Increasing the machine’s X and Y axis static stif fness by 73 percent and 64 percent while keeping almost the same mass

About the customer

Jyoti CNC Automation Ltd. (Jyoti CNC) is a reputable and reliable name in the area of computer numerical control (CNC) metal cutting machines. The company designs and manufactures a wide array of CNC machines for metal cutting industries. It is well equipped to meet the unique requirements of customers from a range of industry sectors, including aerospace, automotive, agriculture, die and mold, railways, infrastructure, medical, oil and gas, power, jewelry, telecommunications, to name a few. With its state-of-the-art research and application facilities equipped with advanced technology, the company is able to meet evolving customer expectations and deliver products of world-class quality.

Their challenge

The company relies heavily on innovation and continually develops new products to meet the ever-changing, unique requirements from various industry sectors in manufacturing metal cutting components. These new, optimized products need to be developed within a stringent timeframe while ensuring machine accuracy in microns. For one such project, Jyoti CNC was working on optimizing the current design and improving the static stiffness of its machines. Given the complexity of the project, the company decided to use simulation technology to ensure smooth and fast product development, while reducing the cost and resources involved.

Machine’s X, Y & Z axis final result after design change.

Our solution

In one of the machine tool’s exhibitions, Jyoti CNC was introduced to Siemens Digital Industries Software solutions. Post comparing the products to other solutions in the market, the company decided to go ahead with Simcenter™ software for finite element analysis (FEA) to improve the static stiffness of its machines. Simcenter is part of the Siemens Xcelerator business platform of software, hardware and services.

Since stiffness is dependent on mounting conditions and operating conditions (such as load and speed), the company used simulation capabilities of Siemens simulation tools to reach the optimized design and arrangement. Using advanced creation and editing tools, the company was able to obtain the optimized design in a faster and efficient manner. The Simcenter Optistruct® software solver was then used to validate the effectiveness of the optimized product design. Using data analytics and the true-to-life visualization and rendering capabilities of Siemens solutions, Jyoti CNC could analyze various iterations and compare and review the results for different parameters. The company benefitted significantly from the ability to eliminate errors at the design stage itself.

LEFT: Machine’s X axis results at initial design stage.
MIDDLE: Machine’s Y axis results at initial design stage.
RIGHT: Machine’s Z axis results at initial design stage

Results

Simulation played a big role in enhancing Jyoti CNC’s product development efforts. The company benefitted immensely in terms of resources and cost savings, as mechanical accuracies were ensured right at the FEA software level, without having to create the physical prototype. For one of its machines, the company was able to increase static stiffness in the machine’s X and Y axis by nearly 73 percent and 64 percent, respectively, while keeping almost the same mass. Satisfied with the results and excellent technical support, Jyoti CNC now uses Siemens simulation platform as a part of its regular design flow process in research and development (R&D).

“Simulation has played a critical role in our product development process,” says Vijay Zala, general manager, R&D, at Jyoti CNC. “FEA analysis and product design optimization solutions from Siemens helped us obtain desired mechanical accuracies. We were able to increase the static stiffness in the machine’s X and Y axis by 73 percent and 64 percent, respectively. We are now using Siemens solutions extensively in our R&D activities and will continue to evolve and expand use of these solutions for our upcoming product lines as well.”