F2010B007
The Potential of Parametric Design Methods in Automotive Door Development
Time- and cost efficient development processes in the automotive industry are often based on the application of modern IT-supported engineering tools. Computer aided three-dimensional design and calculation methods are widespread and well introduced in component development and digital mock-up processes. The early stage in automotive door design is characterised by variant changes, alternating definitions, requirements and iterative actions, which are influenced by legislation boundaries and ergonomic tasks as well as interior, exterior and design requirements, crash and safety standards, customer demands and specific functionalities. An important factor for a successful development states an optimized interaction between the styling process and technical engineering operations based on efficient computer aided methods and strategies. The present publication includes an assessment and evaluation of integrated 3D-CAD design methods for initial automotive door development processes. A basis for the application of enhanced design methods is the parametric generation of body components and assembled configurations. The publication covers the development of a generic, virtual template of a standard automotive door. This door template is fully integrated in a parametric-associative 3D CAD platform and assists the design process, especially during the early development stage. The virtual door model is divided in several independent modules, which are combined in a framework. All modules entirely utilise the capabilities of the applied CAD platform. Within these modules, new design methods were implemented, tested and extended to other applications of bodywork design. The modules of the virtual door model can roughly be divided into two areas. The first area consists of modules concerning geometry creation and design methods. With these tools it is possible to generate a multitude of flexible and in the same time detailed concept geometries automatically. The layout of these concepts is assisted by the modules of the second area, which cover supporting analyses and simulations. The main part within the analysis modules deals with the kinematic door - layout, focussing on the door opening mechanism on the one hand and the window lifting characteristics on the other hand. Combining the requirements of styling, design and simulation, the presented methods and strategies support an improvement of the data quality and at the same time a reduction of cost and time effort in engineering based automotive development processes.
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