Technology – Page 10 – CADDTechzette

Top Ten Technology “Game-changers”

6th January 20166th January 2016 CADDZOOM

Perhaps technology is the fueling agent responsible for a transformed living in the modern world. Although the technical quantum leaps are never without risks, they provide innovative solutions to the most pressing global challenges of our time. From computer chips modelled in human brain to zero-emission card fueled by Hydrogen, this year’s 10 emerging technologies offer a vivid glimpse of the power of innovation to transform industries, to improve believes and to safeguard our planet.

FUEL CELL VEHICLES

Fuel Cell Vehicles are zero emission vehicles that run on hydrogen. Having many advantages over electronic and hydrocarbon powered vehicles, the “Fuel Cells” have been proved to be more environment friendly. However the technology has only begun to grow, many automobile companies are planning to launch them. The initial cost of such may be high but is expected to come down significantly as volumes increases within the next couple of years.

NEXT-GENERATION ROBOTICS

Introduction of robots in everyday life has encouraged human- machine collaboration in daily lives. Advanced and cheaper sensors make robots capable to understand and respond during interactions. Robot bodies are becoming more adaptive, flexible with time. They have replaced many human counterparts in industries, mainly automotive where repetitive or dangerous tasks are involved. Using GPS like smartphones, robots have also begun to be used in precision agriculture for weed control and harvesting.

RECYCLABLE THERMOSET PLASTICS

Thermoset Plastics unlike the thermoplastics cannot be recycled and reshaped many times. Heating or reshaping of thermoset plastic for recycling process makes it lose its molecular orientation. This durability is on one hand includes it into our daily life and on the other ending them up as land filling material. Thus critical advances are made in this area introducing new classes of recyclable thermoset plastics, called as poly(hexahydrotriazine)s, or PHT’s which can be dissolved in strong acid and ultimately reassembled into new products.

PRECISE GENERIC-ENGINEERING TECHNIQUES

Techniques are now emerging to directly change the genetic code of plants to make them more nutritious and better adaptable to environment. Genetic engineering has led reliable and harmless methods to make changes in the genetic orientation of agricultural crops make them less prone to diseases and preventing them to fight against viruses. Another aspect of genetic engineering that holds for a major advance is the use of RNA interference (RNAi) in crops. RNAi is effective against fungal pathogens and viruses, and can also protect plants against insect pests, reducing the need for chemical pesticides.

ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

Additive manufacturing is all about building materials from loose materials such as liquid or powder building three dimensional shapes using a digital template. An important stage in additive manufacturing in near future would be building integrated electronic component such as circuit boards. 4D Printing is also expected to emerge in building materials that can change themselves in response to environmental changes such as humidity and heat.

EMERGENT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Artificial Intelligence can be simply defined as the science of making computer do the things that humans can do. Artificial intelligence is expected to change our world with self-driving cars, intelligent war fare robots, mechanical arms for complex surgeries and even super machines to explore the universe. Artificial Intelligence enables the machines to learn things and respond to environment in response, in contrast to normal hardware and softwares.

DISTRIBUTED MANUFACTURING

Unlike the traditional methods of bringing the raw materials to a centralized place and then carrying out manufacturing, distributed manufacturing instead encourage materials and good to be manufactured locally with local resources using specialized software and technologies. Instead of raw materials travelling through roads and other transport lines, it focuses on digital data travel through web.

‘SENSE AND AVOID’ DRONES’

Advancement in the rapidly growing technology is the use of drones. Drones are none other than flying vehicles without a pilot. The pilot remains on the ground and monitors the drones. They can be great help in surveillance for large agricultural lands, to monitor electric lines, to supply food and medical help in disaster struck areas, etc.

NEUROMORPHIC TECHNOLOGY

Neuromorphic chips are computer chips that intend to mimic the logic and structure of functioning of a human brain. Engineers and researchers are now trying to build computer chips that can capture, store and process information without further transferring it to another processing unit. This process can be more efficient as a lot of time is consumed and heat generated in the transfer of data in traditional computer chips.

DIGITAL GENOME

Today, genome can be easily sequenced and digitized in minutes at a cost of only few hundred dollars. The results can also be delivered to your laptop or shared via internet. This ability to quickly and cheaply determine our genetic makeup can bring revolutions in more effective medical treatments. This individual genome can help people save from deadly diseases such as Cancer by providing the accurate genetic information about the tumors.

Stay tuned for living the “transformation”. A decade back, who knew that I would be able to pay using my mobile phone? Every invention changes the way people live and some of those transform the lives. Ten technologies discussed above are anticipated to revolutionize human life not only in the medical or health domain, but in agriculture, space sciences, robotics as well as warfare.

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USING SOLIDWORKS TO DESIGN MEDICAL EQUIPMENT

10th December 201510th December 2015 CADDZOOM

Medical instrument designers and developers face a number of business and engineering challenges specific to their industry. Several issues are to be considered during manufacturing of medical equipment, the most important among them is patient safety; others include efficiency, effectiveness, and cost containment. From regulatory data management and virtual simulation to flexible industrial design capabilities, SolidWorks enables you to design complaint medical breakthrough in record time.

Business challenges

The Biomedical Engineering industry is highly competitive and volatile, changing on a daily basis. Not only medical device engineers have to address normal design challenges such as time to market, innovation, cost reduction and global competition, they also have the massive responsibility of patient safety and other strict regulatory guidelines.

Adding further challenges, increasing regulatory scrutiny is putting medical devices manufacturers under the gunpoint for total quality and safety. The Food and Drug Administration is keeping a full check by issuing warning letters resulting in a climb in time and budget medical devices manufacturers spend on regulatory activities.

For example, when Tensys Medical Inc. developed their first arterial blood pressure management system, the company was aware that it had a narrow window for an opportunity and needed to get the product released in the market quickly, it credits SolidWorks design validation tools which enabled them to shorten the design cycle by 60 percent helping the team to create a new medical market space.

Medical staff has strict aesthetic requirements that designers must meet such as reducing operating time and surgery costs. Also the materials used for medical products have been very sophisticated and product engineers need to be aware about their strengths and conductivity along with their effects of sterilization on their material properties.

Implant devices such as cardiovascular stents, must be error free as failures can cost fatalities. Orthopedic implants, such as knee and hip replacements have to function flawlessly to avoid pain and fracture dangers for the patients.

Product engineers have to predict the life span of implantable devices accurately so that the patience can have them removed or replaced timely and in a non-life-threatening manner.

Virtual simulation, with concurrent engineering approach, helps medical product engineers balance all these simultaneous requirements gaining product reliability, quality and safety.

Design Validation for the Medical Device Industry

The main purposes for which engineers perform design analysis include proof of concept “what if”. Validation studies to identify the best design, product reliability, design confirmation and assistance in answering to regulatory requirements. The studies can include variations in geometry, type of material and different operating loads.

Why solidworks

SolidWorks customers have enjoyed many benefits while designing Medical Products. SolidWorks unique resources include:

Design Ease of Use: SolidWorks exceeds in its intuitive Design and Productivity without compromising ergonomics.

DimXpert: SolidWorks generates Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerance based drawings per ANSI/ ISO standards for correctness and completeness.

Integrated FEA and CFD Validation: SolidWorks simulation helps determine factors of safety, Mean Time between Failures (MTBF), Vibration Level Monitoring, Efficiency Estimation, Development time and Reduction in Product Cost.

Integrated Tolerance Stack Up Analysis: SolidWorks ensures the medical equipment to meet stringent safety and reliability standards.

Adherence to FDA 21 CFR Part 820 and FDA 21 CFR Part 11 is a mandatory consideration for a medical product designing team. All the tools needed in compliance are available when designers use SolidWorks product data management- including complete design revision history, electronic signatures as well as full audit trial.

Documentation and Service Manual Preparation: This is a very important part of product development process. Being a vital and intrinsic part of the Company’s Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) that needs to be stored and re-used.

SolidWorks simulation solutions

SolidWorks software is a 3D CAD program of choice for many manufacturing firms of diagnostic and clinical equipment, surgical tools, implants, drug delivery systems and pharmaceutical packaging systems.

Testing during each phase from designing concepts to detailing and validation phases of product development is crucial. Medical products need proper understanding regarding how products will work and whether they will behave as desired. Intuitive SolidWorks Simulation design validation solutions enable SolidWorks 3D CAD software users to perform a variety of simulations and leverage CAD data for engineering purposes during all phases of the design process. Further, since SolidWorks Simulation is embedded within SolidWorks 3D CAD, users can accomplish these studies without switching between multiple interfaces.

Aligned integration between design and simulation also makes it possible for medical device engineers to perform easy design modifications and configuration-specific studios to enable the manufacturer of products customized to individual requirements.

Proven Simulation Solution: The virtual testing capabilities within SolidWorks Simulation are built on a strong finite element analysis (FEA) foundation. SolidWorks Simulation, together with the CFD capabilities in Flow Simulation, the plastic injection molding tools with SOLIDWORKS Plastics, the sustainability features improve overall design avoiding failures.

Thermal: Thermal analysis calculates the heat transfer and temperature between components during devise working process in medical design and its environment. Thermal is an important consideration for medical device design and its environment as many products contain materials with temperature dependent properties and also because there may be possible effects of human body temperatures and heat generated by electronic components embedded in the product.

Vibration: SolidWorks have come up with designs catering to resolve design issues that lead to unwanted vibrations in the product. Vibrations that medical devices may experience can reduce performance, shorten product life, or even may lead to improper usage of the product.

Fatigue analysis: Fatigue can be defined as failure under a repeated or varying load which never reaches a level sufficient to cause complete failure in a single application. Fatigue analysis examines how repeated or random load cycles cause structural failure. With SolidWorks Simulation, the designers are able to conduct fatigue analysis and optimize the designs and material selection.

Sustainability: SolidWorks sustainability provides actionable environmental results by measuring the environmental impacts of individual designs across the product life cycle- including the effects of manufacturing, material, assembly and transportation.

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD): Fluid flow issues are very critical in medical devices. Devices such as artificial heart valves, oxygen delivery or a host of other such products, the flow or a variety of fluids must be reliable at designed and at prescribed temperatures. SolidWorks Flow Simulation, integrated with SolidWorks 3D CAD makes it possible to study such concerns in a very straightforward manner.

Conclusion

Designing medical products is a crucial trait as the designers have to meet the needs of physicians, patient safety and regulatory agencies under demanding situations. Product quality is something which cannot be compromised as life depends on their performance. To be ensured that the products meet all these requirements, medical product designers now have access to highly sophisticated tools with an embedded Simulation CAD solution. These capabilities help them to test the product very early during the design process and examine for improvements. SolidWorks have been adopted by the majority of the Medical equipment manufacturers at the de facto standard in their design and testing process.

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Construction companies in the near future

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Many companies are already taking it to higher levels by adopting to construction management software along with an added document management capabilities, saving a larger percentage and amounting to much larger profits. Construction managers are up to date and swift in accordance with the latest trends and they follow all the processes and contracts online, which is true even for much smaller companies.

Geo-fencing for the boom in the construction industry.

Geo-fence is an app, which makes use of GPS to track where an object is. Many contractors depend on time-tracking software to make payments to the specific person. Geo-fencing is specifically useful to track any employee’s presence or absence on site to organize and manage the payroll system better. Many other construction-related mobile apps are also coming up, like Red-Trac and Labor Sync, and the trend is ever-growing to become a rage in the coming year.

3D printing is making its way into the construction sites.

3D printing is obviously the future requirement of the construction industry. Most conscious managers are turning to this tool to give way to green construction, thereby saving the costs for their company and adding to the profits. Construction is a conventional industry in terms of technical innovations. The construction industry will effectively and universally adopt 3D printers before the end of this decade.

Commercial construction will be green.

Green building is following the latest trends and saves a lot of costs. In the near future almost 48% of new construction projects which are non-residential will be green. The green effect is continuously on the rising spree and mostly all commercial upcoming constructions will effectively follow this trend very soon. The green construction management software will be the latest demand for all the eco-conscious customers and construction companies will be adopting to the same.

Zero Energy Ready (ZER)

It is powered by renewable energy sources and tends to create a healthy and comfortable environment which has the foundation and the power to stand the test of time and changes. It is the latest trend in efficient home designing and energy saving trends for a better future in the construction industry.

Location of Homes

The biggest trend in home design in the recent era is about the location that it is set in. People prefer closeness to parks and green communities, the growing awareness is not only financially cost-saving, but also social and emotionally beneficial as living in a community has multiple benefits as compared to individual aloof houses.

Micro size matters

Tiny Homes are a glimpse into the extreme world very few of us will actually even imagine entering these are designed so smartly so as to fit in every requirement with economical spaces wherein storage is possible in every way everywhere.There are micro-baths, micro-kitchens and micro-laundry too, where the effective usage of minimum space happens which tends to save a lot of costs too.

Facts about the construction industry

Value of the Construction industry: $126 billion (2013).
Total expense of the construction industry: $427 billion (2013)
Spending growth of the construction industry: seven per cent (2013)
An average of 11 per cent of India’s GDP was based on construction activity in between the years 2011-2013
More than 35 million people are employed purely in the construction industry in India.
After services, construction constitutes for the highest inflow of FDI into India.
The National Housing Bank’s housing index presents that the prices of houses in India are at the highest level of 233 index points.
The output of infrastructure has grown at an average of 5.34 per cent per month in the last era.
Paints and coatings industry shows a value of: $4.79 billion (2012).
The industry of paints and coatings is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 14 per cent, which will hit a value of $9 billion in the year 2017.

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3D Printing the Future

7th August 201511th August 2015 CADDZOOM

As applications of the technology expand and prices drop, the first big implication is that more goods will be manufactured in or close to their point of purchase or consumption. This might even build houses! Many goods that have relied on the scale efficiencies of large, centralized plants will be produced locally. Cars which are made today by a few hundred factories around the world might one day be made in every metropolitan area. Parts could be made at dealerships and repair shops, and assembly plants could eliminate the need for supply chain management by making components as needed. Another implication is that goods will be infinitely more customized, because altering them won’t require retooling; only tweaking the instructions in the software. Creativity in meeting individuals’ needs will come to the fore.

It is a small evolutionary step from spraying toner on paper to putting down layers of something more substantial until the layers add up to an object. And yet, by enabling a machine to produce objects of any shape, on the spot and as needed, 3-D printing really is ushering in a new era.

You may soon be living in a 3D- Printed Apartment

The Shanghai-based construction firm WinSun Decoration Design Engineering has unveiled a five-story apartment building made entirely with a giant 3D printer, and is calling it “The world’s tallest 3D-printed building.” With a terracotta brick-like exterior, the building is on display at the Suzhou Industrial Park, along with a 1,100-square-meter (11,840-square-foot) 3D-printed neoclassical mansion.

The buildings were made with a patented “ink” created from a mixture of recycled construction waste, coursed through a 150-meter long printer. This is the same technology that the company demonstrated last year when it printed 10 affordable single-story houses in 24 hours, a feat that captured the imagination of architects, humanitarian aid agencies, and governments looking for alternative housing solutions.

According to the chief engineer of China Construction, Ma Rongquan, who inspected the buildings, informed that both structures are in compliance with national standards.

Ten of the mansions have already been pre-ordered by a Taiwanese real estate group, and the Egyptian government has ordered 20,000 of the affordable single-story houses.

WinSun is not the only company to embark on printing houses—nor does it make the most beautiful 3D buildings—but unlike some of the other companies in the field, its ambitions are global, and it seems to have had some success convincing investors of its scalability. The company has plans to build 3D construction factories in more than 20 countries, including the US, Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E, Qatar, Morocco, and Tunisia. Its engineers are currently working on a printer that turns desert sand into building material.

India needs China’s 3D-printing construction technology soon

It takes six months on average to build a house in the US. In India, where brick and cement are favored over wood, build times are usually double that, if not more. Meanwhile, a Chinese construction company assembled a 3D-printed house in just three hours.

In India, constructing a house over months at a time means extended periods of noise and dust pollution, unsafe working conditions and the high costs of keeping contractors, security staff and laborers on duty.

By employing 3D-printing to pre-fabricate homes, these issues can be tackled easily. Zhuoda Group, the Chinese firm behind the three-hour construction miracle, says that 90 percent of the house it assembled in front of a live audience was built in a factory, complete with interiors, wiring, plumbing and sanitaryware.

In addition, this method could also reduce India’s reliance on migrant labor from rural areas. Workers are often underpaid (a 2012 study found that men were paid less than $4 a day, while women earned less than half that), pressured to press their children into service and forced to work in unsafe environments. And of course, once construction is complete, they are left out in the cold and at the mercy of labor contractors to find their next project.

This is the sort of technology India needs to invest in next.

CAD Trends worldwide

7th August 201511th August 2015 CADDZOOM

Computer-aided design (CAD) is creating two- or three-dimensional (2D or 3D) graphical representations of physical objects with the use of computer programs. The technology has evolved in the last few years and knowing the trends bring with these technologies is vital for future planning of any business.

A B2B firm (Business Advantage Group) released a report detailing the CAD trends worldwide, based on their survey of global CAD users. We took the top most surprising trends worth sharing with our readers here, believing this information could be useful for some CAD users and their managers.

Top CAD Trends

There is a wide breach between the use and awareness of the CAD:

According to the survey of 2014, 81% of total responded were ‘aware’ of the 3D printing and only 62% of them were actually using the technology. In the year of 2015, the percentage increased and reached 88% of people aware of 3D printing and 77% of them who were actually using the technology. If we compare the result the gap is actually shrinking, however, it is still a subject of concern for the industry.

Number of people who seek mobile access to the CAD data is increasing:

According to the survey, there are 21% of the total respondents who, at present, are accessing CAD data on mobile platform by using one

or other means of access and these numbers are estimated to increase up to 10% more in the coming years. In the States, the percentage has already crossed the quarter of all respondents; however, the growth is predicted to be high in Asia Pacific reason with 18% of growth rate over the year of 2015.

CAD users don’t seem to be attracted at the Big yet:

Studies tell that the big data apps are still far from the CAD user’s attention. According to the results, only 3% of the respondents have embraced the data analytical apps and predicted the number would go till 4% only, over the next year.

CAD would grow in the cloud:

The survey results and the prediction say that the good number of CAD users would be moving into the cloud in next five years. According to the results, currently 7% of total respondents are using cloud-based CAD system which in the next year is predicted go till 16% and in another next year can cross 25%

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