Product category:
3D CAD software
News Release from: SolidWorks Corporation | Subject: PhotoWorks and SolidWorks
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 20 October 2006
Software take projects from concept to
manufacture
UK product design company Curventa Designworks used SolidWorks software to design a life-saving portable smoke detector, torch and panic alarm.
The Childers hostel fire, which killed 15 young adults in 2000, sent shockwaves through the global backpacker community The crowded, basic accommodation - so typical of the shoestring travel experience - offered no early warning that a fire had started, and by the time many residents knew what was going on, it was too late
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 31 Jan 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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One pair of dedicated backpackers were so adamant that this tragedy should never happen again that they commissioned Curventa Designworks, a product design development agency, to design a portable smoke detector suitable for use anywhere in the world, in any type of accommodation.
The result is FlareSafe, a combined smoke detector, torch and panic alarm.
With a tight budget and ambitious project deadlines, Curventa used 3D CAD software from SolidWorks to ensure a smooth workflow and complete accuracy from concept to manufacture.
Curventa's clients range from huge multinationals, such as Procter and Gamble, to SMBs and start-ups.
They all come to Curventa for the same thing: innovative products that consumers will actually want to buy.
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In 2004, Curventa Director Adrian Bennett was approached by Dave Potter and Robert Carmichael of FlareBrands, a fledgling startup established to manufacture travel safety solutions.
The pair, who have between them clocked up over 30 years of global travel, commissioned the Curventa team to design a portable smoke detector, something small enough to take anywhere, and effective enough to save lives.
Curventa specialises in developing products from initial design to manufacture, a fully integrated process made smoother and faster by the introduction of SolidWorks software eight years ago.
"For us, it's extremely important to have one package that we can rely on to take us from initial concepts through to manufacture without having to exchange data into other packages", explains Curventa Director, Ian Murison.
"SolidWorks provides us with a stable platform where we can be confident that our products will get to market on time and on budget".
Curventa began by researching smoke detector technology, visiting trade fairs and contacting fire safety regulators to ensure the feasibility of the proposed product.
Having established itwas possible to house smoke detection and alarm technology within a torch-sized product, Curventa decided to create a multifunction safety device and commissioned a team of specialist design engineers to develop the all-important smoke detection component.
"The smoke detector works using a photodiode that emits and receives infrared light", explains Curventa Director Adrian Bennett.
"If smoke enters the chamber it refracts the light, causing the alarm to sound".
With such complex technology relying on complete precision, the effective communication of engineering data between Curventa, FlareBrands and the design engineers was a vital part of the project's success, as Bennett explains: "The design engineers work in 2D, which we needed to transform into 3D without slowing the overall development process or losing accuracy".
"SolidWorks enabled us to import a wide range of 2D information, such as DXF files from AutoCAD, quickly turn them into 3D models and issue eDrawings to everyone in the design loop for review".
Using SolidWorks, Curventa has developed a streamlined communications process that greatly reduces the overall development time.
"Once approved, we could issue 3D models to be turned into SLA parts, and have them in the hands of the design engineers ready for smoke chamber testing in just a few days", says Bennett.
The design of the FlareSafe began as a series of hand drawn sketches.
For Curventa, the ability to work seamlessly in both sketch and 3D form is one of the major benefits of using SolidWorks software.
"Being able to present concepts in sketch form and work on them with a client brings them closer to the creative process and is important for developing good working relationships", says Bennett.
"There are subtleties you can convey in a sketch that are difficult to capture in a photorealistic image".
"But it's no good if you then have to spend loads of time recreating a drawing from scratch in 3D".
"Fortunately there are more and more tools in SolidWorks that allow you to bring sketch work into a part or assembly and use them as an underlay".
Curventa deploys several techniques to incorporate drawn sketches into the development process.
"We can create 2D orthogonal views bring those into a sketch plane and sketch over the top of them".
"We can use Illustrator to create underlays for products and bring those files straight into SolidWorks or sketch up ideas in elevation and import them for 3D development", says Bennett.
When sketches give way to 3D rendered images, Bennett uses PhotoWorks,.
"It's very good".
"I can use PhotoWorks within the SolidWorks environment: I don't have to export, import, or learn how to use another package".
"As a visual tool for clients, it's ideal".
"I can explain materials and colours effectively and it doesn't slow the development process".
PhotoWorks was also used towards the end of the FlareSafe project to develop supporting materials such as packaging and marketing images.
Once the initial design concepts for FlareSafe had been agreed, Curventa entered the prototyping stage, creating foam models that could then be scanned and imported back into SolidWorks to begin designing the full assembly models.
This process is so integral to Curventa's development process that Bennett and his team have been working directly with SolidWorks to develop its ScanTo3D software, enabling Curventa to rationalise 3D scan data from foam models and bring it intelligently into 3D parts in SolidWorks.
As an end-to-end solution, SolidWorks enables Curventa to project manage the product development process effectively, helping them meet deadlines and keep projects moving forward.
This was particularly useful when developing FlareSafe, as, in Bennett's experience, managing expectations is harder with new companies than more experienced clients, who have a greater understanding of how a project can grow in complexity.
"Until you have finalised the technology involved, the materials and the suppliers, the scale of a project is largely unknown", he explains.
The FlareSafe project ultimately involved complex electronics from China, and design engineers, toolmakers and assembly work in the UK.
"By the end of a project, the chain of communication can be very detailed", says Bennett: "so you need a system like SolidWorks to ensure that you don't lose design integrity, the components are completely accurate and that the client remains integral to the development process".
The FlareSafe is now in production and, largely thanks to its simple but innovative features - the torch is designed to switch on as soon as the alarm sounds, minimising the annoyance of false alarms and maximising the chance of escape in a real emergency - FlareBrands is receiving its first orders.
With time to reflect and build on the success of the project, Curventa detailed the development process, identifying four key stages (concept design, 3D CAD concepts, prototyping and production data) and 27 individual activities.
SolidWorks was an integral part of the development process at each stage and was central to over half of the total project.
Bennett is keen to convey that SolidWorks is just a tool, that innovative product design can take place without such systems in place and that they should be used to complement and enhance the skills of the designer, rather than restrict them.
By working closely with product design companies such as Curventa, SolidWorks is able to offer exactly the right functionality to do just that.
As the FlareSafe project shows, 3D CAD from SolidWorks enables product developers to innovate, present, engineer and manufacture the best possible products, which, in the case of FlareSafe, are built to last, and designed to save lives.
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