3D Printed Lattice Structure for Driveline Applications

Sammanfattning: Lattice structures have received a lot of attention as cellular materials in recent years because of their outstanding properties, such as high strength-to-weight ratio, heat transfer, energy absorption, and capability of improving noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) behavior. This type of structure received a boost from additive manufacturing (AM) technology, which can fabricate geometries in practically any shape. Due to economic and environmental requirements, lightweight design is increasingly used in automobile and construction equipment applications. NVH behavior is a crucial issue for construction equipment. However, the conventional structures' NVH behavior is mainly decided by the mass, so silence often requires heavy systems, leading to more energy consumption and emission. Therefore, the environmental trends and the resulting economic competition have limited traditional (heavy) solutions to improve NVH behavior and make the lightweight design more difficult. Novel solutions are necessary to light the difficulty and challenge of combining NVH and lightweight requirements. In this research, topology optimization was implemented on a New Articulated Hauler Transmission (NAHT) component to balance lightweight and NVH behavior. The topology- optimized 3D model was filled by a non-homogenous lattice structure with optimal lattice density via size optimization. Lattice structure optimization is one type of topology optimization, and it is the term for describing these procedures. To fabricate the complicated lattice structure, additive manufacturing (or 3D printing) is required (after topology and lattice structure optimization). The new models were analyzed using the finite element method (FEM), and the results of the analysis were compared with those of the original models. After the comparison, positive results were obtained, demonstrating that topology and lattice optimization can be applied in the design of construction equipment components. According to the results, lattice structure optimization can create a reliable lightweight design with good NVH behavior. Furthermore, lattice structure's organization and layout have a significant impact on the overall performance.