Auto­mo­tive

How can you master the turning point in the automotive sector?
With us, quite easily.

The auto­mo­tive industry is in a state of upheaval. The resulting chal­lenges are numerous. One answer is light­weight design, since making weight savings has a major impact on fuel consump­tion. This reduces fleet consump­tion and increases compet­i­tive­ness. More­over, this saving of resources also reduces the CO2 foot­print of each vehicle. This will make your target market happy. With us, you’ll realise light­weight design in the best possible way, because we have devel­oped inno­v­a­tive solu­tions for your chal­lenges.

  1. use of light­weight design under the most intense cost pres­sures
  2. strict weight require­ments to realise resource savings
  3. short devel­op­ment cycles in compli­ance with quality require­ments and safety stan­dards

Our solu­tion compe­ten­cies

Our formula for success in inspiring solu­tions is an expe­ri­enced team that develops and opti­mises compo­nents with passion and curiosity, using the latest design and simu­la­tion tools and methods.

Solu­tion 1:
We do light­weight design under cost pres­sure.

Thanks to our many years of exper­tise in light­weight design, we have a very high level of under­standing of how compo­nents or even entire systems can be made lighter with the help of compos­ites. Thanks to our expe­ri­ence from other indus­tries such as ship­building, wind energy and aero­space engi­neering, we can offer you solu­tions for a wide range of chal­lenges.

We support you throughout the entire real­i­sa­tion process – from concep­tual design, to simu­la­tion and opti­mi­sa­tion, to produc­tion plan­ning, while main­taining quality stan­dards.

This approach not only reduces your mate­rial and process costs, it also ensures the successful produc­tion of your light­weight compo­nents - in accor­dance with the quality require­ments.

Solu­tion 2:
We’ll find the last gram.

Thanks to our expe­ri­ence gained from over 150 light­weight design projects, we know how to find and exploit poten­tial for weight savings. For compo­nent opti­mi­sa­tion along the entire value chain, we use in-house, high-end simu­la­tion tools such as Ansys Mechan­ical & LS-DYNA or Altair Hyper­Mesh & OptiStruct. To achieve the best possible results, we not only apply our simu­la­tion exper­tise and leverage analysis automa­tion, we also develop our own calcu­la­tion tools to find the best solu­tion for you.

This is how we opti­mise your compo­nent in terms of weight, stiff­ness or strength, thereby making the desired resource savings possible while main­taining quality and reducing testing and produc­tion costs.

Solu­tion 3:
With us, it is really fast and safe.

In addi­tion to our many years of exper­tise in light­weight design and inno­v­a­tive compo­nent opti­mi­sa­tion, our profes­sional handling of your project makes an impor­tant contri­bu­tion to its quick and successful fulfill­ment. We achieve this by main­taining close and regular commu­ni­ca­tion with you in order to react quickly and flex­ibly to your wishes and offer solu­tions.

Speed and quality are also made possible by our 10-strong team, which is equipped with all the neces­sary in-house resources. We are constantly devel­oping – we do not just apply or imple­ment state-of-the-art digital engi­neering, we also further develop it, meaning that unique simulation/​calculation tools are avail­able. All of this leads to short devel­op­ment cycles and maximum compo­nent safety for you, while adhering to the budget frame­work defined by you.

  • Light­weight engi­neering in the auto­mo­tive sector

    Devel­op­ment of struc­tural assem­blies in premium off-road vehi­cles

    A German auto­mo­tive supplier for carbon compo­nents in the premium sector asked us to support them in the devel­op­ment of load-bearing fibre composite compo­nents in several areas of the vehicle. The goals were, among others, the mate­rial substi­tu­tion of previous compo­nent vari­ants made of aluminium, the suit­ability for large-scale produc­tion as well as to meet the highest demands in light­weight design. There were chal­lenging spec­i­fi­ca­tions with regard to weight, rigidity and safety against breakage, and the new solu­tion also had to be econom­ical.

    The following compe­tences at ar engi­neers led to success in this project:

    • Exten­sive explicit numer­ical simu­la­tions (crash and impact analysis/​HIC analysis).
    • Strength and stiff­ness analysis via static FEM calcu­la­tions
    • Para­metric lami­nate opti­mi­sa­tion for targeted mate­rial use
    • Accu­rate and high-quality docu­men­ta­tion stan­dard for submis­sion and presen­ta­tion to the client
    • Agile and high-frequency commu­ni­ca­tion with the customer to respond quickly to design and and require­ment updates as quickly as possible.

    We, at ar engi­neers, were able to achieve the successful mate­rial substi­tu­tion of several compo­nents by using the most modern design and calcu­la­tion tools and methods - while main­taining the required prop­er­ties and reducing the weight.

    Read more

  • Light­weight engi­neering in the auto­mo­tive sector

    Opti­mi­sa­tion of a CFRP rear wing for British sports car

    A premium carbon compo­nent manu­fac­turing and devel­op­ment company asked us to support them in the devel­op­ment of a light­weight rear wing for a British premium road vehicle. The aim was not only to ensure the exact dimen­sional accu­racy of the aero­dy­namic compo­nents so that a rele­vant contri­bu­tion to the overall perfor­mance could be achieved. Also, the weight require­ments were very high, so that extreme light­weight design with high corre­sponding stiff­ness and strength was neces­sary.

    The following compe­tences at ar engi­neers led to success in this project:

    • Very good under­standing of ultra-light­weight design with CFRP /​carbon compos­ites.
    • Eye on high stiff­ness require­ments for aero­dy­namic compo­nents.
    • Exper­tise in auto­mated numer­ical opti­mi­sa­tion with Ansys.
    • Auto­mated result eval­u­a­tion, in order to be able to respond quickly to changing require­ments from the customer.

    We at ar engi­neers were able to develop a CFRP rear wing that met the high require­ments thanks to our under­standing of ultra-light­weight design in combi­na­tion with the use of state-of-the-art tools and our flex­ible reac­tion to changing customer para­me­ters.

    Read more

  • Light­weight engi­neering in the auto­mo­tive sector

    Devel­op­ment and opti­mi­sa­tion of overall struc­ture for premium motor­bike

    A German motor­cycle manu­fac­turer contracted us to opti­mise struc­tural compo­nents for a road­ster bike. The aim was to achieve a weight saving of up to 40% without giving away more than 10% of stiff­ness compared to the welded steel struc­ture of the preceding design - without changing the manu­fac­turing process. In addi­tion, it was neces­sary to ensure economic serial produc­tion of these compo­nents

    The following compe­tences at ar engi­neers led to success in this project:

    • Topology opti­mi­sa­tion using advanced algo­rithms
    • Vali­da­tion of the opti­mised topology by means of FEM
    • Transfer of the results into econom­i­cally manu­fac­turable compo­nents

    Thanks to our exper­tise in topology opti­mi­sa­tion, the subse­quent vali­da­tion of the results and our expe­ri­ence in produc­tion plan­ning, we at ar engi­neers were able to develop a compo­nent that not only met all the para­me­ters, but could also be produced econom­i­cally.

    Read more

→ Philip’s favourite project

  • Philip Lohde

    Devel­op­ment & Calcu­la­tion Engi­neer

    Cool that my compo­nent improves the driving plea­sure of a super sports car.

    Devel­oping the rear wing of a supercar was an exciting and chal­lenging task for me as I had lots of freedom to set up the complex devel­op­ment process: In the course of the project, I deter­mined the optimal layup of the fibre composite struc­ture in more than ten iter­a­tions.

    Read more

Further industry focus

New Mobility

Wind energy

Maritime

Light­weight engi­neering

Would you like to achieve your goals more easily with us?

You are welcome to discuss your challenges in lightweight design with us without obligation. Make an appointment today. We look forward to talking with you.

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