Product category:
3D CAD software
News Release from: Vistagy | Subject: Seat Design Environment
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 24 July 2006
Software has designs on automotive
seating
The SDE is the first specialised software application specifically tailored to address the entire process of designing and manufacturing automotive seat systems and interior components.
The Seat Design Environment (SDE) is the newest member of Vistagy's family of commercial-off-the-shelf specialised engineering environments, powered by EnCapta The SDE is the first specialised software application specifically tailored to address the entire process of designing and manufacturing automotive seat systems and interior components
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 22 Jun 2007 at 8.00am (UK)
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3D software suits seat design
Vistagy's SDE provides a complete engineering environment integrated directly into popular commercial 3D CAD systems for efficiently managing all aspects of seat trim development.
Extend CAD to store additional design data
Vistagy has announced the release of EnCapta software, which enables engineers to capture complex non-geometric design data and store it associatively with the CAD geometry
Vistagy will be demonstrating the software at the Innovations in Automotive Seating conference in Dearborn, Michigan, on 25th and 26th July 2006.
With the Seat Design Environment, automotive engineers, for the first time, can capture a complete, digital 3D definition of a seat system that includes all details of the seat cover and takes advantage of the power and advanced capabilities of leading commercial CAD systems.
As opposed to traditional seat design methods that rely on extensive physical prototyping, the SDE helps engineers rapidly explore the feasibility of new designs by providing a complete digital model as well as virtual prototyping and manufacturing simulation tools.
As a result, the SDE significantly streamlines and automates engineering processes, reduces cycle times and costs, ensures all styling requirements are satisfied by assessing development issues early in the development phase, and limits or completely eliminates physical prototyping.
According to industry analysts, the automotive seating market is approximately $40 billion annually and growing.
Further reading
Award for capturing non-geometric design data
EnCapta software from Vistagy, which accelerates product development cycles, has been selected by Computer Graphics World as a winner of its Eighth Annual Innovation Awards.
New software technology aids composites design
Version 4.0 of FiberSIM from Vistagy enables engineers working with CAD systems to design products made from lightweight, high-performance composite materials.
Composite design runs within Catia
Vistagy has released the latest version of its FiberSIM software for use on the Catia V5 platform.
Due to the very competitive industry landscape and the ever-increasing number of new car models and interior variants, seat manufacturers are under constant pressure to accelerate their engineering and manufacturing processes.
At the same time, new seat styles and a variety of comfort and safety innovations have significantly increased the complexity of seat systems.
Today's seat models can include heating and cooling functions, occupant weight sensors for airbag deployment, and many electromechanical components, as well as different foam densities and a mix of cover materials.
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The SDE helps automotive manufacturers manage this complexity and more efficiently share design information and changes across styling, trim cover, foam, and structure engineering groups in order to achieve design goals and delivery times.
"Automotive manufacturers understand that car purchases are based nearly as much on the interior look and feel of a vehicle as the exterior shape, performance and features".
"As a result, seat systems have become highly stylised, highly engineered assemblies with specific design and manufacturing challenges to solve", said Bob Flory, Vice President of Product Development at Vistagy.
"The Seat Design Environment provides a vastly better alternative to the way seat systems have been developed in the past".
"It allows engineers to 'work how they think' and compare designs faster than ever while utilising their own specific terminology, tools and knowledge in order to create the most desirable interior components in the least amount of time".
The Seat Design Environment supports the entire seat development process.
The SDE brings together all elements of seat design into a leading commercial 3D CAD environment and captures the key relationships between seat styles and supporting components.
The software digitally captures and models all critical styling and soft-good requirements including trim cover surface, sew lines, retainers and attachments, and hardware including labels, safety equipment tags (airbag, seat belt), and sensor locations and descriptions.
This seat architecture information can be stored and automatically shared by all seat engineering groups across the organisation to develop the components of the seat, cover, foam, and other parts.
The SDE enables engineers to design all the pieces needed for the seat cover by using the previously defined sew lines.
The software then simulates how the cover will actually fit over the seat, based on the deformation properties of the chosen materials.
The cover fit analysis is completed in seconds, enabling a rapid comparison of various style changes and materials in order to alleviate any wrinkling, stretching and foam compression problems.
The SDE enables engineers to quickly create accurate and "sew-ready" flat patterns from the 3D seat geometry.
It provides a new, innovative capability for automatically generating an "orange peel" arrangement of the flat pattern pieces with the click of a button.
It also captures all details related to each step of the sewing process, including information about sewing sequences and manufacturing details such as seam-allowance, sew direction, and backtack.
The software exports flat patterns to all major nesting and cutting systems for a more efficient transition from engineering to manufacturing.
The SDE makes it easy to publish the documents required for process planning and production or to send information to a PDM or ERP system.
For example, the SDE can publish extended bills of materials, sewing reports or other customised production documents.
Using the power of XML, the software can export documents in any format including HTML, spreadsheets or word-processing applications.
All software applications powered by EnCapta, including the Seat Design Environment, operate within the Catia, Pro/Engineer and NX CAD systems.
The SDE is currently available to all global customers.
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