DfAM software specialist nTopology has announced its third generation of lattice technology, a “state of the art lattice generation tool”. This new tool addresses the limitations of our ability to develop new capabilities that enable a wider range of 3D printing applications.
The new Latching Technology release includes 37 blocks developed over the last 22 months. According to the company, hundreds of nTop users are already using the new laticing technology. In fact, 45% of his users doing laticing work with nTopology were already using the new blocks even before the full his release.
To make the new gridding tools as easy as possible for new nTop users the moment they start using the software, the developers have divided the gridding process into three basic steps. Controls unit cell selection, cell map definition, and lattice parameters (such as thickness). After mastering these simple steps, you will be able to learn how to later apply advanced latticeing and DfAM techniques more quickly and intuitively.
It has been updated[Lattices]In the tabs, users can find three new easy-to-use blocks to quickly replicate the output of their workflows using the old latticeing technology. Users can use these blocks to migrate their existing workflows to the new lattice technology at their own pace.
High-speed lattice technology
Migrating workflows to the new lattice technology will result in significant performance improvements, especially when using lattices with very high beam counts and unit cell counts. In one example of his benchmarking, a lattice containing over 50,000 unit cells took 45-60 seconds to generate on a well-equipped laptop, but now reproduces in 1-2 seconds. be built.
This is a 50x performance improvement over the already fastest grid generation tool. This means that lattice structures with more than 50,000 unit cells can be reconstructed in seconds. Results are rendered in real time thanks to GPU acceleration.
For experienced nTop users, the new lattice technology includes many new features that streamline lattice design and optimization. These new tools can be used to create a performance-driven grid generation process where engineering requirements are already built into the model.
For example, with the new Lattice Warping tool, you can apply field-driven design techniques to control lattice cell maps in the same way you control thickness. Combining this capability with real-time visualization allows precise adjustment of complex geometries. It also provides a new and powerful way to design conformal grids.
Grid generation follows an integrated integrated grid workflow, whether using graphs, TPMS, or custom unit cells. This feature makes it much easier to quickly iterate between different lattice types and saves time. It also allows easy setup of computational design of experiments for optimization.
The new Lattice Block provides a unified design workflow for lattice design. Users can exchange unit cell and cell map types to explore larger design spaces faster.
A new filtering utility lets you select grating beams based on specific criteria such as length, angle, connectivity, and thickness. This capability allows you to spatially control certain parameters of the lattice structure and optimize it for manufacturing.
New lattice technology also provides the ability to create a cell map that fits the surface of the quad mesh. With surface lattices, conformal rib grids can be designed to increase body stiffness in even the most complex or organic shapes.
“The new lattice block gives me more control over lattice design, especially cell maps. In one of my projects I had to warp the lattice in a certain way. It’s very difficult to do without visualization, and this feature alone allows us to adjust complex shapes more precisely.”Ross Brown, AM Engineer, Marotta Controls
Next lattice technology
The new Lattice Tool introduces some powerful features, with more coming from nTopology. The new Latching technology infrastructure enables development teams to rapidly build innovative new optimization tools that enable future innovation.
New Field-Driven Lattice Optimization Lattice technology lays the foundation for a novel and powerful field-driven optimization capability. nTopology is currently testing a new tool to automatically generate lattice structures optimized for specific engineering requirements, such as target stiffness and weight.
The R&D team is also working on custom graph unit cells. Soon, nTop users will be able to sketch custom unit cells and define relevant design parameters such as beam thickness, length and fillet radius.
The team is already working on extending nTopology’s conformal grid generation capabilities to complement the existing conformal grid tools. This means that users can quickly design lattice cell maps that fit multiple surfaces or organic volumes.
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