Designs fly in three dimensions
29 July 2006
Design engineers working with two-dimensional CAD (computer-aided design) tools are at a discernable disadvantage compared to those using three-dimensional modelling packages. Design is a three dimensional function, so working with two dimensional CAD, instantly puts designers at a disadvantage.
So says Barry Wynn, leader of the design office at Hy-Pro, the hydraulic valve manufacturers in Devon, who works with both Solidworks and a 2D CAD package.
"Designing is all about 3D shapes; depicting them in 2D is in fact quite counter intuitive. But it's a technique that is so ingrained in most engineers that they don't realise how cumbersome it is.
"Like most of today's designers, I cut my teeth on a drawing board and have spent years working with 2D representations. Switching to modelling was a bit like relearning a long-forgotten language."
Consider a valve spool, for instance: ask a non-engineer to draw one and they'll start by sketching a cylinder. Interestingly a cylinder, or bar, is also where you start when making a spool.
Wynn has been using both two- and three-dimensional packages for some years and says that this highlights the restrictions of traditional CAD.
"CAD was such an advance in its day that designers were bowled over by it.
The transition to 3D is a bit more difficult because you are not only learning new computer skills but also completely re-evaluating the intellectual design processes.
"It's when you go back to CAD after a period that you see its restrictions."
Hy-Pro does all its new design work with Solidworks, but maintains CAD files for its existing products. The decision to go with Solidworks was Wynn's, who says that it was developed specifically for small-medium companies.
"The earlier modelling packages were very high-end," he says. "Great for global aerospace giants and such like, but far too complex for the majority of UK engineering firms."
So how have Wynn and his Hy-Pro colleagues benefited from 3D design?
The short answer is easier visualisation. It is easier to imagine what a finished design will look like, how its parts will assemble and how it will operate.
"We produce prototypes that work first time, ones that are almost identical to the final product design," he quips. "The other departments now think that we can do our jobs properly!"
In fact many of the development stages are compressed into almost a single seamless function. Hy-pro doesn't quite go straight from design to manufacture in a single step, but it is certainly far more efficiently than previously. The time saved allows the engineers to be far more rigorous in their design and analysis procedures, while still reducing time to market.
In fact, 3D modelling puts Hy-Pro on a par with far larger competitors, as Wynn explains: "Because we have everybody on a single site we have the potential for very high internal operating efficiency and Solidworks allows us to realise this. We can go from design brief to concept and through the develop stages very slickly. We regularly produce new valve sections in six weeks, 10 times faster than a big company.
"And as soon as we have the final design we can convert the e-drawings into assembly animations for the website and render them up for brochures etc."
Wynn also takes a wider perspective, and says that engineering design will be changed fundamentally because of 3D modelling. "Most designers started their careers learning the rigors of 2D interpretation, and naturally feel that this is a foundation skill that allows them function as an engineer. But now I can see that it is also very restrictive, and I dread having to use the CAD system.
"The new generations of designers that grow up using modelling from the outset are going to be very different beasts from us."
-- END --