Thomas H.J. Vaneker

Design for Additive Manufacturing: Trends, opportunities, considerations, and constraints

The past few decades have seen substantial growth in Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies. However, this growth has mainly been process-driven. The evolution of engineering design to take advantage of the possibilities afforded by AM and to manage the constraints associated with the technology has lagged behind. This paper presents the major opportunities, constraints, and economic considerations for Design for Additive Manufacturing. It explores issues related to design and redesign for direct and indirect AM production. It also highlights key industrial applications, outlines future challenges, and identifies promising directions for research and the exploitation of AM’s full potential in industry.

‘What-if’ design: a synthesis method in the design process

In integrating functions, information and control in the design and engineering cycle, the information content acts as a facilitator, whereas the processes involved actually effectuate the results of the development cycle. As combining processes in an effective and efficient manner becomes increasingly feasible, a more dynamic coherence between the processes involved is implied, calling for different control principles, whilst maintaining -and possibly increasing-flexibility. n nThis increases the competency in understanding and utilising consequences of design decisions. Based on this, a ‘what-if design support system can help in performing routine tasks and aiding designers and engineers in understanding more complex challenges.

Integrated Design and Manufacturing of Flat Miniature Heat Pipes Using Printed Circuit Board Technology

A novel, integrated approach in thermal management of electronic products, based on two-phase cooling, is presented. A flat miniature heat pipe, integrated inside the laminated structure of a printed circuit board (PCB) has been developed, based on mainstream PCB fabrication processes. Hot spots on the PCB, caused by heat dissipating components, can be cooled with relatively small temperature gradients across the board. An analytical model is presented to predict the behavior of the embedded heat pipe for various geometries, orientations, and operating temperatures. Experimental verification has shown successful heat pipe operation. The heat pipe exhibited a measured equivalent thermal conductivity more than seven times higher than solid copper. Low-thermal resistance values establish this concept as a promising thermal management solution for future electronic products. As mainstream manufacturing techniques are applied, thin PCBs with integrated cooling support can be produced at low-cost.

What-if Design as a Synthesizing Working Method in Product Design

What-if design attempts to support the designer by addressing design problems, both in his own field of expertise, as well as from adjoining domains. To this end, What-if design research focuses on the development of methods and tools for real-time, in-process, design support in order to enhance the search for optimal solutions. The main advantage of this way of designer support is that the design can be evaluated continuously on numerous fields of expertise, enabling the optimization of the search for design solutions. n nThis paper focuses on a bottom-up approach for What-if design and describes examples that illustrate the working methods chosen.

Functional, Technical and Economical Requirements Integration for Additive Manufacturing Design Education

Additive Manufacturing (AM) enables designers to consider the benefits of digital manufacturing from the early stages of design. This may include the use of part integration to combine all required functions, utilizing multiple materials, moving assemblies, different local properties such as colour and texture, etc. Cost analysis can also be factored in throughout the entire value chain, from design to the finishing operations in comparison to traditional processes and conventional ways of working. Therefore, the concept of Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) is more than a geometrical issue on a CAD system, and not limited only to topological optimization or lattice integration.

Towards more visible scientific findings in TRIZ communities through ETRIA

The community of ETRIA (European TRIZ Association) consists of a balanced mix of researcher and scientists from all over the world. Ten years after its official start this community has indeed evolved beyond the European borders and has reached the status of a large-scale international group dedicated to stimulating the international progress of TRIZ and capable to attract new scholars to the research and education about inventive problem solving. They have contributed to this goal with many papers, presentations and discussions during ETRIA’s annual conference; the TRIZ Future conference. This well-balanced mix also expresses one of the best characteristics of ETRIA; an open mind to all TRIZ related topics.