Automotive Engineering

Engineering Development for Production Vehicles

When designing for production vehicles, whether they are supercars, mass market cars or commercial vehicles, cost and manufacturability can be as important as performance. Engenuity aim to produce “efficient” designs, a design where the right amount of the right material is used in the best geometry to meet all the engineering requirements such as strength, stiffness and durability.

The process to get to the most efficient design starts with material selection. Engenuity use a material screening process, measuring key mechanical properties to compare suitability for the application between candidate materials. Once a material is chosen, it can be fully characterized and the properties input onto a material card for engineering analysis software such as Abaqus, Dyna or Hyperworks. Using this material data coupled with the load cases, space envelope and performance requirements, Engenuity’s experienced team of automotive engineers create the optimized geometry.

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ENGINEERED FOR PERFORMANCE AND PRICE

We go beyond FEA. Starting with material science and load case definition, we also help companies consider industrialization from day 1 of the project. Our partner HRC Group are the number 1 automotive carbon fibre parts manufacturer in China, we work closely with them to define manufacturing processes and series production costs. We can operate a project as ‘design to cost’, so the final component is engineered to be manufactured for your target price.

Engenuity have pioneered a new approach for performance prediction of cost effective composite components called FiRMA. This approach focusses on accurate simulation of SMC materials, these materials cost less than prepreg in the unprocessed form and require a fraction of the cycle time. For more information on stochastic simulation of chopped fibre materials please get in touch.

OPTIMISATION OF STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS

Monocoques, chassis, suspension components, crash structures, wheels, body panels, you name it, we have done it. In metal and composite. For cars and commercial vehicles. Three decades in the automotive industry working with big names and niche manufacturers alike, means we have learnt the lessons necessary to create successful and cost-effective structural designs.

SAFETY FIRST

As composites are used more in vehicles, predictive analysis of their behaviour during crash events becomes more important. Engenuity’s CZone has become the go to for this purpose during the last ten years, particularly in motorsport where there are frequent composite structure crash events and crash tests for validation. In composite crush modelling being predictive is the holy grail. By removing the need for mathematical expedients (factors which cannot be garnered from material characterisation) CZone is a purely predictive crash modelling software to allow fast and accurate development of crash structures. Learn more about CZone crash prediction software.

BATTERY ENCLOSURES AND HYDROGEN STORAGE

As the automotive world changes, we stay ahead. For battery enclosures, the strict material requirements in areas such as flammability often lead to lower mechanical properties. However, the engineering demand of the battery enclosures is also high, they must serve their structural purpose as part of the chassis and keep the batteries safe from impact. Material screening and accurate engineering development has never been more important.

Together with HRC we have developed cost effective, high strength type IV hydrogen storage tanks for vehicles. Meeting the stringent safety standards at to 700 bar pressure with low structural mass, Engenuity tailors the tank design to fit individual vehicle programmes.