Siemens is strengthening cooperation with EDAG Group to further promote the industrial application of additive manufacturing (AM, commonly known as 3D printing), and improve the efficiency of engineering and production processes, and the two parties have collaborated on an innovative project "Next Generation Space Frame 2.0" 2.0). EDAG Group is the world's leading independent engineering company for the automotive industry.
The features of the "next-generation space architecture 2.0" intelligent module system combine the nodes of bionic design and additive manufacturing, as well as high-strength, energy-absorbing aluminum extrusion profiles. This concept enables extremely flexible manufacturing, supporting the realization of an increasing number of automotive derivatives, while also taking into account the cost issue.
The seamless additive manufacturing digital engineering process chain supports this collaboration, enabling an automotive use case, flexible manufacturing of lightweight aluminum structures-"Next Generation Space Architecture 2.0".
The key features of "Next Generation Space Architecture 2.0" are as follows:
1. Thanks to the digital engineering process chain, the "time to market" of prototypes and small system components that are additively manufactured in automotive or industrial applications can be shortened;
2. Industry 4.0 concept: Combining 3D printed aluminum body nodes with high-strength, energy-absorbing aluminum extrusion profiles can become a highly flexible "on-demand" manufacturing technology. Combining 3D bending and jig-free connection technology can be applied Automotive and industrial sectors;
3. The calculation and test results show that the collision area can absorb the expected collision energy, and AM nodes have no structural failure;
4. The cost of AM can be reduced by optimizing the process and minimizing the support structure;
5. Seamless digital engineering process chain greatly reduces development and delivery time and ensures a higher level of development maturity.
The expertise provided by the EDAG Group in the field of production processes has contributed significantly to this cooperation. The concept of a customized factory of the future has been born. Components developed for additive manufacturing can achieve efficient mass production and can also be transferred to actual mass production. In addition, Siemens showed the first step in a successful conversion process using digital dual chips. In addition to the actual printing, it also includes the industrialization of the entire AM production chain and all subsequent process steps. In the future, scalable modules will be created to pave the way to move from low-volume production to large-scale production.