Using CAD design tools and simulations to create electric jetboards

Making waves in the jetboard industry

Jetboards, a self-propelled surfboard that glides on water, might seem magical; however, they rely on sophisticated design and engineering. Although they have been around for over a decade, recent innovations in electric motor and battery technologies have caused these boards to rise in popularity for novice and experienced riders. Many of these modern
iterations are lightweight, easy to maneuver, environmentally friendly and fast. Best of all, jetboard riders do not have to wait for the perfect wave or get towed behind a boat to gather enough speed.

EWAKE, a German-based electric jetboard designer and manufacturer with “greed for speed” as its motto, creates custom jetboards that incorporate a novel three-jet nozzle design to improve balance and handling. By arranging these jets in parallel, this propulsion system, which is available from 15 to 40 horsepower (hp), enables riders to accelerate up to 40 miles
per hour (mph).

Each carbon-fiber board packs enough battery power to last 40 minutes, which is more than enough time for riders to get their speed fix. The batteries are also lightweight, can withstand saltwater and are hot-swappable, enabling the riders to charge them while out on the boat.

Additionally, the battery systems are equipped with a global positioning system (GPS) for safety purposes and a long-term evolution (LTE) connection option so users can check the battery’s temperature and charge status. EWAKE currently holds several patents on these technologies.

In 2020, after purchasing a jetboard, Peter Ruwe, chief executive officer (CEO) at EWAKE, saw the opportunity to establish a new discipline of clean water sports and make it accessible to a broader audience. Since then, the company has scaled up, combining handiwork with modern manufacturing processes. Additionally, EWAKE partners with selected and specialized local carbon manufacturing experts like TRE Team Rosberg Engineering GmbH and Faserschmiede GmbH.

However, getting the company to where it is now was not always an easy ride.

Initially, it was difficult to turn handmade boards into standardized, digital models that were ready for production. “We needed to up our production, and I realized there would be limitations if we continued to do all the design work by hand,” says Ruwe. “This was when I knew we had to transition to CAD.”

EWAKE decided to use Solid Edge® software, Simcenter™ FLOEFD™ for Solid Edge software and the Teamcenter® Share app, which are part of the Siemens Xcelerator business platform of software, hardware and services.

Creating production-ready digital models

EWAKE’s team chose Solid Edge because of its design capabilities, including computer-aided design (CAD) modeling, rendering engines, computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. Using the platform’s reverse engineering and 3D scanning functions, EWAKE engineers could easily input their designs into the Solid Edge digital environment.

Typically, digital models produced from 3D scans consist of mesh or faceted geometry. Due to the imprecise nature of the imported mesh data, Solid Edge – unlike most other traditional CAD platforms – automatically removes import process errors. For example, its intuitive mesh
cleanup tools remove facets, fill holes or smooth mesh areas, providing designers with a workable set of triangles to further edit and prepare for production.

Additionally, EWAKE engineers took advantage of the software’s convergent modeling functions. This enabled them to further process the facets on their digital models, for example, drilling or cutting out areas in the hull to install a battery box.

Using Teamcenter Share to improve collaboration

To continually improve the product, the EWAKE team needed to quickly pass results and test-run insights to their development team. Leveraging Teamcenter Share, EWAKE engineers could share information with developers and stakeholders, review proposals with customers and coordinate
and implement design changes on short notice while remotely on site.

EWAKE also uses Teamcenter Share to collaborate with Faserschmiede, their carbon manufacturing partner that produces the EWAKE board’s carbon fiber raw parts. This way, for production and manufacturing, Solid Edge CAD data can integrate with Faserschmiede’s CAM software, making it
easy to coordinate and implement design changes. By streamlining how the company coordinates and collaborates, they were able to improve product quality.

"With the help of Solid Edge and Teamcenter Share, we were able to meet customer requirements faster and reduce production time by 35 percent,” says Ruwe.

Getting customer feedback before producing designs

Once EWAKE engineers input their designs into Solid Edge, they could use its 3D rendering tools to create realistic models. This provided the team with photorealistic pictures of finished products, helping them share designs with stakeholders. “These rendering capabilities were very important to us,” says Ruwe. “We wanted photorealistic images so we could receive input on things like colors and surface materials. Thanks to using Solid Edge, we could gauge reactions to our designs before spending time and money manufacturing them.”

Using Solid Edge for simulating flow

EWAKE uses Solid Edge flow simulation tools, including Simcenter FLOEFD for Solid Edge, to simulate how changes in the design impact the board’s performance in water. Using this CFD analysis tool makes the simulation process easier and faster and enables design engineers to front-load CFD or move it to an earlier design process stage. This allows them to identify and
fix issues sooner and improve design efficiency. EWAKE engineers used FLOEFD to simulate their jetboard iterations before creating prototypes. Using the simulation software, they were able to calculate the flow of water around the board and through the jet nozzles, leading to an optimized design with higher flow speeds, less water resistance and minimal energy use. Thanks to this tool, the team successfully reduced the board’s energy consumption by 10 percent. Additionally, the optimized nozzles made the boards faster and better balanced.

Boosting productivity using manufacturing-ready tools

Using Solid Edge integrated CAM solutions, manufacturers were able to define and execute manufacturing processes like milling, turning and feature-based machining. Additionally, by leveraging Solid Edge CAM Pro, which integrates with the Solid Edge CAD development environment, the EWAKE design team and its suppliers and subcontractors could communicate and cooperate, enabling all parties to seamlessly transfer and import data to and from the CAD/CAM environments. Further, using Solid Edge CAM Pro, EWAKE engineers were able to manage design changes with their manufacturers. With these various Solid Edge capabilities, EWAKE was able to iterate and manufacture its boards more efficiently, reducing development time by 50 percent and costs by 40 percent per model. “I also estimate a boost in our productivity of nearly 40 percent,” says Ruwe.

Looking towards the future

When looking towards the future, Ruwe is grateful for Solid Edge and the journey that got him to where he is today. “We’re a small team, yet Solid Edge gave us the capabilities we needed to break into the world of production,” says Ruwe. “Solid Edge gave us advanced design capabilities that are typically only available to larger companies. I’m excited to see what else the future holds for us.”