Case Study: Thai Steel Cable reduces robotic arm weight and cost with Hexagon MSC Adams & MSC Nastran

MSC Software helps Thai Steel Cable apply Multibody Dynamics & Finite Element simulations to design the structure of a Robotic Arm with Polyamide

Thai Steel Cable Public Company Limited, an automobile parts manufacturer, aimed to develop a lighter, less expensive robotic arm using polyamide plastic instead of its traditional cast iron. To successfully design with this new material, the company required a simulation software solution that was user-friendly and could provide accurate results. They partnered with Hexagon, using its MSC Adams and MSC Nastran products to meet this challenge.

Hexagon's solution involved applying multibody dynamics simulations with MSC Adams to compute operational loads and finite element analysis with MSC Nastran to perform strength analysis on the new plastic design. This process confirmed the polyamide arm was safe to operate. The results were significant: Hexagon's software helped achieve a 70.1% reduction in total weight, a 54.8% reduction in average dynamic load, and a 55.5% reduction in average stress. This also led to a 15% reduction in material cost, successfully meeting all of the customer's objectives.

Thai Steel Cable Public Company