Some of the projects we were invoved with in 2013 & early 2014

Continuing on from all the successful projects to date, we continued to work in the aircraft, road car and marine sectors.

Of particular interest was a project with Antony Dodworth where we re-engineered all the geometry (to suit the processing and materials) and engineered the tooling for a carbon fibre bonnet for a mainstream German OEM, that will go into production in the coming years. As usual, we cant say too much about the project, but when it does go into production it will change the whole way composite parts are looked at for mainstream automotive projects.

 We have also been worked on a medium volume composite seat for an Italian OEM, that could be pressed in under 5 minutes. This project involved a huge amount of detailed composite FEA that was run in-house here at Light Black Design.

On the Aircraft side of things, we continued to work with the same supplier as we worked with last year, and helped them optimise various packages and structures, and continue to work with them today. This work is really interesting as taking weight out of any aircraft part is vital, whilst still meeting the stringent regulations that the industry has.

And in the marine sectors most of the work we have done is connected to the Flattens project with Primrose Fry Technologies. This can be seen at PF-Technologies.

We also worked on various projects with Futuremech. This is company run by Humphrey Bunyan, who was instrumental in setting up all of Future Fibres machinery and processes they use in producing some of the most advanced composite masts and rigging in the marine industry. These projects ranges from one-piece, furling, carbon fibre head stay systems to high volume composite parts for the rail industry.

And then, in-between these other marine projects we even looked at a modern version of the Seal 22 (that was designed by Dan's father, Angus Primrose, in the late '60's). Whilst its unlikely that this will ever go into production, it was fun to look at....



How we use Catia V5 in the office

Once again, the automotive design offices are in a extremely privileged position to have the most advanced 3D CAD systems as standard. Whilst there are a number to choose from, throughout the majority of the 14 years I was lucky enough to be in various offices like McLaren Automotive, Caparo and Gordon Murray Design we all used Dassault Systemes CATIA.

Although the initial investment is often hard to justify, I 100% believe that if the software is used properly and used in as many of the design stages as possible (i.e. from initial concepts right through to even the hydrodynamics of a yacht) the costs can be justified.

Whilst it is easy for me to say that it can be used efficiently, after 14 years sitting behind my CAD screen, it is a daunting task taking on a new design tool such as this, and the hard bit starts right from the start when you try and decide which of the many options you want/need. In the marine markets these generally range from styling tools, naval architecture, general 3D CAD right through to the composite FEA software. And of course, if you have the budget, these options could end up costing a frightening amount of money. But in most offices, the users just need some surfacing and then some solid generating tools, together with the standard 2D packages. And in fact its not until you need to generate A-Class surfaces (exterior panels) for cars that you need all the top level surfacing tools, particularly if you are importing your hull and foil shapes from other software.

To cut a long story short, I believe that having a tool such as Catia will help everyone in a design office. And due to the fact that the design process withing Catia is all parametric, if you need to go back and change anything it is easy. This makes it significantly faster to create not only the first parts but also the next parts if they are similar. It allows all the designers and engineers to see what everyone else is doing in the office as you can generate large assemblies on your screen and hence reduces errors. It will help to manage to the design process from start to finish, with its data management software called SmarTeam. This allows the engineers to do the design work, send it to the line managers for sign off, and then allows the rest of the office (purchasing, manufacturing etc) to see and download the relevant information.

To get over the first hurdle of trying to choose what I needed, I worked very closely with a company called Intrinsys www.Intrinsys.co.uk, in the UK. They are one of the companies that sell CATIA, and are the people you should go to if you are connected to the marine business. The main reason I chose to buy from them is that having worked with them when I was at Caparo, where they supported us in setting up our own unique solutions to how we wanted the design office to work, I know that whilst they are "salesmen" for CATIA, whats more important is that they are first and foremost, users of the software, and in fact the majority of their engineers on site are working on internal projects designing advanced automotive components for internal and external projects. This is vital when wandering down a "new path" as they were able to give me honest answers and will always be there on the end of the phone if it doesn't all go quite how I was hoping it might...! And for those of you thinking that your office just cannot justify this sort of software, then give them a call and I am sure you will be surprised just how much it might cost.....

So now I am in a position to be able to offer some help or design work to any of the design offices out there who are looking into using this type of software, or who have already chosen it but need more parts designed and engineered.

If any further details are required or if you may have a possible application for this process, then please contact us at any time at Info@LightBlackDesign.com

The "Taxi of Tomorrow"....

Late in 2010 Dan was contacted by Hexagon Studio, in Turkey, to work with them to specify the manufacturing processes for the Exterior and Interior Panels on their proposal for the New York Cities "Taxi of Tomorrow".

Whilst working closely with Hexagons Engineers we assessed all the feasible materials and processes, and then spent some time shortening the list until we had just the most viable options.

Having written up some detailed specifications of all the panels and their targets, we then contacted some potential Tier 1 suppliers, from a long list of companies we have worked with on previous automotive projects.

As they all came back to us, with all the relevant Part and Tooling costs, we compiled all the information and past it onto Hexagon to help them compile their Best and Final offer for their proposal to NYC.

NYC will make their final decision soon.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/media/totweb/taxioftomorrow_karsan2.html

Aluminium Tooling for High Quality carbon fibre parts

HIGHER QUALITY PARTS FROM NEW TOOLING METHODS.

Light Black Design is currently working with Richard Faulkner Composites in the UK to design and produce tooling to allow Richard and his team to manufacture multiple carbon fibre parts with an extremely high quality surface finish. To allow them to repeat the quality over and over again I recommended that they machine moulds from aluminium and engaged a machine shop that will produce the tools for a competitive price.

Despite the higher initial investment, the overall cost of producing the 18 carbon parts is lower due to the reduced amount  of preparation work required on the tools before each part is made, with very little finishing needed on the parts.

Lightweight Chassis concept for Bentley Motors...

CONCEPT CHASSIS DESIGN FOR BENTLEY MOTORS

We were contacted by Bentley Motors, in the UK, to help define the geometry and material specifications for an area of a chassis for one of their concept cars being developed by them in conjunction with the other sports car companies in the Volkswagen group.

The baseline materials in this investigation are a further development of my previous work within automotive groups to produce lightweight yet extremely cost effective composite panels, which are viable for current automotive production lines. This technology will be combined with DCFP (Directed Carbon Fibre Preforming) the revolutionary process being developed by Bentley.

Most importantly, this technology has the potential to transform the way certain composite boats are made and even drastically reduce the overall costs. It may indeed close the gap between the cost of glass and carbon fibre boats, which will allow the industry to take advantage of the dramatically reduced running costs of the lighter carbon fibre boats.

 

Rotating aerofoils for Standing Rigging.....

IMPROVED AERODYNAMICS FOR YACHTS STANDING RIGGING

One of the first companies to take advantage of our design and material knowledge was Future Fibres S.L.U, in Spain.

We worked closely with their engineers to design and manufacture a rotating aerofoil section that can be retrofitted to any standing rigging that could significantly improve the performance of the yacht.

Key to the success of these foils is the selection of materials and tooling that are typically only used in the automotive sectors. This was backed up by a deep understanding of aerodynamics that I have gained whilst having been part of top- level sailing and automotive teams.

These products are now being eagerly discussed in the sailing press (click HERE for a link to a copy of an article in November’s issue of Yachting World) and are commercially available for any boat through Future Fibres.

Our work with other industries.....

OTHER INDUSTRIES LIGHT BLACK DESIGN ARE WORKING WITH....

Light Black Design's work is not limited to just the marine and automotive sectors. Other industries are also interested in learning from the advances made by the automotive industry. We have been contacted from all levels of technology, looking either to reduce cost at the higher end, or improve efficiency at the lower end.

For example, Light Black Design was been contacted by a company who design and manufacture satellite systems for global customers.

They have a reputation for producing products for a fraction of the cost of their competitors. I have been asked to come in at appropriate times in future projects to look at the traditional methods currently employed in aerospace industry and to define some alternative methods and processes for non critical areas of the projects, while still achieving the same high levels of quality and design. The key objective is to reduce the overall cost for their premier aerospace programmes.

Working closely with companies such as these allows Light Black Design to keep abreast of all the latest technology and processes, putting us in the unique position of being able to transfer the knowledge that was once beyond the reach of the marine sector and offer unprecedented guidance in using the advances to their maximum potential.