AMEC P&IT Uses Alibre Design Pro for 3D PDF Publishing
 RICHARDSON, Texas,
March 13, 2007 - Lower-priced solid modelers have become a popular choice
among designers, inventors, and entrepreneurs who have discovered full 3D
functionality for only about one-fifth the cost of similar 3D CAD packages
that traditionally cater to the big budgets of large engineering
departments. With the new ability of solid modelers to speak in 3D PDF, a
new 3D-enabled version of the ubiquitous document-sharing format from Adobe,
large engineering staffs are beginning to recognize the value-priced tools
as ideal for collaborative work.
UK-based construction and infrastructure support provider AMEC is one of
the larger companies that has put an affordable 3D CAD application to work.
AMEC has a framework agreement with national airport authority to provide
design and construction services to Heathrow International and other
regional airports. John Albinson is the Product Development Manager to the
Pavement and Infrastructure Team (P&IT).
Although Heathrow stores a great deal of their infrastructure plans in 2D
format, Albinson’s department, which is tasked with building new additions
to infrastructure, still needed early visualization of proposed solutions in
3D. P&IT implemented a solid modeler from Alibre, Inc.
Alibre Design Professional, which costs under US$1,500, now comes
equipped with 3D PDF publishing capability. For a department like AMEC’s
P&IT, which is not heavily invested in 3D technology, the 3D PDF capability
allows everyone in the department to participate in new product development
through 3D visualization, without the need to buy a slew of CAD licenses or
invest in CAD training.
Models in 3D PDF files may be viewed from any angle or magnification;
assemblies may include animated exploded views or sequences of steps to
communicate design intent and document assembly processes. Personnel without
CAD programs can read the 3D PDF files generated from Alibre Design with the
free Adobe Acrobat Reader 7. “The advent of 3D PDF has made the exchange of
design ideas out of the design team very easy,” reports Albinson. “I now use
this export facility extensively.”
More Punch for the Pound
Since the software’s adoption, Albinson has used 3D modeling to develop
over twelve significant products in the last two years. “One of the latest
and largest,” says Albinson, “is the production of a test machine we call
the A390, which fires a piston into objects using compressed air. The
machine is used to assess a structure’s resistance to impact. The machine
was fully detailed in the 3D modeler.”
The A390 device is heavy duty to say the least, stretching over 6 meters
long, and weighing over 3.25 metric tonnes (7,200 lbs). A 1350 kg piston
inside the cylinder acts as a battering ram to test the effectiveness of
airport safety barriers, meant to stop errant runway aircraft.
“The airport installs a very large number of protective bollards and
barriers at its expanding airports. In order to reduce maintenance, there
was a need to more clearly understand the energy absorbing capacity of
various protective structures and assess the performance of a new
bollard-mounting device currently subject to a patent application. The A390
machine was designed so that deflection of the bollard or barrier can be
measured in real time,” explains Albinson.
The mammoth machine works like a compressed-air gun. The air chamber
within the cylinder is pressurized by an external air source. When the
3-meter-long, 590mm-diameter piston is released via simple mechanical
escapement, the result is a powerful thrust, releasing about 80 KJoules of
impact energy. Both the movement of the piston and the instantaneous
pressure changes are recorded by transducers, which sample at 0.5
microsecond intervals, so that the tests can be later analyzed.
An interesting design challenge involved the main piston cup seal.
Machined from hard rubber, the cup seal runs in the steel epoxy-coated tube
barrel. Because of the piston’s tremendous load on the seal, designers added
a set of inner and outer wheels for additional support.
The value-priced modeler had no problem scaling the big gun. Size
mattered more to the fabricator, who had an interesting time handling and
transporting the extra-large assignment. The fabricators were presented with
a full set of 2D drawings with accompanying 3D pictures from the model
produced in Alibre Design. The water cut steel sections were profiled using
2D export files.
According to Albinson, use of affordable 3D technology has “completely
displaced” the use of hand-drawn detailed concept sketches to describing
product to the rest of his team. Additionally, the parametrics of the solid
modeler generates automatic part lists, or bills of materials (BOMs), for
the modeled assemblies. “I needed to produce real drawings with BOMs, while
providing high quality models for product visualization,” says Albinson.
Now that solid modelers have come down in price and their 3D output is
more easily shared, engineering staffs have an affordable option for 3D
modeling and collaboration that can take on the biggest of projects.
About Alibre
Alibre Inc. develops and markets Alibre Design, the fastest growing
parametric 3D solid modeling software for mechanical design and
manufacturing. One-fifth the cost of comparable software, Alibre Design
delivers quick ROI, ease-of-use, rich functionality and unique real-time
support, and is enabling small and medium-sized businesses and workgroups to
put 3D CAD on every engineer's desk, similar to utilities like Word or
Excel. Alibre also delivers Alibre Design Xpress, the industry's only true
3D parametric modeler available free of charge. Alibre Design is available
in thirteen languages and distributed worldwide. Founded in 1997, Alibre
Inc. is privately funded and based in Richardson, Texas. For more
information and for a free trial of Alibre Design, please visit
www.alibre.com.
About AMEC plc
AMEC designs, delivers and supports infrastructure assets for customers
across the public and private sectors. AMEC employs more than 20,000 people
working from a network of offices throughout the UK, US and Canada, as well
as regional offices and projects worldwide. AMEC's shares are traded on the
London Stock Exchange where the company is listed in the Support Services
sector (LSE: AMEC.L). For more information, please visit:
www.amec.com.
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