One of the best stories at K 2007 is the effort under way at SABIC Innovative Plastics to develop new technologies that reduce use of oil and natural gas. Yes, that’s the Saudi Arabian Basic Industries Corp., partly owned by the Saudi Arabian government. SABIC Innovative Polymers is the former GE Plastics, and just became part of SABIC earlier this fall. The company is known for its application development work, and its newest development center is aimed at new ideas in energy. One of the three big projects under way is a new concept in photovoltaic cells. The SABIC unit is developing new polycarbonate chemistries that could amplify the energy-producing power of silicon used at the heart of solar cells. In interviews with Design News this morning, three SABIC executives described the effect as a “kind of light pipe”. Polycarbonate in existing solar cells simply protects the silicon with a transparent shield. The new polycarbonate would also boost the efficiency of the cell. No data on efficiency levels are available now. Rick Pontillo, general manager of global application technology, told Design News the concept could go commercial in two years if it proves out. Work began two years ago on the project, and SABIC officials are said to solidly support it.
A new process for laser-welding large-scale, steel-aluminum foam sandwich structures for lightweighting ships, which eliminates intermetallic phase, has been demonstrated.
A major advance in repairing composite structures combining robots and lasers bodes well for commercial aircraft such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A350XWB, which contain composites in large proportions of their structures.
Against a backdrop of mounting product complexity and a need to keep a lid on development costs, companies are recognizing a need to make simulation a more integral part of the design process. In response, vendors in the CAD world are building out CAE functionality as part of their CAD suites while simulation vendors are building tighter integrations to leading CAD tools. Keith Meintjes, Ph.D., Practice Manager, Simulation and Analysis at CIMdata, Inc., joins Design News CAD Editor Beth Stackpole in this radio program to explore the new face of integrated CAD and CAE, how companies are benefitting from this tighter partnership between platforms, and how integrating CAE earlier in the development cycle pays off in optimized product designs.
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