A mechanical design flow using open source tools: development of pressure transducers as a case study

PSM Instrumentation Ltd. (PSM), a UK firm specialising in instrumentation for liquid level measurement for the marine industry, and the University of Brighton are currently collaborating in a 2 year Knowledge Transfer Partnership. Its aims include introducing new-to-company technologies into PSM, such as alternative manufacturing methods and design tools, and to use them to design products which could be taken from concept to commercialisation. The development of Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) design and modelling tools has transformed how research and development is carried out over the last decade. CAE platforms speed up development of new products by using computer models, generally based on Finite Element Analysis (FEA), which allow for the analysis of different physics such as thermal, stress and electromagnetic. This result in more robust designs whilst also reducing the number of prototype iterations needed, which reduces development costs. Open source CAE platform, are now able to offer SMEs sophisticated and competent capabilities at zero capital cost, although indirect cost such as learning how to use the tools would be initially incurred. Therefore, open source tools pave the way to a scalable alternative to commercial packages, such that CAE capabilities could be embedded within an SME as a result of a KTP. This presentation describes a mechanical design flow using open source tools including: the creation of 3D models for visualisation purposes; finite element analysis (FEA) for the calculation of thermal and mechanical stresses; visualisation of FEA result; the generation of parts manufacturing drawings. The development of a pressure transducer at PSM will be used as a case study to demonstrate how open source tools were used in its development.