Product category:
CAD/CAM systems (not machine tools)
News Release from: EDS, PLM Solutions | Subject: Unigraphics software system
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 17 March 2003
Design-to-production time cut from days
to mins
Software cuts airfoil design-to-production time from days to minutes and enables customers to reduce downtime for aero engine and power generation equipment.
EDS has announced that Callender (Lancashire) Aeropart has recently completed the implementation of Unigraphics, EDS' integrated portfolio of product development software for total product engineering, at its facilities in Altham
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 5 Sep 2002 at 8.00am (UK)
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As a result, the company has been able to reduce the time needed to design airfoil components and to generate the tool path programs required for their manufacture, in some cases from days to minutes.
Callender specialises in the manufacture of fan, compressor and turbine airfoil components for the worldwide aerospace engine and power generation equipment industries.
"We selected Unigraphics because it is the software of choice of many of our major customers and because of its advanced solid modelling capabilities, its integrated CAM facilities and its knowledge-based engineering tools," said a spokesman for Callender.
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"However", he added, "the key to our ability to dramatically cut the time needed to design a family of blades for a specific turbine and to generate the NC tool path programs required for their manufacture is the specialised application software which EDS' technical experts developed for us.
It automates the whole process".
These specially-developed programs draw on the parametric assembly modelling and knowledge-based engineering software tools provided within the Unigraphics software suite.
They enable Callender's engineers to use non-geometric data relating to the performance of each section within a customer's turbine in order to create a surface model of an individual blade within the section.
From this a 3D solid model of the blade is then produced, followed by the NC tool path program to machine it, all within Unigraphics.
More importantly, the software also enables a complete set of blades for a turbine section, each of which will be different depending on the performance data, to be generated, or 'morphed' automatically from the first one simply by changing the performance values.
The NC tool path programs are then automatically recalculated accordingly for each one.
The actual machining of the turbine blades has also been reduced from a five-stage process to a single pass using high-speed, simultaneous 5-axis machining techniques, with the machine tools being driven by the NC programs developed with the Unigraphics CAM software modules.
As a result, the company claims that the Unigraphics system and the specialist software development work that EDS did for it has given it a real competitive advantage.
About Callender - founded in 1974 and based in Altham, Lancashire, Callender is a privately-held UK company that specialises in the manufacture of fan, compressor and turbine airfoil components for the world's aerospace engines and power generation equipment industries.
The company's advanced manufacturing facilities enable it to manufacture blades and vanes from precision castings, precision or oversize (envelope) forgings, or barstock in a wide range of materials, from aluminium, stainless steel and titanium to more exotic alloys such as Inconel, Nimonic and Udimet.
In addition to individual blades, Callender also has the capability to machine and inspect integrally bladed rotors (Blisks) from solid titanium up to a maximum diameter of 1.25m.
About EDS - a leading global services company, provides strategy, implementation, business transformation and operational solutions for clients managing the business and technology complexities of the digital economy.
EDS brings together the world's best technologies to address critical client business imperatives.
It helps clients eliminate boundaries, collaborate in new ways, establish their customers' trust and continuously seek improvement.
EDS, with its management-consulting subsidiary, A.T.
Kearney, serves the world's leading companies and governments in 60 countries.
EDS reported revenues of $21.5 billion in 2002.
The company's stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: EDS) and the London Stock Exchange.
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