A hydraulic manifold was designed for an off-road vehicle manufacturer. The client's engineer wanted a centrally controlled hydraulic system arranged to fit into a compact area. The challenge was to design the maze of internal passages while maintaining wall thickness for machining tolerances and to withstand pressures from fluid flow.
Pro/ENGINEER® software was essential in designing this part. Advanced surfacing options were used to model the geometry of the manifold ports, cores, and passages. Once these were in place, a casting was designed using the solids module to place a "skin" over the geometry to achieve mass properties for the casting, and ultimately, the machined model. Surfaces designed in the casting stage were used to facilitate the creation of the machined model.
