Altair software aids auto industry to adopt new technologies
The US-based Altair, a leading provider of enterprise-class engineering software to the automotive industry, through its simulation-driven approach, aids innovation, reduces development times, and lowers cost through the entire product lifecycle, from concept design to in-service operation. Powering the company’s simulationdriven approach is an integrated suite of software that optimises design performance across niche disciplines like structures, motion, fluids, thermal management, electromagnetics, system modelling and embedded systems, along with solutions in the realm of data analytics, real world visualisation and rendering. In India, with the automotive industry on the cusp of a transition driven by regulatory changes, Altair India, is fuelling the adoption of emerging technologies through its simulation driven approach, Pavan Kumar, Managing Director, Altair India, said.
Broadly a software, which pertains to Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) and High-Performance Computing (HPC), ranges in 5 categories: ‘Solvers and optimisation’, ‘Modelling and visualisation’, ‘Industrial and concept design’, ‘Internet of Things’, and ‘high performance computing’. Of these, ‘Solvers’ are mathematical software engines that make use of advanced computational algorithms in a bid to predict physical performance. Optimisation leverages solvers to derive efficient solutions to meet desired complex, and multi-objective requirements.
In Modelling and visualisation, tools allow advanced physical attributes to be modelled and rendered on top of the object geometry in high fidelity. In Industrial and concept design, tools generate early concepts to address requirements for ergonomics, aesthetics, performance, and manufacturing feasibility.
Internet of Things (IoT) is all about analytics tools used to simplify data collection, visualisation, exploration and analysis, including tackling of large volumes of data generated
by sensors during the in-service operations of physical products or by way of digital twin simulations. In case of high performance computing that the software applications are known to streamline the workflow management of compute-intensive tasks including the entire gamut of solvers, optimisation, modelling, visualisation and analytics in fields such as Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), weather modelling, bio-informatics and electronic design analysis.
In automotive and transportation, with the regulatory changes, CAE helps the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to achieve desired performance in terms of safety, driveability, comfort and quality in sync with the fuel economy and weight targets that the OEMs set out to achieve. For fuel-efficiency, Altair ‘Optistruct’, a solution for structural design and optimisation aids the development of lightweight and structurally efficient vehicles by reducing weight and material costs, without compromising on the overall performance.
Altair’s NVH, fluid flow and vehicle dynamic solutions aid in developing the physical prototype. Exterior and internal fluid flow studies with Altair ‘Acusolve’ provide insights on aerodynamics, cooling, noise, and comfort levels. Altair ‘Radioss’ helps crash engineers in automotive crash and impact analysis. “Besides its traditional product offerings in Optistruct, Radioss, and HyperMesh, the company is focusing on newer areas which are witnessing a high degree of customer interest. We are getting more interest from our users for things related to design of sensors, design of motors, communication and control systems,” Kumar said.
For e-mobility, the company develops multi-physics simulation technologies to help accelerate the development of future mobility solutions. From smart control design to powertrain electrification and vehicle architecture studies, Altair’s electromagnetic simulation technologies can additionally help OEMs optimise energy flow to the batteries, evaluate energy loss apart from facilitating analysis of radiation fields. The company’s electromagnetic solvers are said to offer a robust platform when it comes to enhancing the performance of e-mobility auxiliary systems like e-throttle and e-braking systems, through e-valves, e-boosters, e-damping and Energy Recovering Systems (ERS).
With its bouquet of solutions, Altair India caters to the commercial vehicle OEMs like Mahindra & Mahindra, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, Maruti Suzuki India and Tata Motors besides catering to suppliers like Bosch, Faurecia, Mahle, and TRW among others. A testimony to the company’s technological prowess, at a global level, claimed Kumar, in the case of Renault Trucks, the company, achieved the optimal shape of a four-cylinder engine, in turn shaving off 120 kgs.
Altair has initiated a collaborative effort, in Pune, with partner DesignTech Systems, and the Science and Technology Park, an institute supported by Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India. DesignTech is the execution and technology partner for Altair and will run the CoE for it. Aimed at supporting the advancement of the Government of India’s ‘Skill India’ programme, the agreement to establish an Engineering Centre of Excellence (CoE) for research, innovation and skill building, is targeted at the large student community besides academic institutes and overall Industry. Aimed at bridging the skill level gap between vocational engineering skills and the industry expectation, the CoE would enable students to be industry ready, increasing their chances of getting a better compensation besides helping industry to save time on re-training the candidate leading to higher degree of efficiency.
The Centre will have advanced facilities like a product design lab, additive manufacturing lab, design validation lab, manufacturing assessment lab, flow and thermal lab, communication lab for IoT, signal processing and communications lab and a control systems and mechatronics lab for IoT. Also aimed at encouraging start-ups in the design domain, the CoE is collaborating with several prominent education institutions in Maharashtra and other parts of India to set up these centres jointly.
On the scope of the CoE’s reach, Vikas Khanvelkar, Chairman and Managing Director, DesignTech Systems said, “In a globalised, technology- driven, evolving world of product design & innovation, Altair Engineering in collaboration with DesignTech Systems Ltd., intends to also extend engineering consultancy to small and medium scale manufacturing industries as classified under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.”