7/28/2019 ED315 2 Mather

1/20

1

Functional Design Tools for Educators in

Autodesk Inventor ProfessionalJ.D. Mather Pennsylvania College of Technology

ED315-2 Now you can learn CAD software while you teach higher-level physics and engineering

classes with the functional design tools available in Autodesk Inventor Professional -- and have fun doing

it! This class is intended for progressive educators and trainers who arent afraid to challenge the status

quo. And dont worry about the word physics... this class will be fun!

About the Speaker:

Dr. J.D. Mather is an assistant professor of CAD and Product Design at Pennsylvania College of

Technology affiliate of Penn State University. He has taught AutoCAD courses for 13 years and has

been an Autodesk Inventor Certified Expert since release 7. His advanced 3D Modeling tutorials are

studied by users around the world.

http://home.pct.edu/~jmather/content/DSG322/inventor_surface_tutorials.htm

Previously he worked in industry for 15 years.

http://home.pct.edu/~jmather/AU2007/ED315-2%20Mather.pdf

http://home.pct.edu/~jmather/AU2007/ED315-2%20Dataset.zip

jmather@pct.edu

http://home.pct.edu/~jmather/AU2007/ED315-2%20Mather.pdfhttp://home.pct.edu/~jmather/AU2007/ED315-2%20Mather.pdfhttp://home.pct.edu/~jmather/AU2007/ED315-2%20Dataset.ziphttp://home.pct.edu/~jmather/AU2007/ED315-2%20Dataset.ziphttp://home.pct.edu/~jmather/AU2007/ED315-2%20Dataset.ziphttp://home.pct.edu/~jmather/AU2007/ED315-2%20Mather.pdf

7/28/2019 ED315 2 Mather

2/20

2

Functional Design Tools for Educators in Autodesk Inventor Professional

Session Objectives

Get started on using the Design Accelerators in the classroom.

Learn a quick tip for Routed Systems.

Help your students understand mechanism through the use of DynamicSimulation (DS).

Document design parameters using the DS Output Grapher.

Take a look at using Finite Element Analysis in a practical manner.

Target Audience

Anyone who does training with Autodesk Inventor Professional.

Introduction

What is Functional Design? First lets establish what it is not. Functional Design is not a

method of making it possible for those who are not educated in the field of study to create

designs that previously were reserved to professionals. The use of Functional Design tools still

requires a professional level of preparation. Although that might sound foreboding Im going to

emphasize the techniques as FUNctional Design. Ill hold off on a definition until after we lookat the tools.

The tools might be categorized into the following sets:

Parametric Design Intent

Frame Generator

Design Accelerators

Routed Systems

Dynamic Simulation

FEA

These sub-topics tie into a resource in the software called the Engineers Handbook.

7/28/2019 ED315 2 Mather

3/20

3

Functional Design Tools for Educators in Autodesk Inventor Professional

Prior Knowledge Expectations

For this class I will assume that you have used Autodesk Inventor the classroom at an

intermediate level. If you havent started yet, then this session will give you some inspiration to

get started. In either case be aware that it is virtually impossible to do anything more than skim

the surface of the topic in a 90 minute session. I think there are a lot of emergent opportunities

at this time in history for energetic individuals to revolutionize design education using these

tools.

Getting Started

Capture parametric design intent

Constraints, dimensions, DOF, physical properties like volume, mass, Tolerance analysis,

kinematics analysis

The stuff most of us are aware of.

In the first example we will look at what we thought we knew in the real world by looking at a

problem in the design of a crane boom.

7/28/2019 ED315 2 Mather

4/20

4

Functional Design Tools for Educators in Autodesk Inventor Professional

Frame Generator

I would include the Frame Generator in the Design Accelerator set of tools except that it

appears as a separate section under the Assembly Panel Bar.

The Frame Generator is so easy to use that you should be able to figure it out on your own with

a little experimentation. There is a tutorial under the Help menu.

The key is to create a skeleton ipt file and place it in an iam file to control the frame.

7/28/2019 ED315 2 Mather

5/20

5

Functional Design Tools for Educators in Autodesk Inventor Professional

If you are interested in the formulas for classical engineering analysis they are in the Engineers

Handbook.

7/28/2019 ED315 2 Mather

6/20

6

Functional Design Tools for Educators in Autodesk Inventor Professional

Using computer-based tools does not translate to a loss of rigor within a program. If anything, I

see my students try far more iterations of a design because of the tools available. How many ofyou would do a thesis or dissertation all over again if you had to use a manual typewriter and

no electronic spreadsheets?

7/28/2019 ED315 2 Mather

7/20

7

Functional Design Tools for Educators in Autodesk Inventor Professional

Design Accelerators

This is the largest set of tools and includes:

7/28/2019 ED315 2 Mather

8/20

7/28/2019 ED315 2 Mather

9/20

9

Functional Design Tools for Educators in Autodesk Inventor Professional

For this problem set the Follower Shape to Sphere and the Model points to 72.

The Path Type might be confusing. Our path is inside the motion of the follower although thepath is on the outside of the cam. We want Inner.

Set the values as shown. You can click on preview to see the nomenclature of some of the

variables. Keep in mind that although the image shows a roller follower we are using a

spherical follower, thus Roller Width is grayed out.

7/28/2019 ED315 2 Mather

10/20

10

Functional Design Tools for Educators in Autodesk Inventor Professional

Lets go ahead and create and save the cam now, otherwise if we make a mistake we might

have to start over from the beginning.

We can get back to the Cam Generator by RMB

on the cam in the browser and select Edit using

Design Accelerator.

Deselect all of the curve options

except for Lift.

Click within the first segment of the

graph to activate that segment. You

will see a dashed rectangle around the

active segment.

7/28/2019 ED315 2 Mather

11/20

11

Functional Design Tools for Educators in Autodesk Inventor Professional

Our cam will dwell for the first115deg of rotation.

For Segment 1 set the end at

115deg and the lift at 0.

Change the parameters as shown and

then click Calculate.

Tip: Use Calculate rather than OK or

Enter until you are finished with the

design.

Click Add After to add a segment to the

graph.

Change Segment 3 to Double

Harmonic Part 2 and end at

245deg with 0mm Lift.

(You might need to go back and

change Segment 2 back to

180deg.)

7/28/2019 ED315 2 Mather

12/20

12

Functional Design Tools for Educators in Autodesk Inventor Professional

Turn on the display of the Acceleration curve.

Interested in the formulas? Click Help in lower left corner.

and then click on the link to the Engineers

Handbook

enjoy!

7/28/2019 ED315 2 Mather

13/20

13

Functional Design Tools for Educators in Autodesk Inventor Professional

Click on the Calculations tab and then

checkmark the box underCam Material.

Click OK.

Expand the history tree for the cam and RMB and select Edit on the cam. Sketch a circle

diameter 14.8 at the origin and extrude 15mm.

Caution: Be sure your sketch is at the part level rather than the assembly level. Save the file

and well come back and use it later.

7/28/2019 ED315 2 Mather

14/20

14

Functional Design Tools for Educators in Autodesk Inventor Professional

Routed Systems

Piping, Hoses and Tubing

We wont have time to cover these in this class but you can find getting started pdf documents

in the Inventor directory on your hard drive.

7/28/2019 ED315 2 Mather

15/20

15

Functional Design Tools for Educators in Autodesk Inventor Professional

Electrical Wiring, Cable and Harness

Inventor 2008 added the capability to create a ribbon cable and illustration rendering. The

illustration rendering could be very useful in creating classroom training materials that are copier

friendly. (Although maybe I should have cropped out that black heat sink.)

7/28/2019 ED315 2 Mather

16/20

16

Functional Design Tools for Educators in Autodesk Inventor Professional

Set the current project to samples and open the Cable& Harness\Rackmount Enclosure\Rack Enclosure.iam

Lets look at a technique that is not well documented.

We have wires entering a connector that do not look

natural. We can fix that.

Set the selection filter to Part Priority and select the 10

pin Molex connector. Hold the Ctrl key and select the

Rack Harness from the browser. RMB select Isolate.

Edit the Molex connector ipt

file and select Harness Part

Features from the panel bar.

Select Connector Authoring.

7/28/2019 ED315 2 Mather

17/20

17

Functional Design Tools for Educators in Autodesk Inventor Professional

Enter the information shown and select OK, OK

and Return to the assembly.

RMB on the Rack Harness at the top level

in the browser and select Edit.

RMB on the Rack Harness at the top level

in the browser and select Harness Settings

Change to Natural Curvature. Click Ok and

Return to the assembly.

The results look much more natural.

7/28/2019 ED315 2 Mather

18/20

18

Functional Design Tools for Educators in Autodesk Inventor Professional

Dynamic Simulation

I think that this one single set of tools will revolutionize the classical engineering curriculum.

The impact will be as significant as the move from the drawing board to CAD. Currently though,

there are almost no curriculum materials devoted to the Autodesk Inventor Dynamic Simulation

tools. There is a tremendous opportunity for enterprising individuals in this area.

Before we dive into Dynamic Simulation lets test out the kinematics of the assembly. Add a

Transitional constraint between the Cam and the Valve with the spherical end of the valve

stem as our moving face (blue selection) and the Cam face as the Transitional face (green

selection). If you cant remember which should be the moving and which should be the

transitional face, simply try it both ways.

Be sure to suppress or delete the Transitional constraint before you move on as it will interfere

with automatic joint creation in Dynamic Simulation.

7/28/2019 ED315 2 Mather

19/20

19

Functional Design Tools for Educators in Autodesk Inventor Professional

Next we run the simulation with our DAcc created cam.

Import the Original Cam acceleration curve and run the simulation for the DAcc Cam

displaying the acceleration curve for the valve.

7/28/2019 ED315 2 Mather

20/20