DfAM – Design for Additive Manufacturing

Why DfAM?
• Additive manufacturing opens new doors in this era of Industry 4.0

• Gives the designers the flexibility to push the limits of engineering design and overcome the challenges of conventional or traditional manufacturing methods; Full
range scope for creation or innovation of Hyper-realistic products and prototypes

• Reduction in Production cycle time; Final assembly complexity reduced or removed;  Reduction of inventory and digitalization of production and thereby save
schedule and cost

• Optimised High strength light-weight structures; More competitive in terms of efficiency, performance, turn-around time and quality than ever before

Image courtesy – Additive Manufacturing magazine Image courtesy – Dragon fly

Be the first and ahead of the rest in innovation and building smart products
 Identification and Evaluation of parts for DfAM
• Close link between selection of parts or products and objective of design

• Evaluation of parts and products done based on parameters such as size and weight, performance improvement, production volume and lead
time, surface finish requirements, functionality and criticality and traditional cost of manufacturing.

• Identifying critical loads and critical environment the parts are subjected to during operation to ensure the parts printed have highest structural
integrity

• New product development (NPD) or re-design of existing parts to achieve greater value in terms of performance and cost

• Awareness of the material and alternate materials and their properties 

 Methods employed for DfAM
• Design or modification of an existing design for minimum
material that meets functional requirement – Using
topology optimization and lattice structures to make light
and more efficient products
• Consolidation of part or minimizing parts - Converting an
assembly of smaller parts into a single, integrated, highly
custom shape which allows for printing the part as one
piece, minimizes looseness, vibrations, inventory cost and
assembly errors
• Design for improved functionality, performance and
efficiency – Conformal cooling in plastic injection moulding,
surface area increase in heat exchangers and heat sinks,
lesser pressure drops reducing pumping power in
manifolds etc
• Choosing better material to achieve improved performance
– Better thermal conductivity, malleability or higher
strength, corrosion resistance etc
• Keeping post-processing of printed parts in mind –
Removal of supports, surface finish, cleaning and heat
treatment
Design Rules for DfAM
• Use of least material to reduce print time and material cost –
Shape or topology optimization and lattice structure generation
is preferred
• Connecting the functional surfaces intelligently and efficiently for
strength, space, better flow etc
• Minimize shape complexity to avoid more print time and thus the
cost – Change of directions in shape and distance to be avoided
Conventional Manifold • Reduce lattice structures inside hollow structures to minimize
the print time to save cost of printing
• Print orientation is important – To keep the support structures as
minimum as possible to reduce the post processing and
increase the surface finish of the part
• Enabling tessellation of parts in the build volume to print more
parts at the same time
• Fillets to be included as much as possible to reduce both stress
concentrations and support structure generation
DfAM Manifold
 Potential industries and parts for DfAM
Aerospace
Fuel nozzles, thrust chambers for rocket engines, brackets, Line
replaceable units, seating parts, tooling for composites, fixtures,
UAV components etc
Energy
Pump impellers, Rotors, Stators, Manifolds, Turbine stationary
vanes/nozzles, high pressure blades made hollow, tooling and
fixtures etc
Automotive and Rail Industry Courtesy – Additive Manufacturing Magazine Turbine stationary Courtesy - Siemens Gas Turbine Blades
Nozzles and Impeller
Spare parts/After market parts, Grills, Seating parts, compact heat
exchangers, exhaust manifolds, custom interiors filters, etc
Healthcare
Orthopaedic implant devices, dental devices, dental teeth,
Surgery models for surgeons before actual surgery especially in
neuro surgeries, Hearing aids, Artificial limbs, special instruments
for surgery and treatment etc
Courtesy – Scalmalloy, Automotive Compacty Heat Exchanger
Consumer Industry Courtesy – Manufactur 3D

Prototypes, Consumer electronics (heat sinks etc) Appliances,

Spare parts of appliances, Fancy products such as lamp shades,
faucets, furniture

Courtesy - Voestalpine
 Current manpower and
capabilities for DfAM
Design engineers for DfAM – 3
FEA engineers – 3
CFD engineers – 1
CAD/Design software used and expertise by design engineers –
Magics, Rhinoceros, Grasshopper, Siemens NX
FEA software used and expertise by FEA engineers – Altair
Hyperworks, ANSYS Multiphysics, ANSYS Multibody Dynamics
CFD software used and expertise by CFD engineers – ANSYS
Fluent, ANSYS ICEM and ANSYS CFX
Plan of action for one year
Approach companies designing and manufacturing manifolds for various applications –
Bosch Rexroth, Eaton, Caterpillar, Cummins, Yuken India etc
Develop and print successfully at least 12 manifolds by DfAM in six months (by April 2020).
In a years’ time be a go to company for manifolds and heat sinks
Approach electronics industry for developing heat sinks - BEL, WIPRO, HAL, BINFO,
AVENTAL COMMUNICATION, THYSSEN KRUPP ECE, TATA BP SOLAR, SRV TELECOM
LIMITED etc
In a years’ time be a go to company for manifolds and heat sinks
Develop compact heat Exchangers for Automotive, Marine and Transportation industries in
eight months time (June 2020)
Approach Steam Turbine manufacturers for Stationary Blades development and HP hollow
blades development – Triveni Turbines, BHEL – Hyderabad, KPCL (To Start Immediately)
Approach Aerospace companies for DfAM of brackets, LRUs, fixtures etc (To be started
immediately)
To grow the DfAM team to at least 16 people by the end of October 2020.