Creo Customer: Designing the Signature Sound of Car Exhaust

by Lindsey Christensen

With its resonant rumble and sleek lines, you may have noticed a Corvette next to you at a stoplight. At the stoplight may be the last time you see it. Especially if it’s a Callaway-prepared Corvette that delivers 580 bhp, 510lb-ft torque, and can hit 60mph in just 3.3 seconds.

A full Callaway build-out includes intake, exhaust, shifters, wheels, suspension, brakes, and carbon fiber polymers (don’t forget the hand-stitched seats and floor mats).

As a member of the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA), Callaway has exclusive access to SEMA’s OEM CAD database (over 38,000 OEM CAD data files from Chrysler, Ford, GM and Scion). SEMA’s contribution of the manufacturer’s original design files (i.e., suspension, power train, drive train, body panels, chassis, frame, interior and wheels) are integral in helping Callaway bring their products to market faster.

When you don’t have to recreate the wheel, you can keep up with design changes and edit the part right in the assembly.

Callaway engineers use Creo Parametric to design and produce their performance-enhancing upgrades and work out design challenges in a virtual space before testing and fitting actual parts in the shop. Creo Parametric goes beyond the import/export provided by other 3D CAD systems and can actually clean incoming and outgoing data to minimize or eliminate the loss of data in translation.

As Mike Mello from Auto Savant illustrates, “Imagine opening a file for a vehicle’s exhaust manifold that you were going to re-engineer and being met with a drawing full of gaps and other geometric problems.” At this point, Creo Parametric steps in to save time and make necessary repairs.

In the end, some of the hottest cars in the world inevitably end up being created by world-class design software, Creo Parametric. Check out this episode where Vince and Allison dive into Callaway’s exhaust systems that deliver that authentic Callaway sound.

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Creo Customer: Building Design that Pushes Engineering Limits

by Lindsey Christensen

We’ve explored how Creo created a few architectural marvels in the past, but an architectural canopy we haven’t “covered” yet. When the Francis Gregory Library began plans for a new modern library design, the engineers at CST were hired to create a large overhanging canopy to extend above the main glass structure, create the image of an outdoor pavilion while still providing shade and protection from rain, snow, and ice.

Since 1893, CST Industries has been creating storage tanks and aluminum covers for thousands of industries. With their history and knowledge of aluminum and truss design, architecture was intrinsic to their passion. CST’s proprietary Omni*Hub system and semi-stand truss designs give stability to an architect’s concept.

But achieving simplicity requires intense planning.

Although the canopy looks effortless and strong in the end, the real precision came in the design, where CST engineers accommodated weight and breadth requirements as well as budget and timeline needs.

The architects initially planned the structure as a single-welded structure, but this would be too costly and take too long. Using a hub and tube technique, CST created the design concept and incorporated the subtle curves and weather requirements for the canopy.

The roof canopy is also equipped with a louver system, so staff can adjust fan blades to allow more or less natural sunlight to penetrate through the ceiling, depending on the preferred temperature and time of year, much like the roof of the Verizon Center. Given the incredible amount of precipitation dumped on D.C. last winter, engineers were forced to tweak the angle of the roof to make sure accumulated snow and ice loads could slide safely off.

The process wasn’t simple, but using Creo Parametric, the CST engineers overcame many design challenges to make the canopy true to customer requirements. Vince and Alison share more about this extremely complex model, the theoretical twist of each tube, and how CST created uniformity in the bolt pattern of each tube and hub connection.

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Creo Customer: Trips to Mars are Just a Rocket Away

by Lindsey Christensen

With the National Space Symposium going on this week in Colorado Springs, we wanted to highlight a current NASA project that engineers used Creo Parametric to design.

It’s been more than four decades since NASA commissioned a human-rated rocket engine. The last rocket engine (J2, Apollo) put Neil Armstrong on the moon in 1969 (› Play Audio).  Now NASA has created the J2X engine.

If NASA could go to the moon over 40 years ago, where in the universe can NASA take a human being now?

Maybe Mars. When NASA began work on the J-2X engine in 2010, it was designed by Pratt & Whitney (using Creo Parametric) and developed along with 362 different suppliers and vendors in 35 states and five countries.

Just two years later, the engine is now built and well into its testing phase. The first unmanned flight is set for 2014.

J-2X will be the first human-rated NASA rocket engine since 1975 and will go farther than any engine that has carried human yet. At 15 feet, the J-2X is four-feet taller than its predecessor (Apollo) and weighs in at 5,450 pounds. In the photos, check out not only the engineering invested but the assembly required building this intricate machine.

Walt Janowski, J-2X program manager, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, says, “we are confident the J-2X will be ready to power humans to destinations in space never before visited, including asteroids and Mars. We look forward to working with NASA on the future of human spaceflight.”

Want to learn more about the J-2X or teach your kids a few things about rockets? The J-2X blog us not only informative, but the author, Bill Greene, makes rocket science easy to understand and fun to read about.

Creo Customer: BaByliss Adopts PTC Creo

by Stefanie Liu

BaByliss, created in Paris in 1961, joined the Conair Group in 1995. The notoriety and know-how of this international company rests on nearly 50 years of innovations and product launches, which in the course of time, contributed to revolutionize the world of hairstyle and beauty.

Leader in hairstyle, depilation and beauty markets, BaByliss has R&D units in the United States, Europe, and Asia. The Design Department develops new concepts and renews the existing product portfolio. In this department, ideas are brought to life and devices are designed in accordance with consumers’ needs. Concept design through the study of forms, structures, and colors enables BaByliss to offer products with constant innovation. BaByliss, who already use Pro/ENGINEER in the group in the United States and for production in Asia, recently adopted and deployed Creo Parametric in collaboration with our VAR Prodware Innovation & Design. For Nicolas Colin, Designer at BaByliss France, Creo Parametric “is a fantastic and essential solution which is adapted to all, for simple needs as well as complex needs. Functionality range is so rich that it allows all the tasks and fits the needs of  the experienced and inexperienced users”. Creo helps designers, modelers and engineer teams work hand-in-hand as the project evolves, in particular during change and modification implementation phases. It enables the company to capitalize on individual technical and artistic know-how. Click through to watch the interview (in French)