Case Study: Cobra Aero cuts air-cooled cylinder weight by 50% with nTopology

Cobra Aero reduces air-cooled cylinder weight by 50% with nTopology

Cobra Aero, an aerospace manufacturer of UAV drone engines, faced the challenge of reducing material waste and cost in the production of an air-cooled cylinder. Their existing design for additive manufacturing required extensive manual post-processing and consumed as much material in supports as the final part itself. To address this, they turned to nTopology's engineering design software.

Using nTopology, Cobra Aero replaced traditional cooling fins with a field-driven conformal lattice structure, which was optimized for heat transfer and required no support structures. This solution resulted in a 50% reduction in wasted material and consolidated the assembly from six parts into a single, lighter component. The success with nTopology enabled Cobra Aero to put the improved cylinder into commercial production and redesign other engine components.

Cobra Aero