Generative design is playing an increasingly important role in current product development. This innovative approach uses artificial intelligence (AI) and powerful optimization algorithms to – largely automatically – generate and simultaneously evaluate a large number of design proposals for the best possible component design. However, these optimized design proposals can usually only be produced additively, i.e. using 3D printing. The requirements of conventional and at the same time economical and sustainable manufacturing processes such as casting, forging or sheet metal deep drawing cannot yet be sufficiently taken into account during the generative design process.
The research network for the design of sustainable products using generative design (FORAnGen) is tackling this problem. The joint project focuses on supporting the development of products that not only conserve energy and resources, but are also robust and resilient with regard to a wide range of boundary conditions and disturbance variables. In the FORAnGen project, the FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg, the Fraunhofer Institute for Casting, Composite and Processing Technology Augsburg, the TU Munich and the University of Bayreuth are cooperating with over twenty companies that reflect a cross-section of the Bavarian economy and support the project with their expertise, software and demonstrator components. The Chair of Engineering Design and CAD at the University of Bayreuth, which is also home to two of the five sub-projects, is responsible for spokesperson and management.
The first project deals with the integration of manufacturing technologies into generative design with the aim of a production-ready initial design. The industrial partners here are LeoSim Technology GmbH, KSB SE & Co. KGaA, RAPA Automotive GmbH & Co. KG, medi GmbH & Co. KG, Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG, PTC Inc, Scherdel Innotec Forschungs- und Entwicklungs-GmbH and CTWe. In the second project, an automated evaluation of component sustainability within generative design is being researched. The companies Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG, Scherdel Innotec Forschungs- und Entwicklungs-GmbH, KSL Konstruktionsservice Legat, PTC Inc. and ÆVOLUTION are involved. The project volume of the University of Bayreuth amounts to 620,000 euros.
"Generative design can herald a paradigm shift in engineering. It is therefore important to investigate the topic at an early stage in a Bavarian research network," says Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stephan Tremmel, Head of the Department of Engineering Design and CAD at the University of Bayreuth.
