How many times have you designed a part, only to learn weeks later that the part doesn't fit in the space allocated?

Or that it blocks accessibility for technicians?

Or that mechanisms located nearby interfere with the part's operation?

The result?

You must return to modeling for more redesign.











[Introduction]

[Our Story]

[Impacts]

[Benefits]

[dVISE]

[Contacting Division]




Now,






Imagine This!

 You're working on a new design -- a gearbox for a jet engine. You're unsure how the gearbox will fit with the other externals, such as pipes, cabling, injector lines, line-of-sight for inspection gauges, clearances for mechanisms, and more. And you need to design for accessibility by a service technician -- can you achieve the required 30-minute maintenance cycle time?

[Rolls Royce Image] You enter the digital prototype, and you no longer have to guess -- you see for yourself. You notice how tight the space is in the engine compartment. Could a mechanic possibly get in here? Using your virtual hand, you move the access-door mechanism through its full range of motion, and notice a slight interference with the edge of the gearbox. For the first time, you also notice that two fuel pipes interfere with the removal path of the gearbox.

You dial up the engineers for the access doors and fuel lines -- each located in different cities -- and they both join you in the digital prototype. Each of you makes modifications and suggestions as you assess new approaches. You suggest that by slightly modifying the gearbox casing, you can minimize the mechanism interference. The access-door designer realizes that he can move the locking activator a 1/2 inch higher, which then completely eliminates the mechanism interference. Each of you make these changes as you talk, then you re-animate the gearbox path removal. For the first time, the piping designer sees clearly the blockage of the removal path caused by the two pipes. Being immersed in the design, he immediately recognizes a new routing path for the pipes.

That afternoon, you reconvene in the updated digital prototype. You do the final check and confirm clearances of mechanisms, pipes, lines-of-sight, access, and removal path. You then dial up and bring a maintenance technician into the digital prototype. He runs through the entire disassembly and removal of the gearbox with no obstructions, and completes the process in the 30-minute maintenance cycle time. Done. All of you shake hands across the digital prototype!