RESOURCE LIBRARY

ABB Group, a global leader in power and automation technologies, covers almost every segment of the power generation and industrial process control market with its products and systems. With $1.4 billion in annual investments, the 8,500 engineers and scientists at ABB Research & Development are committed to meeting the automation industry’s ever-increasing demand for reducing energy consumption and improving reliability and performance. The design projects illustrated here highlight how ABB Group leverages optimization-based development to handle the complexity that electronic and software components entail. Looking at system interdependencies from the earliest concept phase is crucial for an effective strategy that aims at maximizing product performance, meeting reliability demands and easing the environmental impact of their products. ## Optimization-Based Development of Ultra High Performance Twin Robot Xbar Press Tending Robot System The industry challenge Industrial robots are sophisticated systems incorporating hardware and – increasingly – software components. Subsystem design (gearboxes, motors, sensors and brakes) and the interactions between elements such as machine interfaces, safety integrations, field buses, PCBAs, power supplies and drive modules must be carefully planned to assure the best possible performance. Over the years, cost pressures have made robots a commodity in terms of physical specifications. Among the many design challenges, the need for lighter components has resulted in reduced stiffness, making the control problem more complex. Furthermore, many third-party interfaces require integration and products that must comply to software, electrical and mechanical quality standards. ABB experience In the case of the Twin Robot Xbar Press Tending Robot System, one of ABB’s flagship robots, engineers considered 18 design variables (representing the gear torque, motor torque and motor speed) and managed objectives and constraints in modeFRONTIER, achieving a 12% energy saving, solely by varying the software components. “We optimized this robot ‘manually’ for 30 years and it is one of the most used. With modeFRONTIER we were able to identify a new design – requiring no implementation costs – bringing 12% of energy savings without compromising performance by changing only the software configuration. Obviously, this is something that can’t be done by hand – you need an optimization software to do it.” says Dr. Wappling, Global R&D Manager at ABB. ### Benefits “The ability to manage mechatronics is becoming increasingly important as simulation encompasses more and more systems and not just components: the impact of the mechanics, electronics and software all need to be accounted for.” continues Wappling. ESTECO technology keeps pace with evolving R&D needs and provides designers with a flexible environment that handles each delicate step of complex system analysis and enhancement. As seen in the example of the robot, inserting virtual control models in the simulation framework enables designers to apply the optimization approach, calibrate the software and identify zero-cost solutions. ## Multiobjective Optimization of a Medium Voltage Recloser The challenge Medium voltage reclosers now represent an important grid protection device that connects different grid sources, increase the network/grid reliability and make the implementation of self-healing and auto reconfiguration schemes for overhead lines possible. With a high level of renewable energy penetration, medium voltage networks are becoming bidirectional. Therefore, the associated switching devices must ensure the protection of newer types of power systems as well as new types of loads. The optimal design of medium voltage reclosers is therefore important in order to enable excellent switching capabilities. The switching capabilities of medium voltage recloser can be influenced by various parameters such as actuation energy responsible for opening and closing the device. Therefore, to maximize the lifetime of the recloser, it is essential to establish an optimized control especially related to the actuation energy. The goal of the multi-objective optimization is to identify an optimal actuation energy control strategy for the closing and opening operations. The solution ABB R&D Teams built a two-step optimization framework that incorporates the energy efficiency constraints by working initially on the electromagnetic actuator and directly optimizing the Finite Elements Model (FEM). The numerical simulation step was then completed with physical calibration via a Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) optimization process, ensuring that the whole system reaches the desired performance. During the first iterations, modeFRONTIER helped improve the FEM model by identifying the best configuration possible for the electromagnetic system, while satisfying the constraint imposed by the design boundary conditions. The parameterized FEM model created with COMSOL Multiphysics was connected to Matlab LiveLink so as to pilot all design changes automatically and control both models in sequence, leveraging the direct integration node for Matlab in modeFRONTIER. In the second step, the R&D Teams opted for the in-depth analysis of the system where modeFRONTIER was coupled both with the simulation model and with the hardware to further enhance the switching properties. The HIL framework enabled an investigation environment for the whole recloser system. Thanks to this approach, optimization can be applied to the control scheme implemented with CompactRIO/LabVIEW: after running one full closing-opening operation, data is transferred to Matlab for post processing and reinserted in the loop for the next runs. Since reducing overtravel and backtravel is extremely important for the product lifetime, with modeFRONTIER piloting the HIL system (1,500 runs with a DOE featuring selected parameters from the first optimization step), R&D Scientists pinpointed a new control scheme that enables significant extension of the product lifetime. “The identified control scheme enables up to 50% reduction of the overtravel and backtravel, enabling a remarkable improvement in terms of lifetime”, says Octavian Craciun Senior Scientist at ABB.

This webinar demonstrates how to introduce a modern design-simulate-optimize workflow in a product development cycle. The joint webinar is co-hosted by Aaron Magnin, Partner Success Manager at Onshape, Steve Lainé, Application Engineering Manager at SimScale and Gabriele Degrassi, Support Engineer at ESTECO. They present a design-simulate-optimize workflow relying on simulation tools built on the latest cloud computing technology, currently the only technical platform that can deliver on the promise of liberating engineers from legacy software constraints and hardware limitations. Agenda: Onshape/PTC - live demo SimScale - live demo ESTECO - live demo

Funded by the European Union, the GASVESSEL project aims to prove the techno-economic feasibility of a new transport concept for compressed natural gas (CNG). ESTECO, in partnership with other industrial organizations from the energy, Oil&Gas and naval engineering fields, has developed an innovative solution to manufacture pressure vessels that are considerably lighter than the current state-of-the-art alternatives. These super-light pressure vessels enable new ship designs that have much higher payloads and dramatically lower transportation costs per volume of gas. ## Challenge Traditional pressure vessels normally used to transport liquified gas by ship cannot be used to transport CNG. This is because the relevant thickness of the ship walls required to maintain the operating pressure of 300 bar would add significant weight to the vessels, reducing their loading capacity. In fact, one of the main challenges addressed by the project is to produce lightweight pressure vessels for the transport of CNG using filament winding, which is a popular method suitable for manufacturing axisymmetric structures that are light and stiff. It involves the use of several layers of fiber-reinforced composite materials wrapped around a thin internal metal liner. ## Solution During the design phase, the material and geometrical parameters of the vessel (mainly related to the number and winding angle of the layers, the percentage of composite fibers and the liner’s mechanical properties) were considered for optimization to reduce the weight and costs while honoring the structural constraints. The winding process was physically modelled with CADWIND software to evaluate the distribution of composite layer thickness at each point of the vessel. The filament winding simulation model and the stress analysis of the vessel were then integrated in a modeFRONTIER workflow to evaluate the different solutions and choose the best designs. The optimization task, which aimed to maximize the uniformity of distribution of the winding layers and minimize their number while respecting the structural constraints of the vessel, was conducted using pilOPT, ESTECO proprietary autonomous algorithm. ## Benefits modeFRONTIER process automation and optimization capabilities enabled the engineers involved in the project to automatically evaluate thousands of gas vessel designs in just a few days, as opposed to losing weeks by doing it manually. The Bubble Chart allowed them to visualize and identify the best candidate designs among those with the lower weight and manufacturing costs. As a result, the first gas vessel prototypes, which weighed up to 70% less than the vessels not reinforced with filament winding, could be manufactured and have already been successfully tested.

This webinar demonstrates the added value of combining their technologies for a server-based optimization of an EXPEDITE (EXPanded MDO for Effectiveness Based DesIgn TEchnologies) derived preliminary aircraft design. Watch this webinar and learn more about: EXPEDITE-like modern aircraft conceptual design project** Coupling Pacelab APD preliminary aircraft design platform with modeFRONTIER** Aircraft Design with PACE Model-based technology and VOLTA web collaborative platform for MDO (live demo)** loghi.png

Using modeFRONTIER to minimize crash deformation of an aluminum hood Honda Automobile R&D Center strives to fulfil their social responsibilities as an automaker with respect to environmental conservation, safety and quality assurance. Among these challenges, engineers at Honda employed modeFRONTIER software solution to find the optimal vehicle aluminum hood configuration in order to reduce pedestrian head injuries caused by car collisions. ## Challenge Japanese traffic accident statistics show that more than a thousand of fatalities occur every year mainly due to head injuries. The European New Car Assessment Program (Euro NCAP) is widely used to evaluate pedestrian head protection with impacts against vehicles. In addition, car manufacturers are required to reduce vehicle weight to meet CO2 emissions standard. As a result, they have increased the use of aluminum hood which guarantees 40% of weight reduction compared with steel. However, this normally demands a longer crash deformation for pedestrian protection because the energy absorption characteristics is lower than steel (low inertia and stiffness). Accordingly, aluminum requires increased clearances under the hood together with further restrictions in terms of layout structure. Combining pedestrian protection and weight reduction became a key challenge in the car industry. Engineers at Honda, focused on building an aluminum hood capable of reducing crash deformation and achieving five-star Euro NCAP for head protection. ## Solution Starting from a conventional aluminum hood with many large holes, the panel has been filled and impressed with truncated cones to increase mass and stiffness. An optimization process was created in modeFRONTIER workflow to perfect the inner embossed aluminum hood for 9 head impact points defined by Euro-NCAP. modeFRONTIER allowed to refine 15 design parameters (mainly related to mass and stiffness) to minimize the impact deformation, and automate the interaction between different simulation solvers. CATIA was used to modify the shape, while ANSA solver generated the mesh for head impact simulation performed by LS-DYNA solver. The results were then processed in LS-PrePost to evaluate Head Injury Criterion (HIC) and deformation. Benefits “modeFRONTIER enabled us to save computational time when optimizing design variables for each head impact point. Design of Experiments (DOE) analysis led to identify the impact point (No. 6) which did not meet the HIC requirements. The Multi-Objective Simulated Annealing (MOSA) algorithm was used to optimize the worst impact point. This allowed to find the best designs after few evaluations. The overall optimization process allowed to reduce 6% of the crash deformation compared to the conventional aluminum hood and satisfy HIC target values” said Osamu Ito, Assistant Chief Engineer, Technology Research Division, Honda R&D Co. Ltd.

With ESTECO modeFRONTIER, you can manage the logical steps of your engineering design process, perform design space exploration and search for the optimal solution efficiently and faster.

Business Process Management (BPM) is about modeling, analyzing and improving business processes - coordinating the behavior of people, systems and information. In simulation-driven product design, BPM helps overcome silos by adopting a process-oriented approach, where interdependencies between tasks become clearer. The new VOLTA BPM modules expand the benefits of the existing Simulation Process and Data Management (SPDM) technology by bringing the sequencing and orchestration of both human and machine-operated tasks from a single workflow. In this white paper, you'll read about how companies can use BPM to: increase the visibility of the simulation process, align interaction between management, engineering and simulation departments, speed up product development.

With VOLTA, ESTECO Enterprise platform for Simulation Process and Data Management (SPDM) and design optimization, you can expect to scale up the usage of simulation models and design exploration and optimization techniques across teams and different organizations to deliver better products, faster.

Simulation process and data management (SPDM) software has become an essential design and analysis capability, especially for large organizations that might be running dozens of simulations at any time, and then needing to track, share and recall that data at the appropriate time in the design lifecycle. Specifically, the SPDM technology is critical to: Automate the execution of complex simulation and enable more engineers to perform routine analysis. Master simulation processes** and data with version control, dependency management and traceability. Democratize the access** to simulation data among users throughout the company. In this white paper, you'll read how the right SPDM tool helps digitalize product development processes and accelerate time-to-market by scaling up the use of simulation models across global organizations and teams, in the aerospace, automotive, manufacturing and other industries.

Read our whitepaper to learn how simulation process automation and design optimization are key to developing passive safety systems. Passive safety systems protect the occupants and other road users in the event of an impact. But designing such systems is a complex undertaking where many variables must be considered. To design passive safety systems, engineers need to meet contrasting objectives and consider multiple conditions, including different impact modes, crash test dummy sizes and types, and a broad range of vehicle variants. Simulation process automation and design optimization are essential to expedite the development process, while balancing different variables and requirements. In this white paper, you'll read about: the multidisciplinary nature of passive safety, the issues faced when designing such systems, how automation and optimization can address these challenges.