Frustum Inc. Partners with Siemens to Increase Design Innovation for Additive Manufacturing

Frustum is providing its topology optimization and next generation freeform geometry generator as an integrated module in Siemens NX software. Engineers and designers using NX with Convergent Modeling technology in combination with the newly integrated capabilities from Frustum can blend topology optimization with traditional CAD data, overcoming a traditional hurdle in such workflows. Frustum is part of the Siemens next47 partner program, created to help support start-up companies with innovative, disruptive technology solutions.

“Siemens is excited to offer our NX customers this truly innovative topology optimization solution from our partner Frustum,” says Bob Haubrock, senior vice president of Product Engineering Software for Siemens PLM Software. “Frustum’s unique technology, now fully integrated with NX and its exclusive Convergent Modeling, fits with Siemens’ approach and vision to free industrial designers and engineers to create the next generation of parts and products that closely match customer needs, reduce energy consumption, and drastically reduce the cost and time to market for these innovations.”

Frustum’s topology optimization software is a generative design technology intended to streamline a product’s shape by automating weight and material reduction while still retaining structural integrity. Convergent modeling is a new design paradigm—available in the latest release of Siemens’ NX computer-aided design (CAD) software—designed to simplify the ability to work with geometry consisting of a combination of facets, surfaces and solids, such as those created through topology optimization. The integration of Frustum’s technology with NX, enables the creation of an optimized design that can then be quickly refined and made ready for additive manufacturing, using Convergent Modeling, according to the company.

Frustum’s integrated technology helps industrial designers and engineers using Siemens NX to discover and deliver novel, manufacture-ready parts and products with optimally balanced performance, structural strength and weight in a fraction of the time it would traditionally take. Designers can calculate, optimize, adapt and validate design options in parallel by running multiple scenarios, seamlessly adding force application points and load cases. Users can leverage Convergent Modeling to further edit or refine the results of a topology optimization study.

With Frustum, Siemens’ NX users get topology optimization for additive manufacturing that generates fully optimized, printable designs, reducing the costs associated with part redesign, supports and post-processing.

For more information, visit Frustum and Siemens PLM Software.

Sources: Press materials received from the company.