Optimizing the Design of a Fuel Pod with NX and Maple - Maple Help
For the best experience, we recommend viewing online help using Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge.

Online Help

All Products    Maple    MapleSim


Home : Support : Online Help : Applications and Example Worksheets : Science and Engineering : Optimizing the Design of a Fuel Pod with NX and Maple

Optimizing the Design of a Fuel Pod with NX and Maple

Introduction

A manufacturer has designed a fuel pod in NX.  The fuel pod has hemispherical and conical caps, and a cylindrical midsection.

 

To minimize material costs, the manufacturer wants to minimize the surface area of the fuel pod while maintaining the existing volume

 

 

This application

 

• 

pulls the current dimensions of the fuel pod (radius of the hemispherical end, length of the cylindrical midsection, and height of the conical end) from the NX CAD model

• 

calculates the current volume of the fuel pod

• 

optimizes the dimensions to minimize the surface area while maintaining the existing volume

• 

and pushes the optimized dimensions back into the NX CAD model

 

To use this application, you must

 

• 

have a supported version of NX installed,

• 

ensure the NX-Maple link is working correctly (see NX for details).

• 

load canisterOptimization.prt in NX (this is the CAD model of the fuel pod),

 

restart:withOptimization:withCAD:-NX:

Read Existing Design Parameters in Maple

pars:=GetParameterNames

heightConeCurrGetParameterValueheightConeGetParameterUnitsheightCone

heightConeCurr:=50.00mm

(2.1)

lenCentralCurrGetParameterValuelenCentralGetParameterUnitslenCentral

lenCentralCurr:=60.00mm

(2.2)

radSphereCurrGetParameterValueradSphereGetParameterUnitsradSphere

radSphereCurr:=15.00mm

(2.3)

Define Expressions to Calculate the Volume and Surface Area of the Canister

volCanisterheightCone,lenCentral,radSphere→evalfπ radSphere2heightCone3+πradSphere2lenCentral+2πradSphere33:

volvolCanisterheightConeCurr,lenCentralCurr,radSphereCurr

vol:=61261.05675mm3

(3.1)

surfaceCanisterheightCone,lenCentral,radSphere→evalf2πradSphere2+2πradSpherelenCentral+πradSphereradSphere2+heightCone2:

surfaceCanisterheightConeCurr,lenCentralCurr,radSphereCurr

9528.522740mm2

(3.2)

Design Optimization

Minimize the surface area while maintaining the volume

optValuesMinimizesurfaceCanisterheightConeNew,lenCentralNew,radSphereNew,volCanisterheightConeNew,lenCentralNew,radSphereNew=volmm3,assume=nonnegative

optValues:=7660.22,heightConeNew=21.46,lenCentralNew=10.73,radSphereNew=23.99

(4.1)

Export New Design Parameters into NX

assignoptValues2:

SetParameterValueheightCone,heightConeNew:

SetParameterValuelenCentral,lenCentralNew:

SetParameterValueradSphere,radSphereNew: