TROY, Mich.—The Xerox ColorQube™ series of high-speed multifunction printers employ a solid ink technology to reportedly lower the environmental impact and cost of color printing. The printers use cartridge-free ink sticks, which are said to generate 90 percent less waste in supplies and enable pricing plans that cut the cost of color pages by up to 62 percent, compared to traditional color lasers, without compromising print quality. Before Xerox Corporation launched the ColorQube™ 9200 Series, the high print quality of the device was proven through detailed computer simulations performed by Troy, Mich.-based Altair ProductDesign, Inc., a global product development consultancy and wholly owned subsidiary of Altair Engineering, Inc.
While the device was under development, Xerox called on Altair ProductDesign to conduct virtual simulations of the printer’s operations. The goal was to determine how the normal jostling, door-slamming, and other disturbances that office printers experience during use would affect the quality of the printing. Altair ProductDesign consultants applied computer-aided engineering (CAE) methodologies and Altair’s engineering software platform, HyperWorks, to ensure pixel-level vibration control of the ColorQube product line. The analyses were reportedly among the most complex computer simulations that Xerox has used to date in the development of its products.
“Altair helped us better understand our structural architecture,” said Xerox Senior Systems Analyst John Wright. “Inside the device, the motions of the print heads, drum, and paper transport are subject to vibrations. Altair was tasked to determine the impact of vibrations and other disturbances during the crucial process of jetting ink onto the drum.”
Xerox physically tested the printer’s individual subsystems and systems, providing Altair with the data necessary to ensure high fidelity between the analytical model and the physical prototype. This information allowed the Xerox development team to confidently use an analytical model and approach to drive the design development. Altair developed a system-level finite-element model consisting of more than 500,000 elements and performed detailed analyses on the printer’s 100-plus interconnected parts.
Altair’s simulation-driven design approach is said to have helped Xerox lower product development costs and eliminate the need for vibration control dampers—costly components that could have complicated the design’s space and structure. The analysis showed that those isolators were not needed. In addition, the simulation model allowed Xerox to assess numerous design scenarios at the same time, examining their relative impact on the system-level performance to confidently drive the design process.
“I’d rank our collaboration with Altair as one of my better experiences,” Wright said. “We laid out a roadmap at the beginning of the project, from which I could see what we needed to provide, as well as what and when to expect from Altair, which enabled us always to keep the objective in sight.”
According to Altair, simulations like those developed for Xerox can result in significant time and dollar savings for manufacturers.
“The types of CAE methods and processes that Altair incorporated into this project are capable of reducing product development time by at least 50 percent, compared to building and testing physical prototypes from scratch,” said Regu Ramoo, director of engineering for Altair ProductDesign. “Working closely with Xerox’s product and engineering experts, our simulation-driven design approach delivered meaningful and insightful design direction to help Xerox successfully meet its production schedule.”
Altair ProductDesign (www.altairproductdesign.com), a wholly owned subsidiary of Altair Engineering, Inc. (www.altair.com), is a multi-disciplinary product development consultancy that advocates a user-centered, team-based design approach. The company uses proprietary simulation and optimization technologies, it says, to “help clients bring innovative, profitable products to market faster.” Altair ProductDesign’s team includes over 500 designers, engineers, scientists, and creative thinkers.
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