Nexteer利用虚拟现实进行装配设备设计评估

到底有没有什么技术手段可以替代真正的物理样机?Nexteer汽车系统公司是转向系统及相关先进技术的全球供应商，过去的研发准则为“你需要构建它来体验它”，一直有效的应用于多种产品研发。直到研发人员意识到，使用物理样机进行设计评审或等待施工对产品物理性能评估会产生非常大的延迟交付风险和计划外成本。Nexteer开发了一种方法来增强他们的设计，并在沉浸式虚拟环境中进行审查，使他们能够在建造任何东西之前试用制造组装设备并找出设计问题。阅读全文

Initially, Nexteer’s Manufacturing Engineers conducted onscreen reviews of their 3D data in conventional Computer-Aided-Design (CAD), which left them with too many unknowns. Nor did performing equipment design reviews with physical mockups address all the potential interactions between operators or technicians with the assembly cells they were designing. And waiting until construction of their assembly equipment had begun to physically evaluate their designs involved a significant risk for modification delays and charges. That, combined with the need to travel between their Global Technical Center in Saginaw, Michigan, their widely distributed suppliers, and the planned production sites, unnecessarily increased tooling project timing and costs.

Once they began working in an immersive virtual reality environment, Nexteer’s Manufacturing Engineers quickly realized the benefits went further than originally anticipated. Not only could they perform a walkaround of their assembly environments at a 1:1 scale, but they were now able to import their supplier’s proposed CAD designs and create data groups that they enriched with physical behaviors. Then, the engineers could step inside the immersive virtual production environment, interact with the various components, and experience what they couldn’t see using their previous methods. From the first-person perspective, Nexteer Engineers and their suppliers could evaluate what can be reached, installed, and maintained well in advance. Immersive reviews enabled them to discover potentially costly engineering and design oversights, which went unnoticed during on-screen reviews.

Nexteer uses ESI IC.IDO to experience their CAD models as close to the reality of the actual machines, without waiting to produce physical prototypes or beginning construction of production equipment. Their Manufacturing Engineering team is interacting naturally with their proposed production equipment, identifying potential issues, and fully understanding all aspects of their design through simulation and animation. As a result, in their first projects since implementation, Nexteer is realizing returns on their investment through reductions in costs and delay risks caused by late discovery of production issues. Within their first year of leveraging virtual reality, Advanced Manufacturing Engineering recognized risk and cost avoidance, leading ultimately to improved quality and performance of their assembly equipment.

Nexteer Automotive – a leader in intuitive motion control – is a multibillion-dollar global steering and driveline business delivering electric and hydraulic steering systems, steering columns and driveline systems, as well as ADAS and automated driving technologies for OEMs around the world.

For more information visit Nexteer Automotive