cal environment for simulation and model-

based design of multidomain dynamic and

embedded systems is, as you might expect,

a sprawling affair. After all, these two product

families probably comprise 100 toolboxes for

mathematics, simulation, data acquisition,

image and signal processing, control systems,

and T&M, and more. The latest release offers

upgrades to more than 80 family members.

One of the key developments is a new

toolbox called Fixed-Point Designer, which

works with MATLAB codes, Simulink models,

and Stateflow charts ...

MOREdeskeng.com/articles/aabjrt.htm

Maplesoft released version 17 of its

Maple technical computing and docu-

mentation environment. It has some

430 new commands for mathematical

problem solving alone. In total, Maple 17

incorporates some 5,565 changes and

enhancements overall, including 400

intended to help you be more productive.

Lets run through some highlights of the

software.

Maple 17 has new functionality in the

form of a new class of ordinary differential

equations ...

MOREdeskeng.com/articles/aabjpa.htm

Altair Engineering recently released ver-

sion 12.0 of HyperWorks, its suite of

modeling, analysis, visualization, and data

management solutions for linear, nonlin-

ear, structural optimization, fluid-structure

interaction, and multi-body dynamics engi-

neering. As you might expect with a plat-

form as comprehensive as HyperWorks,

the new features and enhancements in

this release range far and wide across all

disciplines. Well run through a few items

of note and link to more information ...

MOREdeskeng.com/articles/aabjmp.htm

TransMagic announced the R10 release of

its TransMagic family of multi-CAD interoper-

ability applications. This appears to be a major

update. Lets take a quick look.

R10 offers updated support for what

seems all the latest versions of the major CAD

file formats. Additionally, it extends new sup-

port for DWG formats up to 2013 and adds

CATIA V6 support as a complement to its CATIA

V4 and V5 support, including V5 R23.

The big news is that R10 introduces

three new products: TransMagic EXPRESS,

TransMagic PRO, and TransMagic CREATIVE.

MOREdeskeng.com/articles/aabjsy.htm

MathWorks Releases 2013a MATLAB and SimulinkUpdates strengthen wireless capabilities and radar communications system design.

Engineering, Mathematical, and Scientific System UpdatedMaple 17 offers over 400 new commands for technical problem solving and

application development.

Altair Releases HyperWorks 12.0Release focuses on simulation-driven design, composites, and

multiphysics analysis.

Multi-CAD Interoperability Software Suite UpdatedTransMagic releases R10 products, support for Windows 8 and DWG and CATIA V6

formats among enhancements.

7/27/2019 Desktop Engineering on July 2013

16/53deskeng.com /// July 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 13

Design Optimization Sponsored Report///IntelCorporation

Design Optimization Sponsored Report/ IntelCorporation

Instead of fixating on the fastest processor or locking

on state-of-the-art GPU capabilities to drive CAD andsimulation performance, design engineers should take

a more balanced approach to configuring their optimalworkstation.

Many engineers, hungry for the ultimate in perfor-mance, are inclined to shell out top dollar on a worksta-tion simply because it sports the highest-end processor orthe latest in GPU technology. However, they do so at therisk of underplaying other workstation componentsspe-cifically, memory and storagewhich can play key rolesin bolstering overall system performance, oftentimes at alower cost.

Find the Right BalanceBy buying one or two frequencies down from what is con-sidered the premiere performance CPU, or by opting fora more basicand thus less expensivegraphics card, en-gineers can glean savings, which can then be channeledtoward the purchase of additional memory or solid-statedrives (SSDs). These options can have a greater overallimpact on boosting productivity and delivering the bestuser experience, especially since engineers dont typicallyspend all day working with CAD or simulation tools.

Consider this example of the power of balance: Withan investment in twice the memory capacity of their larg-est CAD models, engineers may be able to increase per-formance by as much as 2X on that model.One simplerule of thumb when configuring a workstation for simu-lation work is to employ 2GB of memory per core (notper processor).

Save on Graphics to Fund Other InvestmentsSimilar benefits can be had by trading off graphics horse-power to fund additional increments in solid state stor-age. Most CAD users can work sufficiently with an entry-

level GPU. In fact, a recent test by CATi, a SolidWorksreseller, found that the performance difference between

a $150 entry-level discrete card and a $1,500 high-end

graphics card was approximately 6% during an averageday by a typical user. That $1,000 savings can go a longway in funding additional resources to create a more bal-anced workstationfor example, buying additional SSDs,which can boost user productivity by as much as 3X, oroutfitting a workstation with error correcting-code (ECC)memory, which will ensure modeling and simulation re-sults are always accurate.

Xeon Provides OptionsIntels Xeon-based line of workstation processors, built forprofessionals, can help drive performance beyond whatspossible in a typical desktop while giving engineers thewidest array of options for creating a balanced system.With so-called uncore technologies like acceleratedI/O performance, ECC memory, optimized cache utiliza-tion, and new architected data flow, the Xeon E5 familyis optimized for handling large data models and enhancedthroughput on simulations.

Case in point: A dual 8-core Xeon-based Lenovo sys-tem running at a 2.7GHz frequency, equipped with 32GBof memory and dual Intel 240GB SSDs, ran a flow simu-lation 1.7X faster than a dual 4-core Xeon system with

16GB of memory and dual 250GB SCSI drives despiteits higher 3GHz frequency. Benchmark tests showed evengreater results (up to as much as 3.5X performance boosts)in PhotoView 360 rendering jobs when comparing Core i7and Xeon-based workstations.

So dont automatically assume that bigger and fasterCPU or GPU horsepower is the only route to a high-performing engineering workstation.Balance, not brawn, is the most cost-effective approach to optimizing aworkstation that works for you. DE

INFOIntel Corp: intel.com/go/workstation

Rather than opting or the astest processor or

the highest end state-o-the-art GPU, take a

balanced approach to confguring a workstation.

Balance is the Best Route to

Workstation Performance

7/27/2019 Desktop Engineering on July 2013

17/5314 DESKTOP ENGINEERING July 2013 /// deskeng.com

Simulate /// Small and Medium-sized Businesses

Do you work for a small, medium (or micro-sized)business, commonly called an SMB? Maybe youvethought simulation software sounds good, but is too

expensive, too complicated and only occasionally needed.Well, its time to think again. Companies developing

software for analyzing mechanical and/or fluid designs arescrambling to get a piece of the SMB action and thatspaying off to your benefit. They now offer manageable simu-lation tools that work when your budget is modest (somewell below $15,000) and when your analysis staff is alsoresponsible for CAD, soldering and printer repair.

DEchallenged a number of companies plus a university todetail just what theyre doing to make such simulations intui-tive, flexible and affordable for non-experts. In Part 1, wellfocus on simulation embedded in CAD software.

More than Just Technically UsefulSince working in ones everyday CAD environment providesa natural comfort zone, its no wonder that CAD packageswith embedded simulation functions have great appeal formany product designers. SolidWorks, Autodesk, PTC andSiemens PLM Software Solid Edge products come to mind.

Delphine Genouvrier, SolidWorks senior product manager,says, The SolidWorks Simulation solution is fully embeddedin SolidWorks 3D CAD, which means product engineers keepusing the same interface, product philosophy, familiar workflowand commands when designing and testing a design. This short-

ens the learning curve. It also means that the 3D CAD modelbecomes the simulation model without any data translation.

With this single interface, the family of SolidWorks Simu-lation solutions generates consistent and coupled results. Forexample, thermal computational fluid dynamics (CFD) resultsfrom SolidWorks Flow Simulation can be used as direct inputfor a large displacement structural simulation in SolidWorksSimulation Premium. As customer needs evolve, users can eas-ily add SolidWorks Plastics for plastic injection simulation (partsand molds), SolidWorks Motion (rigid body dynamic simulation),and SolidWorks Sustainability (for sustainable design testing).

From an engineering design standpoint, SMBs have alwaysbeen a sweet spot for Autodesk, says Luke Mihelcic, simulationproduct marketing executive. Weve taken Inventor (3D design)tools and added internal basic functionality to give users a taste ofsimulation, he says. Outside of Inventor, the companys AutodeskSimulation products run the gamut, from Mechanical and CFD

to several versions of Moldflow for parts or assemblies.Mihelcic adds that whats exciting about making simulationaccessible to SMBs are the new Autodesk 360 packages. Thesetake the various desktop products and put them in cloud-basedbundles, with a one-year license allowing 120 simulations atgreatly reduced prices compared to the standard price struc-ture. For example, Autodesk Simulation 360 Professional bun-dles Autodesk Mechanical, CFD and Robot Structure Analy-sis, all for $3,600. The software has full function capabilities plus, users can buy more simulation runs as needed beyondthe 120. Plans are underway for even shorter term licensingmodels for companies that frequently handle projects where

simulations are only run for two to three months time.Autodesk is also on the cutting edge of mobile apps for simu-

Simulationfor SmallBusinesses,Part 1Soware companies are eager

to help SMBs get onboard.

BY PAMELA J. WATERMAN

This analysis of a desktop printer uses different softwarepackages in the Autodesk Simulation 360 family. The image

shows mechanical stress (color regions on the ink-jet cartridge

holders), Moldflow injection pressure (visible as colors on the

top section of the printer), and fluid and thermal simulation

(streamlines throughout). Image courtesy of Autodesk.

7/27/2019 Desktop Engineering on July 2013

18/53deskeng.com /// July 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 15

lation and using wiki sites for on-demand training. The companyoffers Autodesk ForceEffect and ForceEffect Motion (to quicklyget an idea of the forces in a new design) for free on IOS andAndroid platforms, downloadable through the Google Chrome

Web Store. Both apps have been out for about a year-and-a-half,and have seen more than 500,000 downloads. Autodesks com-munity-enhanced WikiHelp pages step design engineers throughQuick Starts, Essential Skills, Tutorials and more all free andall conveniently accessible on the users schedule.

PTCs goal has always been to put good structural analy-sis tools at the fingertips of the desktop engineer tools thatdont require the expertise of a full-time finite element analysis(FEA) expert. Brian Thompson, PTC vice president of productmanagement, notes, for example, that the companys meshingapproach uses P elements instead of typical H elements. Be-cause these inherently map well to the geometry, mesh density

is not a huge issue; the meshing algorithms dont require mul-tiple passes for optimization, making the whole process easier.

Thompson says, More recently, weve done some specialwork to improve adoption and use of our analysis tools for theindividual user, completely revamping the user experience. Ifyou look at the PTC Creo Simulate extension, you see a verymodern, ribbon-based interface with grouped commands. Also,even without the extension, you actually get a free wizard-basedanalysis tool with a check-box approach that steps you throughthe process, limited only by the size of the model.

Other improvements in the PTC Creo Simulate extensioninclude easier software installation, easier bolted-joint idealiza-tion, and a simplified way to analyze non-linear problems. Forthe last, if you have experimental force-vs.-deflection data for anon-linear material, the software will fit a curve to the data andautomatically apply it to a given design model. Its a powerfulaid to someone just getting started with such problems.

Solid Edge 3D CAD design software, a core componentof the Siemens PLM Velocity Series portfolio, includesanalysis capabilities that complement those of Femap, thecompanys specialist software. In fact, Solid Edge Simula-tion employs Femap for meshing and Seimens PLM NX

NASTRAN for solving, but makes it all easier for the main-stream engineer. For example, employing the philosophy ofthe CAD system using synchronous technology to editdesigns faster a given material choice not only assigns acolor for the CAD image, but also all material properties formechanical simulation.

Bill McClure, vice president of product development for SolidEdge, Siemens PLM Software, explains that the software alsoguides users through an analysis by automatically recognizingand applying relevant tasks such as creating a mid-plane on sheetmetal, a solid mesh on a solid part and a beam mesh on a beam.

Thermal analysis capabilities were added to Solid Edgein version ST5, and optimization has been added in the re-cent release of Solid Edge ST6. In other news, Solid Edgeplans to launch an online store later this summer where cus-tomers can purchase and download the software for use ona monthly subscription basis. McClure notes that the newsubscription model is expected to appeal to SMBs, particu-larly those who are looking for more affordable and flexiblealternatives to traditional, professional CAD offerings.

In Part 2 of this article, well look at how other companies

are connecting CAD with simulation, making computationalfluid dynamics (CFD) accessible, and providing training. DE

Contributing EditorPamela Waterman, DEs simulation expert,is an electrical engineer and freelance technical writer based in Ari-zona. You can send her e-mail to [email protected].

INFOAutodesk: 360.autodesk.com/landing

PTC: PTC.com

Siemens PLM Software: SolidEdge.com

SolidWorks: SolidWorks.com

For more information on this topic, visit deskeng.com.

PTC Creo Flexible Modeling Extension with PTC

LearningConnector gives SMB customers seamless

access to an eLearning library, online help and the PTC

KnowledgeBase in a context-sensitive way to find exactly

the information needed to be efficiently productive. The

PTC LearningConnector is a free learning application that

comes with PTC Creo, PTC Windchill, PTC Mathcad Prime

and PTC Arbortext software. Image courtesy of PTC.

Stress results from FEA of an idler pulley, performed

within SolidEdge from Siemens PLM Software. Imagecourtesy Siemens PLM Software.

7/27/2019 Desktop Engineering on July 2013

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Simulate ///Biomedical Applications

Martin Larsen, a simulation specialist at

Oticon, uses ANSYS Mechanical, thesame software automakers would use

to reduce brake squeal or test noise, vibration andharshness (NVH). But Larsen doesnt design vehicles;he designs hearing aids.

Wind Feng, an R&D engineer at MicroPort,uses Dassault Systmes SIMULIA. Aerospacemanufacturers use the same program to optimizehypersonic re-entry vehicles.Feng, however, happensto work in orthopedics.

Darryl DLima, M.D., Ph.D., from Scripps Re-search Institute, has more than 10 years of experi-ence in MSC Softwares Marc, a program widely used in trans-portation and energy. But DLima isnt researching transmissions andgears; he studies cartilage injury, stem cells, and joint wear.

These are just a few examples of the biomedical professionsflirtation with simulation technologies.

Manufacturing activities in automotive and aerospace fuelR&D and commerce in the simulation sector. Industry titans likeGM, Ford, Boeing and Airbus play a big part in shaping the tech-nology and the workflow. Because the software programs havegone through cycles of trial and error over the years, the latestgeneration of solvers can replicate car- and plane-related phenom-

ena with reliable fidelity. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD),structural dynamics, preprocessing, post-processing and meshingare part of automotive and aerospace engineers daily vocabulary.

For doctors, physicians, and researchers in life sciences, how-ever, simulation vocabulary might as well be Greek or Latin.Come to think of it, Greek or Latin might be easier for doctorsto grasp, because its the root of many medical terms.

Can these new users easily adopt programs initially designedwith another industry in mind? Can the programs used to simu-late heat distribution and mechanical operations inside an engineblock be used to simulate hearing aids and knee joints? Is specify-ing the right viscosity, thermal conductivity and tensile strength

for human tissue and blood as simple as picking them out of adropdown menu in a library and adjusting their properties? The

answers to these questions suggest simulation software makershave a lot to learn from the new professions theyre courting.

Group Treatment Not AvailableWith a strong presence in healthcare as well as product lifecyclemanagement (PLM), Siemens makes not only medical devices,but also the software used to simulate them. The symbiosis be-tween its device and simulation software divisions is reflected inthe ease with which you can reuse magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) data inside NX, the companys leading computer-aided de-sign/manufacturing/engineering software suite. Thats according

to Martin Kuessner, global lead of NX CAE business develop-ment at Siemens PLM Software.In medical device, pharmaceutical and biomedical, theres a

lot of simulation going on, Kuessner says. Its rapidly increasing.However, [the use] is not as straightforward as in other industries.Its much more complex, much more diverse. Therefore, it mightnot have the visibility and the penetration it deserves.

Automotive components have become highly standardized;consequently, developing a custom automotive simulation pack-age is relatively easy. Not so with medical devices, says Kuessner.

A stent, a heart valve, a tablet dispenser, a liquid container they have different challenges, demand different degrees of ac-

From Classical Mechanics

to Biomechanics

Oticon, a hearing aid manufacturer, uses ANSYS to simulate how

its products fit and function inside ear canals.

The adoption of digital simulation in biomedical and life

sciences tests the technologys limits.

BY KENNETH WONG

Continued on page 18 ...

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20/53deskeng.com ///July 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 17

Advertorial /// BOXX Technologies

Design Optimization Sponsored Report/ IntelCorporationWhat engineer or designer isnt familiar with thedreaded sit-around-and-wait syndrome? Thatswhen a crit ical workflow like a photorealistic

rendering job or a structural/fluid analysis running in backgroundmode slows a system to a crawl, leaving the user in a holdingpattern for hours while the machine labors to get the job done.

Tuning workstation performance to overcome such pro-

ductivity-sapping bottlenecks is what BOXX Technologies isall about. The company harnesses an array of state-of-the-arttechnologies, from multi-core processors and advanced GPUhorsepower to internal innovations in the areas of overclock-ing and liquid cooling, to prime its workstations for optimalperformance. BOXX workstations are designed to handlegraphics- and compute-intensive applications like rendering,visualization, and 3D simulation.

The ability to run advanced simulations more efficiently or toemploy visualization and rendering techniques to cut down onthe number of iterative prototyping cycles is critical for designengineers today. Increasingly, companies across all industries arebeing pressured to shrink time-to-market schedules and reducecosts. Optimized design and engineering workflows can greatlyenhance engineers ability to meet their targets.

Fast and Flexible

Thats where the new 3DBOXX 8950 workstation comes in.Designed specifically to accommodate multi-threading andmultiple applications used in advanced engineering work-flows, the 3DBOXX 8950 offers the ultimate in flexibility.It supports advanced multi-card configurations, includingsupport for multiple CPUs or GPUs, depending on which

approach works best for a particular use case.The system features dual Intel Xeon E5-2600 Seriesprocessors with support for up to 16 cores (32 threads) andup to 512GB of system memory. System expandability comesinto play through a total of 12 add-in card slots, which canaccommodate advanced multi-card configurations, includinga mix of graphics co-processor or accelerator cards.

Specifically, there are four PCI-E x16 slots in addition toone PCI-E x16(x8), one PCIE-E X8, and one PCI-E x8(x4)slots, allowing users to optimize system performance with amix of add-on capabilities depending on the requirements oftheir specific applications.

In addition to the raw horsepower, the workstation isextremely GPU-centric. The 3DBOXX 8950 can be stocked

with up to four dualslot add-in GPU cards,including NVIDIAQuadro , NVIDIAGeForce, or NVIDIATesla. The system iscertified to supportNVIDIA Maximustechnology, whichleverages the graphics horsepower of the GPU with the com-puting engine of the Tesla accelerator to greatly minimize ren-dering times and maximize system interactivity. The Maximusconfiguration helps to further optimize the design cycle,aiding manufacturers in accelerating time to market.

Despite its horsepower and configurability, the 3DBOXX8950 has been architected to be a model corporate citizen.The system workstation features innovative BOXX liquidcooling, which ensures that the system doesnt run hot and

isnt noisy. The 1250-watt, 80 Plus Gold Power Supply alsomakes sure power requirements are sufficient for the systemshigh-performance components.

With engineers and des igners routinely tasked withaccomplishing more in a compressed time frame, no onecan afford to wait around for a workstation that cant keeppace. The 3DBOXX 8950 Series gives engineering teams theflexibility they need to take back their workstation and getthe ultimate in high-octane performance. For more on the3DBOXX 8950 series or otherBOXX workstations featuringNVIDIA Maximus technology,

call 1-877-877-BOXX or visitwww.boxxtech.com. DE

High-Octane DesignThe multi-configurable 3DBOXX 8950 is primed for performance,helping to reduce design bolenecks and accelerate time to market.

7/27/2019 Desktop Engineering on July 2013

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Simulate ///Biomedical Applications

curacy, he points out. Neither Siemens nor any other simulationsoftware maker can possibly come up with a single prefabricated,preconfigured simulation solution to accommodate this of di-versity. However, each application area can be covered by its owncustomized environment for easier access to simulation, he says.

Customization: Pros and ConsOticons Larsen simulates the way sound waves and vibrations

travel through the ear canal using ANSYS Mechanical. Larsenand his colleagues tweaked the software to fit their own work-flow, based on their accumulated understanding of the innerworking of ear canals. They load the software with custommaterial databases. These, he says, are closely guarded secretsamong the handful of companies competing for dominance inhearing aid design.

In its deployment of ANSYS Mechanical, Oticon pays par-ticular attention to acoustic loss, resulting from the use of tinytubes in hearing aids. Larsen and his colleagues thought aboutdeveloping a general user interface for acoustic simulation, butfound out they didnt need toANSYS beat them to the punch

by introducing the feature in Version 13. By Version 14.5, ANSYShas come up with acoustic loss analysis. Larsen hopes to see more

developments to this function in the future.In some instances, the requirements of the medical device

maker may be too specialized for the general-purpose simula-tion package to address. In that case, the user has no choice but

to develop custom codes or plug-ins. We try to do everythingin ANSYS if we can, says Larsen. We want to spend our timedeveloping hearing aids, not custom software. That said, we havedeveloped own tools as well.

In the past few years, Chinese medical device and implantmanufacturer MicroPort has closely collaborated with DSSIMULIA in structure optimization, kinematics simulation andfatigue analysis. MicroPorts Feng says, Every customer has itsown requirement for simulation. Weve made a customized pro-cess for a cardiovascular implant, and find it efficient and useful.

At least when it comes to knee implants, MicroPort wontneed to write custom code. DS SIMULIA came up with the

Abaqus Knee Simulator (AKS), based on its general-purposefinite element analysis (FEA) program Abaqus. The companydescribes the module as a validated computational modelingtool for performing basic to advanced knee implant analysesand simulations. This tool offers five fast and easy-to-setupworkflows which reduce your reliance on time-consuming tri-als and expensive lab equipment, while still meeting regulatoryrequirements.

Feng says simulation helps MicroPort reduce physical proto-typing and shorten mechanical and fatigue testing times. More im-portantly, it helps us evaluate the biomechanics performance of ourdesign without conducting expensive and lengthy physical tests.

MicroPort uses DS SIMULIAs AKS to simulate two types ofknee implants: fixed bearing and mobile bearing.

Because of their complexity and loading conditions, settingup these two models could easily have taken a week by hand,Feng says. Instead, it took a day or two. The AKS makes it prac-tical for product development companies to perform simulationsas thorough as those at research institutes.

The Language BarrierThierry Marchal, ANSYS industry director for healthcare,says, Many of the people in medical device have an engineer-

ing background. Often, they came from other industries. Somehave worked at places like Boeing, so they know simulation, evenknow the software. But he points out a new class of simulationusers are emerging: clinical technicians, surgeons and physicians.These people are so busy operating on patients and saving lives,theres no way they can invest the time to learn the software, saysMarchal. For them, the language in simulation could be a signifi-cant barrier. That language consists of material tensile strength,outside pressure, internal temperature, fluid turbulence model,and other computable values.

Siemens Kuessner sees value in a simulation program withcustomized input fields. That way, you wont be talking about

Youngs modulus, but instead, you can ask for bone types [asinput], he reasons. At the end of the day, youre still dealing with

This meshed FEA model of a Total Knee Replacement (TKR)

is ready for analysis in the Abaqus Knee Simulator AKS from

Dassault Systmes SIMULIA. The 2D rectangular strips and

the vertical lines are tendons. The TKR components are inblue. The two large green knobs are the tibia and the femur.

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deskeng.com /// July 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 19

engineering calculation strain energy, stress and so on butthe interface should be customized for the user.

Such a concept might be difficult to implement at the soft-ware level, however. Ashley Peterson, principal R&D engineer at

Medtronic, a medical device manufacturer, points out that therescurrently no good way to translate patient data into computablesimulation values. Even if it were possible, he wonders whetherit would be wise.

If you take, say, a patients age and correlate it to a certainblood flow or viscosity, youre saying, thats generally what youfind. But thats not true in the cases where the patient has a cer-tain disease, or if they have a slightly elevated blood pressure,he points out. If you use averages, and remove too many of thedetails, you may be reducing the accuracy of the simulation.

Carlos Olguin, head of the bio-nano programmable mattergroup at Autodesk, says, In my view, it is less about replacing and

more about mapping and correlating standard medical terms andmeasurements to the engineering vocabulary. And the engineer-ing vocabulary itself will also change, depending on the metricscale at which a simulation is performed.

Olguin offers as an example how at the molecular scale, grav-ity plays a less important role, while diffusion is emphasized: Asone goes even further down in scale, then Newtonian physics aregradually replaced by quantum physics.

When Metal Meets Flesh

Peterson and his colleagues at Medtronic employ CD-adapcosSTAR CCM+ (for CFD) to develop and test medical devices.In some simulation scenarios, he needs to understand not just

how the medical device operates, but how it interacts with or-ganic matter. To simulate an endovascular stent graft, for example,requires simulating the way the device fits inside a patients aorticaneurysm and interacts with the blood and vasculature.

In another division of Medtronic, the company uses ANSYSsoftware to simulate how an implanted device behaves when a pa-tient is subjected to an MRI scan. Mariya Lazebnik, Ph.D., seniorscientist at Medtronic, points out, Right now, patients with im-plantable devices cannot have an MRI scan because of the harm-ful interaction between the device and the scanner.

During an MRI scan, body temperature rises, which affectsthe implanted device. This is a complex problem, says Lazebnik.

The size and shape of the patient will influence the magnitudeof that interaction. Medtronic uses coupled physics electro-magnetic and thermal in ANSYS to simulate these scenarios.

Using MSC Softwares Marc nonlinear FEA software, re-searchers at Scripps simulated wear-related complications in or-thopedic joint replacements, in scenarios where metals, polymersand biological materials literally interact with one another. Sur-prisingly, DLima reveals he and his colleagues are using Marc as-

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Simulate ///Biomedical Applications

is, with little or no customization. He is considering using MSCAdams for biomechanics as a next step.

Weve solved the geometry problem with better imagingtools, says DLima. We can now construct accurate surfaces

from CT scans, and then turn them into meshes that the simula-tion solvers can handle. Getting valid forces and motions are stilla challenge. We have machines that measure friction and wear,but material property is a bigger challenge. We can test the heckout of metals and artificial polymers used for implants, but get-ting the properties of bones, tendons, ligaments ... thats not easy.

Its a bit easier for Oticon, Larsen reports, because hearingaids are inserted into the ear canal; they dont get embeddedbelow the skin or muscles. Larsen doesnt need to worry aboutsimulating tissues. Rather, his challenge lies in customization.

Each ear canal is very individual, he explains. No two arealike. We have some very good information on certain types of

ear canals. Then there are others we collect using special meth-ods. The problem when obtaining ear canal geometries is to getclose to the eardrum, since you can seriously hurt the person ifyou touch their eardrum.

Ongoing industry efforts include scanning different ear canalsand studying them to understand sound-distribution directions,Larsen notes. That fuels his use of ANSYS Mechanical.

We cooperate with the Technical University of Denmark(DTU), where they can generate 3D models of heads fromphotos, he adds. The head with the hearing aid shown on page16 (based on a scan of his own head, Larsen reveals) has beenscanned with this method.

Biomaterial PropertiesPerhaps the biggest hurdle in simulating biomedical events is thelack of material data. In most cases, the simulation software wontgive you the option to pick a suitable type of bone, tissue or bloodfrom a dropdown menu. (It would if you were simulating a plas-tic, steel or metal part.) Biomaterial data doesnt exist in a formthat can be readily delivered inside current software. The simula-tion experts and software developers interviewed for this articledont always agree on custom biomedical modules benefits, or onhow to make software interfaces more approachable but they

all lament the lack of biomaterial data.Siemens Kuessner describes the way it currently works: Thematerial laws [such as the fundamentals of Youngs modulus] arepart of the simulation code, the FEA or CFD program. We pro-vide very sophisticated material laws, he points out. But itll bethe responsibility of the user to put [the sample material] into atest machine if possible, or measure it in situ, calibrate the mate-rial, and bring life to the mathematics. This, he concedes, couldbe a big bottleneck for users.

ANSYS Marchal says biomedical problems are more complex.Look at cardiovascular modeling, or simulating blood flow in

deformed arteries. When youre talking about blood, its properties

are not the same as air for airplanes or water for turbines that canbe modeled with a constant viscosity and density, Marchal con-

tinues. Blood properties are not constant; they change with [thepatients] activities, pathologies and conditions such as age, sex andhealth. Muscles and soft-tissues are not like metal, and need morethan a constant Young modulus and Poisson coefficient to be prop-

erly modeled. It is therefore crucial to collaborate with clinicians tostart building database of patient specific material properties.

Its easy to develop [a specialized module], but if used inap-propriately, it can give you the wrong answer while you wouldtrust it because this is the result of simulation, he says.

Where Do We Go from Here?Every simulation is wrong. Some are useful, Siemens Kuessnersays. Its his way of reminding us that, at its core, simulation is a sim-plified representation of a complex event. Nevertheless, the simpli-fied study of nature, he insists, can be a great help in product design.

Some people say, Oh, we dont know enough about the mate-

rials, so we cant simulate, he says. I say thats wrong. You can stilldo an envelope simulation: Take the worst case, take the best case,and study the range to see where problems can potentially occur.

In April, theAmerican Journal of Neuroradiology published apaper titled 3D Cine Phase-Contrast MRI at 3T in Intracra-nial Aneurysms Compared with Patient-Specific ComputationalFluid Dynamics. (Obviously, the language barrier gets worsewhen biomedical and simulation terms merge.) In the abstract,the authors explain, CFD has been proved valuable for simulat-ing blood flow in intracranial aneurysms, which may add to bet-ter rupture risk assessment. However, CFD has drawbacks suchas the sensitivity to assumptions needed for the model Thepurpose of this study was to compare flow patterns on the basisof 3D PC-MR imaging with CFD estimates.

Its just one example of the validation needed to ensure thesimulated pixels match what really happens inside your body.DE

Kenneth Wong isDesktop Engineerings resident blogger andsenior editor. Email him [email protected] share yourthoughts on this article atdeskeng.com/facebook.

INFO

American Journal of Neuroradiology: AJNR.orgANSYS:ANSYS.com

Autodesk: Autodesk.com

CD-adapco: CD-adapco.com

Dassault Systmes SIMULIA: SIMULIA.com

Medtronic: Medtronic.com

MicroPort: MicroPort.com

MSC Software: MSCSoftware.com

Oticon: Oticon.com

The Scripps Research Institute: Scripps.edu

Siemens PLM Software: Siemens.com/PLM

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Engineering Case Studies Fast Apps

Speed ThrillsDanas engineers team up to accelerate product design with

simulation lifecycle management.

The recent revival of the U.S. automotive

industry is a success story on many levels.

Bridge loans granted by the government

enabled some automakers to restructure.

Tightened fuel-economy and pollution stan-

dards spurred new R&D. An improving eco-

nomic climate released pent-up demand fornew cars and this time, Detroit was ready

with fuel-efficient, eye-catching models that

brought buyers back to the showrooms. The

Big Three (Ford, GM and Chrysler) were on

the path to recovery.

As the automakers business picked up

again, so did that of their suppliers. Dana

Holding Corp. a U.S.-based, Tier 1 global

supplier of axles, driveshafts, sealing

and thermal-management products, off-

highway transmissions and service parts

saw a strong turnaround in revenues

and margins. While its customers recovery

was certainly a major contributor to these

results, credit for Danas rebound also goes

to an evolution in mindset that helped keep

the company on track through tough times.

We underwent a cultural change atDana from a mainly cost/manufacturing-

driven company to an engineering-driven

one, says Frank Popielas, senior man-

ager of advanced engineering in the

Dana Power Technologies Group and

head of CAE for Dana. This meant a

shift in focus from how to control costs

and manufacture efficiently to how to

innovate. Obviously, all these need to

be integrated. But if you focus solely on

costs, product quality will go down. As an

engineering-driven company, we look at

how to improve a product from a quality

and function perspective. Innovation,

supported by the right engineering tools,

made our company more competitive.

Many automotive suppliers struggled dur-

ing the recession, and unemployment ratesrose. However, since Dana had already

developed substantial in-house CAE and

high-performance computing (HPC) resourc-

es, the company made a point of retaining

its design engineering teams.

MOREdeskeng.com/articles/aabkgd.htm

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