Lenovo's Successful Application of HyperWorks for Efficient Product Design

• Analytics & Modeling - Digital Twin / Simulation
• Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms

• Electronics
• Packaging

• Product Research & Development
• Quality Assurance

• Time Sensitive Networking
• Visual Quality Detection

• System Integration
• Testing & Certification

Lenovo, a leading multinational technology company, was facing intense competition in the computer industry, which necessitated continuous cost reduction, improved product quality and reliability, and shortened product development cycles. The traditional product development methodology was no longer efficient for rapid time to market. Lenovo sought to use computer-aided engineering (CAE) tools for optimizing performance in the initial product design phase to simulate and evaluate its products’ mechanical behavior under loads like impact and vibration. However, engineers were spending 80 percent of their time on pre-processing tasks in the simulation process. The pre-processing tools provided by some CAE software offerings were not strong enough to meet the manufacturer’s requirements, and the quality of the pre-processing mesh was not dependable. Lenovo needed a powerful pre-processing tool that would meet the demands of scientific research and engineering innovation.

Lenovo is a Chinese multinational technology company with headquarters in Beijing, China and North Carolina, USA. Founded in 1984, Lenovo has a 30-year history and in 2013, it became the world's number one personal computer manufacturer. Lenovo manufactures a wide range of products including personal computers, tablet computers, smartphones, workstations, servers, electronic storage devices, and smart televisions. The company operates in more than 60 countries and sells its products in over 160 countries. Lenovo has a dedicated CAE technology platform in its Beijing Innovation Design Center, which supports the development of all its product series.

Lenovo chose HyperMesh, an important component of the Altair HyperWorks suite, to increase efficiency, improve the quality of meshing, and shorten CAE simulation time. HyperMesh is a high-performance finite element pre-processor that provides a highly interactive and visual environment to analyze product design performance. It delivered the speed-to-quality results that Lenovo was seeking, yielding results that enabled a very fast development cycle. Lenovo also expanded their use of the HyperWorks suite to apply OptiStruct to the design of hard-disk drives. OptiStruct was used to optimize the system, overcoming many of the frustrations inherent in the trial and error method. Lenovo’s engineers conducted modal analysis with OptiStruct to optimize the fixed side of the computer system, averting resonance with the 120 Hz natural frequency of the spinning hard-disk. Lenovo also capitalized on the user-friendly HyperMesh interface with CFD software and powerful geometric processing to quickly generate high-quality CFD elements.

• The application of HyperMesh and OptiStruct from the Altair HyperWorks suite has revolutionized Lenovo's product design process. The high-performance finite element pre-processor, HyperMesh, has provided a highly interactive and visual environment to analyze product design performance, enabling a very fast development cycle. The use of OptiStruct in the initial design period has helped Lenovo to effectively avoid constant experimenting, avert the occurrence of resonance, and improve product quality. The HyperWorks-powered CAE platform has become a very important technology platform for Lenovo, furnishing extraordinary improvements in pre- and post-processing capabilities, as well as design process and results optimization. This has addressed a growing demand for faster time to market while improving product quality.

• Reduced pre-processing time in the simulation process
• Shortened product development cycle
• Improved product quality