Weight Optimization Using Design Topology And Multi-Materials for AM Application in MULTHEM Project
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Mechanical products such as an EV Battery and Electric Motor have housings confined to their boundary spaces. Existing industrial products use metal such as aluminium as a full-covered casing or housing material, this is costly in terms of performance overall as weight is a major affecting factor. With the advent of metal-polymer 3D printing technology, designs can be optimized for weight and thus the performance. In MULTHEM project, a new approach in additive manufacturing has been researched which is the product designing of such housings to reduce weight using design optimization and multi-materials (such as Al-Carbon Fibre or any other metal-polymer) combination. This is applied on housings of use-cases (an EV battery and an electric motor) virtually in a modelling and simulation environment. The Finite Element Analysis and Topology Optimization with multi-materials (metal-polymer) has been simulated on the housings. The heat dissipation in these components to the operating environment has also been taken into account in the design optimization where a balance is required between heat transfer and mass reduction through the material thickness. Limitations in design topology optimization process occur with less material thicknesses in the housings where no further reduction in mass is possible as constraints from 3D printing processes are applicable. Results show significant reductions in housing mass in a range of 10 – 50% compared to original metal designs. This further enhances the capabilities in Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM).
