Structural Modeling and Optimization of Starter Front Bracket

In the last decade the use of commercial structural optimization software have increased rapidly. It has been found that there are essentially two stages of the design process that structural optimization can be applied to. In the early stage of concept generation, topology optimization should be used to develop an efficient structure from the beginning. At this level an atomized variation of optimization parameters was proven useful to find the best feasible design possible. In the later stage, shape and size optimization should be used to �ne-tune the structure realized from the topology optimization. Using optimization in this manner gives great possibilities to save time and mass as well as it may produce innovative designs no one would ever think about. Altogether, this makes structural optimization an outstanding tool in the design process. Applying topology optimization in the concept stage requires a close cooperation between the designer and the analysis engineer to create the design domain. Further, a proper formulation of loads and boundary conditions is crucial for a usable solution. Interpreting the results from the topology optimization is a difficult task and requires experience and knowledge of other aspects such as manufacturability. Topology optimization can be applied to existing starter front bracket to ensure that material is distributed throughout the structure in an efficient manner to maximize stiffness, dynamic stability and minimize mass. Maximizing stiffness will result in robust structure which is more stable. Increasing competition by automobile component industry has forced automotive manufacturers towards the development of new products to focus upon more efficient design. Starter manufacturing is a very low margin industry. Even small reductions in mass say 15-20 grams of component can add 2% margin in profit. Suppose a starter is made in mass production say 1 lakh/year and 2% margin added can be huge cost saving. Additionally, Topology optimization can be applied at initial stage for development of starter front bracket for new engine fulfilling all starter static and dynamic requirements. The paper summarized an existing model of starter front bracket is modelled and static analysis is performed to give the boundary conditions for the topology optimization. A simple type dump model of starter front bracket is modelled in CATIA with maximum material condition to perform topology optimization using Altair Optistruct. Considering the boundary conditions from the real model and simplifying the model by giving ideal boundary conditions. The optimized results are validated by building a mathematical model to minimize the compliance of the model and the results are compared. The optimization algorithm used here is simple isotropic material with penalization (SIMP).The Starter front bracket is modelled in CATIA by extracting the Iso-surfaces from the topology optimization results in Altair Optistruct. The comparison for the new model is done by re-running the Static analysis in ANSYS workbench and dynamic analysis in ANSYS APDL and the results are presented. Each of the vehicle’s systems contributes to its overall efficiency.