Characterization of design of a product for additive manufacturing

The purpose of conducting this thesis is to gather around information about additive manufacturing and to design a product to be additively manufactured. The specific manufacturing method dealt with in this thesis, is powder bed fusion of metals. Therefore when mentioning additive manufacturing in this thesis, it is referred to powder bed fusion of metals. The literature review focuses on the principle of powder bed fusion, the general process chain in additive manufacturing, design rules for additive manufacturing. Examples of success stories in additive manufacturing and reasons for selecting parts to be manufactured with additive manufacturing are also explained in literature review. This knowledge is demanded to understand the experimental part of the thesis. The experimental part of the thesis is divided into two parts. Part A concentrates on finding proper geometry for building self-supporting pipes and proper parameters for support structures of them. Part B of the experimental part concentrates on a case study of designing a product for additive manufacturing. As a result of experimental part A, the design process of self-supporting pipes, results of visual analysis and results of 3D scanning are presented. As a result of experimental part B the design process of the product is presented and compared to the original model.

Energy and raw material consumption analysis of powder bed fusion: case study: CNC machining and laser additive manufacturing

Laser additive manufacturing (LAM), known also as 3D printing, is a powder bed fusion (PBF) type of additive manufacturing (AM) technology used to manufacture metal parts layer by layer by assist of laser beam. The development of the technology from building just prototype parts to functional parts is due to design flexibility. And also possibility to manufacture tailored and optimised components in terms of performance and strength to weight ratio of final parts. The study of energy and raw material consumption in LAM is essential as it might facilitate the adoption and usage of the technique in manufacturing industries. The objective this thesis was find the impact of LAM on environmental and economic aspects and to conduct life cycle inventory of CNC machining and LAM in terms of energy and raw material consumption at production phases. Literature overview in this thesis include sustainability issues in manufacturing industries with focus on environmental and economic aspects. Also life cycle assessment and its applicability in manufacturing industry were studied. UPLCI-CO2PE! Initiative was identified as mostly applied exiting methodology to conduct LCI analysis in discrete manufacturing process like LAM. Many of the reviewed literature had focused to PBF of polymeric material and only few had considered metallic materials. The studies that had included metallic materials had only measured input and output energy or materials of the process and compared to different AM systems without comparing to any competitive process. Neither did any include effect of process variation when building metallic parts with LAM. Experimental testing were carried out to make dissimilar samples with CNC machining and LAM in this thesis. Test samples were designed to include part complexity and weight reductions. PUMA 2500Y lathe machine was used in the CNC machining whereas a modified research machine representing EOSINT M-series was used for the LAM. The raw material used for making the test pieces were stainless steel 316L bar (CNC machined parts) and stainless steel 316L powder (LAM built parts). An analysis of power, time, and the energy consumed in each of the manufacturing processes on production phase showed that LAM utilises more energy than CNC machining. The high energy consumption was as result of duration of production. Energy consumption profiles in CNC machining showed fluctuations with high and low power ranges. LAM energy usage within specific mode (standby, heating, process, sawing) remained relatively constant through the production. CNC machining was limited in terms of manufacturing freedom as it was not possible to manufacture all the designed sample by machining. And the one which was possible was aided with large amount of material removed as waste. Planning phase in LAM was shorter than in CNC machining as the latter required many preparation steps. Specific energy consumption (SEC) were estimated in LAM based on the practical results and assumed platform utilisation. The estimated platform utilisation showed SEC could reduce when more parts were placed in one build than it was in with the empirical results in this thesis (six parts).

Characterization Of Process Efficiency Improvement In Laser Additive Manufacturing

Laser additive manufacturing (LAM), known also as 3D printing, has gained a lot of interest in past recent years within various industries, such as medical and aerospace industries. LAM enables fabrication of complex 3D geometries by melting metal powder layer by layer with laser beam. Research in laser additive manufacturing has been focused in development of new materials and new applications in past 10 years. Since this technology is on cutting edge, efficiency of manufacturing process is in center role of research of this industry. Aim of this thesis is to characterize methods for process efficiency improvements in laser additive manufacturing. The aim is also to clarify the effect of process parameters to the stability of the process and in microstructure of manufactured pieces. Experimental tests of this thesis were made with various process parameters and their effect on build pieces has been studied, when additive manufacturing was performed with a modified research machine representing EOSINT M-series and with EOS EOSINT M280. Material used was stainless steel 17-4 PH. Also, some of the methods for process efficiency improvements were tested. Literature review of this thesis presents basics of laser additive manufacturing, methods for improve the process efficiency and laser beam – material- interaction. It was observed that there are only few public studies about process efficiency of laser additive manufacturing of stainless steel. According to literature, it is possible to improve process efficiency with higher power lasers and thicker layer thicknesses. The process efficiency improvement is possible if the effect of process parameter changes in manufactured pieces is known. According to experiments carried out in this thesis, it was concluded that process parameters have major role in single track formation in laser additive manufacturing. Rough estimation equations were created to describe the effect of input parameters to output parameters. The experimental results showed that the WDA (width-depth-area of cross-sections of single track) is correlating exponentially with energy density input. The energy density input is combination of the input parameters of laser power, laser beam spot diameter and scan speed. The use of skin-core technique enables improvement of process efficiency as the core of the part is manufactured with higher laser power and thicker layer thickness and the skin with lower laser power and thinner layer thickness in order to maintain high resolution. In this technique the interface between skin and core must have overlapping in order to achieve full dense parts. It was also noticed in this thesis that keyhole can be formed in LAM process. It was noticed that the threshold intensity value of 106 W/cm2 was exceeded during the tests. This means that in these tests the keyhole formation was possible.

Metal additive manufacturing of internal flow channels with powder bed fusion processes

This thesis studies the advantages, disadvantages and possibilities of additive manufacturing in making components with internal flow channels. These include hydraulic components, components with cooling channels and heat exchangers. Processes studied in this work are selective laser sintering and selective laser melting of metallic materials. The basic principles of processes and parameters involved in the process are presented and different possibilities of internal channel manufacturing and flow improvement are introduced

Monitoring Directed Energy Deposition Processes in Additive Manufacturing

The purpose of this study is to find out how laser based Directed Energy Deposition processes can benefit from different types of monitoring. DED is a type of additive manufacturing process, where parts are manufactured in layers by using metallic powder or metallic wire. DED processes can be used to manufacture parts that are not possible to manufacture with conventional manufacturing processes, when adding new geometries to existing parts or when wanting to minimize the scrap material that would result from machining the part. The aim of this study is to find out why laser based DED-processes are monitored, how they are monitored and what devices are used for monitoring. This study has been done in the form of a literature review. During the manufacturing process, the DED-process is highly sensitive to different disturbances such as fluctuations in laser absorption, powder feed rate, temperature, humidity or the reflectivity of the melt pool. These fluctuations can cause fluctuations in the size of the melt pool or its temperature. The variations in the size of the melt pool have an effect on the thickness of individual layers, which have a direct impact on the final surface quality and dimensional accuracy of the parts. By collecting data from these fluctuations and adjusting the laser power in real-time, the size of the melt pool and its temperature can be kept within a specified range that leads to significant improvements in the manufacturing quality. The main areas of monitoring can be divided into the monitoring of the powder feed rate, the temperature of the melt pool, the height of the melt pool and the geometry of the melt pool. Monitoring the powder feed rate is important when depositing different material compositions. Monitoring the temperature of the melt pool can give information about the microstructure and mechanical properties of the part. Monitoring the height and the geometry of the melt pool is an important factor in achieving the desired dimensional accuracy of the part. By combining multiple different monitoring devices, the amount of fluctuations that can be controlled will be increased. In addition, by combining additive manufacturing with machining, the benefits of both processes could be utilized.

Näkökulmia 3D-tulostuksen opetukseen ja koulutukseen

Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, is globally one of most interesting area in developing of manufacturing technologies. This technology is suitable for fabrication off industrial products and it interests actors in fields of computer sciences, economics, medical sciences and design&arts. Additive manufacturing is often referred as third industrial revolution: first revolution was invention of steam engines in 18th century and second was industrial revolution started by Henry Ford in 1920s. Companies should be able to test suitability of their products for additive manufacturing and 3D printing but also how much better products could be when products are totally re-designed so that all potential of this new technology can be utilized. This is where education has its importance; new generations who enter working life should be educated to know of additive manufacturing and 3D printing, its advantages but also of it limits. There has to be also possibility to educate industry and people already working there, so that industrial implementation could be done successfully. This is especially very valid for Finland. Education is strongly needed so that Finnish industry can maintain its competence in global markets. Role of education is extremely important when a new technology is industrially implemented. Additive manufacturing and 3D printing offers freedom to design new products, production and generally ways of doing things. Development, planning and execution of education for additive manufacturing and 3D printing is challenging as this area develops very fast. New innovations are coming almost every month. Planning of education for additive manufacturing and 3D printing requires collection pieces of data from various of sources. Additive manufacturing and 3D printing industry and its development has to be followed frequently, and material for additive manufacturing and 3D printing has to be renewed frequently.

Mixing performance evaluation of additive manufactured milli-scale reactors

The mixing performance of three passive milli-scale reactors with different geometries was investigated at different Reynolds numbers. The effects of design and operating characteristics such as mixing channel shape and volume flow rate were investigated. The main objective of this work was to demonstrate a process design method that uses on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for modeling and Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology for manufacture. The reactors were designed and simulated using SolidWorks and Fluent 15.0 software, respectively. Manufacturing of the devices was performed with an EOS M-series AM system. Step response experiments with distilled Millipore water and sodium hydroxide solution provided time-dependent concentration profiles. Villermaux-Dushman reaction experiments were also conducted for additional verification of CFD results and for mixing efficiency evaluation of the different geometries. Time-dependent concentration data and reaction evaluation showed that the performance of the AM-manufactured reactors matched the CFD results reasonably well. The proposed design method allows the implementation of new and innovative solutions, especially in the process design phase, for industrial scale reactor technologies. In addition, rapid implementation is another advantage due to the virtual flow design and due to the fast manufacturing which uses the same geometric file formats.

Cost information in engineering design -Potentials and limitations of activity-based costing

The purpose of this thesis is to analyse activity-based costing (ABC) and possible modified versions ofit in engineering design context. The design engineers need cost information attheir decision-making level and the cost information should also have a strong future orientation. These demands are high because traditional management accounting has concentrated on the direct actual costs of the products. However, cost accounting has progressed as ABC was introduced late 1980s and adopted widely bycompanies in the 1990s. The ABC has been a success, but it has gained also criticism. In some cases the ambitious ABC systems have become too complex to build,use and update. This study can be called an action-oriented case study with some normative features. In this thesis theoretical concepts are assessed and allowed to unfold gradually through interaction with data from three cases. The theoretical starting points are ABC and theory of engineering design process (chapter2). Concepts and research results from these theoretical approaches are summarized in two hypotheses (chapter 2.3). The hypotheses are analysed with two cases (chapter 3). After the two case analyses, the ABC part is extended to cover alsoother modern cost accounting methods, e.g. process costing and feature costing (chapter 4.1). The ideas from this second theoretical part are operationalized with the third case (chapter 4.2). The knowledge from the theory and three cases is summarized in the created framework (chapter 4.3). With the created frameworkit is possible to analyse ABC and its modifications in the engineering design context. The framework collects the factors that guide the choice of the costing method to be used in engineering design. It also illuminates the contents of various ABC-related costing methods. However, the framework needs to be further tested. On the basis of the three cases it can be said that ABC should be used cautiously when formulating cost information for engineering design. It is suitable when the manufacturing can be considered simple, or when the design engineers are not cost conscious, and in the beginning of the design process when doing adaptive or variant design. If the design engineers need cost information for the embodiment or detailed design, or if manufacturing can be considered complex, or when design engineers are cost conscious, the ABC has to be always evaluated critically.

Tuning the design procedures for laser processed microwave mechanics

This research has been focused at the development of a tuned systematic design methodology, which gives the best performance in a computer aided environment and utilises a cross-technological approach, specially tested with and for laser processed microwave mechanics. A tuned design process scheme is also presented. Because of the currently large production volumes of microwave and radio frequency mechanics even slight improvements of design methodologies or manufacturing technologies would give reasonable possibilities for cost reduction. The typical number of required iteration cycles could be reduced to one fifth of normal. The research area dealing with the methodologies is divided firstly into a function-oriented, a performance-oriented or a manufacturability-oriented product design. Alternatively various approaches can be developed for a customer-oriented, a quality-oriented, a cost-oriented or an organisation-oriented design. However, the real need for improvements is between these two extremes. This means that the effective methodology for the designers should not be too limited (like in the performance-oriented design) or too general (like in the organisation-oriented design), but it should, include the context of the design environment. This is the area where the current research is focused. To test the developed tuned design methodology for laser processing (TDMLP) and the tuned optimising algorithm for laser processing (TOLP), seven different industrial product applications for microwave mechanics have been designed, CAD-modelled and manufactured by using laser in small production series. To verify that the performance of these products meets the required level and to ensure the objectiveness ofthe results extensive laboratory tests were used for all designed prototypes. As an example a Ku-band horn antenna can be laser processed from steel in 2 minutes at the same time obtaining a comparable electrical performance of classical aluminium units or the residual resistance of a laser joint in steel could be limited to 72 milliohmia.

Näin opetan lisäävää valmistusta ja 3D-tulostusta: Pohdintoja uuden teknologian opetuksesta ja koulutuksesta

Additive manufacturing (shortened as AM), or more commonly 3D printing, consists of wide variety of different modern manufacturing technologies. AM is based on direct printing of a digital 3D model to a final product which is fabricated adding material layer by layer. This is from where term additive manufacturing has its origin. It is not only material what is added, but it is also value, properties etc. which are added. AM enables production of different and even better products compared to conventional manufacturing technologies. An estimation of potential of additive manufacturing can be gathered by considering the potential of laser cutting, which is one of the most widely used modern manufacturing technologies. This technique has been used over 40 years, and whole market around this technology is at the moment c. four billion euros and yearly growth is around 10 %. One factor affecting this success of laser cutting is that laser cutting enables radical improvements to products made of flat sheet. AM and 3D printing will do the same for three dimensional parts. Laser devices, which are at the moment used in 3D printing, are globally at the moment only around 1% of all laser devices used in any fabrication technology, so even with a cautious estimate the potential growth of at least 100 % is coming in next few years. Role of education is very important, when this kind of modern technology is industrially implemented. When both generation entering to work life and also generation who has been a while in work life understands new technology, its potential and limitations, this is the point when also product design can be rethought Potential of product design is driving force for wide use of additive manufacturing and 3D printing. Utilization of additive manufacturing and 3D printing is also opportunity for Finland and Finnish industry. This technology can save Finnish manufacturing industry. This technique has stron potential, as Finland has traditionally strong industrial know-how and good ICT knowledge.

Jätteenpolton tuhkien käsittelytekniikoiden ympäristövaikutukset

Jätteenpoltossa syntyvät tuhkat sisältävät paljon haitta-aineita, joiden vuoksi niitä ei yleensä voida suoraan sijoittaa kaatopaikoille. Käsittelyllä pyritään parantamaan tuhkien ominaisuuksia ja vähentämään haitta-aineiden liukoisuutta. Samalla kuitenkin käsittely kuluttaa raaka-aineita ja energiaa sekä aiheuttaa päästöjä. Tuhkien käsittelyn kokonaishyötyjä ja -haittoja ympäristön kannalta arvioitaessa tulisikin ottaa huomioon sekä käsiteltävän tuhkan parantuneet ominaisuudet että käsittelystä aiheutuneet ympäristökuormitukset. Tämän diplomityön tavoitteena oliselvittää jätteenpolton tuhkien käsittelystä aiheutuvia ympäristövaikutuksia tarkastelemalla esimerkinomaisesti neljää erilaista käsittelytekniikkaa (pesua, sementtikiinteytystä, Ferrox-prosessia ja vitrifiointia) sekä kahta muuta loppusijoitusvaihtoehtoa (mahdollisuutta sijoittaa tuhkat kaatopaikalle ilman käsittelyä ja kuljettamista Norjassa sijaitsevalle käsittely- ja loppusijoituslaitokselle). Tarkastelussa keskityttiin jätteenpolton ongelmallisimpiin tuhkajakeisiin, lentotuhkaan ja savukaasujen puhdistusjätteisiin eli APC-jätteisiin. Tavoitteena oli selvittää käsittelyvaihtoehdoista syntyvät ympäristökuormitukset ns. koko niiden elinkaaren ajalta, eli huomioiden käsittelyyn tarvittavien lisäaineiden valmistuksesta, itse käsittelyprosessista sekä loppusijoituksesta aiheutuvat kuormitukset. Tarkastelun perusteella eri käsittelyvaihtoehdot aiheuttavat hyvin erilaisia ja erisuuruisia ympäristökuormituksia. Lisäksi käsitellyn materiaalin ominaisuudet vaihtelevat huomattavasti käsittelytavasta riippuen. Tarkastelluista käsittelyvaihtoehdoista suurimmat ympäristökuormitukset ilmapäästöjen osalta aiheutuivat tyypillisesti joko käsittelyyn tarvittavien raaka-aineiden valmistuksesta tai itse käsittelyprosessin energiankulutuksesta. Loppusijoituksesta sen sijaan aiheutui ympäristöhaittoja kaatopaikkarakenteiden muodostamisesta sekä maaperään vapautuvista haitta-aineista, joiden määrä riippuu tuhkan käsittelyn tehokkuudesta.

Suurien tahtimoottorien tilaustoimitusprosessin kehittäminen

Työn tavoitteena on ideoida keinoja, joilla tehottomasti toimivaa tilaustoimitusprosessia voidaan kehittää. Ideoidut kehittämistoimet pohjautuvat tilaustoimitusprosessin toimivuutta selvittävään tutkimukseen ja niillä tavoitellaan kohdeyrityksessä valmistettavien suurien tahtikoneiden tilaustoimitusprosessin korkeampaa tuottavuutta ja laaduntuottokykyä, lyhyempiä läpäisyaikoja sekä pienempää keskeneräisen tuotannon määrää. Työssä keskitytään kehittämään tilaustoimitusprosessin alkupään vaiheiden eli tilauskohtaisen suunnittelun ja projektinhoidon epästandardeja toimintatapoja sekä puutteellisia työvälineitä. Työn tutkimusvaiheessa selvitetään tilaustoimitusprosessinnykytila prosessiin osallistuvia henkilöitä haastattelemalla, tutkimalla toteutuneita toimitusaika- ja nimikerakenteita sekä esiintyneitä laatupoikkeamia. Näin pyritään löytämään nykyisen toimintamallin ongelmakohdat, joihin kehittämisen painopistealue asetetaan. Tutkimusvaiheeseen kuuluu myös kirjallisuustutkimus, jossa paneudutaan tilaustoimitusprosessin toimintaan yleisellä tasolla sekä kartoitetaan niitä tekijöitä, jotka vaikuttavat tilaustoimitusprosessin tehokkuuteen. Lisäksi kirjallisuustutkimuksessa perehdytään yksittäistuotantoon liittyvään teoriaan ja erilaisiin tapoihin organisoida sen toimintaa. Tutkimusvaiheen jälkeen esitellään tutkimukseen pohjautuvat toimenpide-ehdotukset kohdeyrityksen tilaustoimitusprosessin tehokkuuden parantamiseksi.Ehdotettuja toimintaa tehostavia keinoja ovat simultaanisuunnittelu, erilaistensuunnittelun ja tuotannon yhteistyötä tukevien tietojärjestelmien rakentaminen,DFMA-analyysin käyttöönotto, tuotteiden rakenteiden tehokas modulointi sekä mallirakenne yrityksen heikoimmin vakioidulle tuotteelle. Ennen kehitystoimien aloittamista yrityksen toimistoprosessin toimivuutta ehdotetaan lisäksi tarkasteltavan työntutkimuksen keinoin.

An Assessment ofFatigue Strength of Load Carrying Welded Joints with Lack of Penetration

On yleisesti tiedossa, että väsyttävän kuormituksen alaisena olevat hitsatut rakenteet rikkoutuvat juuri hitsausliitoksista. Täyden tunkeuman hitsausliitoksia sisältävien rakenteiden asiantunteva suunnittelu janykyaikaiset valmistusmenetelmät ovat lähes eliminoineet väsymisvauriot hitsatuissa rakenteissa. Väsymislujuuden parantaminen tiukalla täyden tunkeuman vaatimuksella on kuitenkin epätaloudellinen ratkaisu. Täyden tunkeuman hitsausliitoksille asetettavien laatuvaatimuksien on määriteltävä selkeät tarkastusohjeet ja hylkäämisperusteet. Tämän diplomityön tarkoituksena oli tutkia geometristen muuttujien vaikutusta kuormaa kantavien hitsausliitosten väsymislujuuteen. Huomio kiinnitettiin pääasiassa suunnittelumuuttujiin, joilla on vaikutusta väsymisvaurioiden syntymiseen hitsauksen juuren puolella. Nykyiset määräykset ja standardit, jotka perustuvat kokeellisiin tuloksiin; antavat melko yleisiä ohjeita hitsausliitosten väsymismitoituksesta. Tämän vuoksi muodostettiin kokonaan uudet parametriset yhtälöt sallitun nimellisen jännityksen kynnysarvon vaihteluvälin, ¿¿th, laskemiseksi, jotta vältettäisiin hitsausliitosten juuren puoleiset väsymisvauriot. Lisäksi, jokaiselle liitostyypille laskettiin hitsin juuren puolen väsymisluokat (FAT), joita verrattiin olemassa olevilla mitoitusohjeilla saavutettuihin tuloksiin. Täydentäviksi referensseiksi suoritettiin useita kolmiulotteisia (3D) analyysejä. Julkaistuja kokeellisiin tuloksiin perustuvia tietoja käytettiin apuna hitsausliitosten väsymiskäyttäytymisen ymmärtämiseksi ja materiaalivakioiden määrittämiseksi. Kuormaa kantavien vajaatunkeumaisten hitsausliitosten väsymislujuus määritettiin käyttämällä elementtimenetelmää. Suurimman pääjännityksen kriteeriä hyödynnettiin murtumiskäyttäytymisen ennakoimiseksi. Valitulle hitsatulle materiaalille ja koeolosuhteille murtumiskäyttäytymistä mallinnettiin särön kasvunopeudella da/dN ja jännitysintensiteettikertoimen vaihteluvälillä, 'K. Paris:n yhtälön numeerinen integrointi suoritettiin FRANC2D/L tietokoneohjelmalla. Saatujen tulosten perusteella voidaan laskea FAT tutkittavassa tapauksessa. ¿¿th laskettiin alkusärön jännitysintensiteettikertoimen vaihteluvälin ja kynnysjännitysintensiteettikertoimen, 'Kth, perusteella. ¿Kth arvoa pienemmällä vaihteluvälillä särö ei kasva. Analyyseissäoletuksena oli hitsattu jälkikäsittelemätön liitos, jossa oli valmis alkusärö hitsin juuressa. Analyysien tulokset ovat hyödyllisiä suunnittelijoille, jotka tekevät päätöksiä koskien geometrisiä parametreja, joilla on vaikutusta hitsausliitosten väsymislujuuteen.

Modulaarinen kiinnitintekniikka alumiiniveneiden robottihitsauksessa

Tällä hetkellä hitsauksen automatisointiaste on hyvin pieni alumiinivenevalmistuksessa. Automatisointiasteen kasvattaminen on ensiarvoisen tärkeää kilpailukyvyn säilyttämiseksi, sekä edelleen nostamiseksi. Automatisointiasteen kasvattamisen esteenä ei ole teknologian puute, vaan suunnitellut tuotteet soveltuvat huonosti robotisoituun hitsaukseen. Lisäksi liitettävien osien tarkkuus on monissa tapauksissa puutteellinen, joten robottihitsaus on monessa tapauksessa mahdotonta. Robottihitsauksessa vaaditaan osien hyvää paikoittamista ja siihen tarvitaan kiinnittimiä. Kuitenkin alumiinivenevalmistuksessa valmistusmäärät ovat sen verran pieniä, että tuotekohtaisia kiinnittimiä ei kannata hankkia tai valmistaa. Siksi kiinnittimiltä vaaditaan joustavuutta ja modulaarisuutta, jotta samalla kiinnittimellä voi hitsata useita vastaavia piirteitä omaavia tuotteita. Tässä työssä tutkittiin modulaarisia kiinnittimiä, edistyneitä kiinnitinsuunnitteluprosesseja, osavalmistustarkkuuksia, tuotemoduloinnin hyödyntämistä ja alumiinin robottihitsauksen erityispiirteitä. Työssä suunniteltiin ja simuloitiin modulaarinen hitsauskiinnitin, jota käytetään tietyn alumiinivenemallin erillisenä osakokoonpanona valmistettavan jäykisterakennekonseptin hitsaamiseen. Suunnittelu ja simulointi tehtiin Delmia V5R20 -ohjelmistolla. Jäykisterakenne on modulaarinen tuoterakenne, jossa käytetään itsepaikoittavia liitoksia helpottamaan osien asettelua ja yksinkertaistamaan kiinnitintä. Kiinnitin soveltuu joustavasti erikokoisten jäykisterakenneosakokoonpanojen valmistukseen. Lisäksi suunniteltua kiinnitintä verrattiin kaupalliseen modulaariseen Demmeler -kiinnitinjärjestelmään. Jäykisterakenteen osakokoonpanon hitsaaminen robotilla lyhentää valmistusaikaa verrattuna nykytilaan, kun osat voidaan asettaa kiinnittimeen nopeasti ja luotettavasti. Samalla jäykisterakenteen tekeminen erillisenä osakokoonpanona lyhentää veneen rungon loppukokoonpanoaikaa ja mahdollistaa hitsausrobotin käytön myös veneen muiden hitsien hitsaamisessa. Modulaarisilla hitsauskiinnittimillä saavutetaan alumiiniveneiden nykyisillä valmistusmäärillä skaalaetuja, joita tuotekohtaisella kiinnittimellä ei voi saavuttaa.