Towards electric engine solutions using 3D scanning
Sustainable & bespoke vehicle solutions
Hibra Design is an automotive engineering development company based in Cork, Ireland. It develops sustainable and bespoke vehicle solutions.It offers full vehicle development capability with a focus on clean technology powertrain systems, particularly for industrial and commercial vehicles. The operators of these types of vehicle have the challenge of rising operational costs and demanding environmental legislation. However, no off-the-shelf battery-electric solution exists in the market.
A core part of Hibra Design’s offering is working with operators of off-highway fleet speciality vehicles to re-engineer these vehicles by replacing the diesel powertrain with clean, battery-electric powertrain systems.The companies can reduce operational costs, produce healthier working environments and increase production efficiency.
The company approached the Nimbus Gateway to access their 3D scanning and editing expertise for a pilot exercise involving a tractor engine cavity supplied to them by Bord na Móna. The exercise was hosted by the Munster Technological University.
3D model of the tractor chassis
The Nimbus User Experience Design Research Team used their extended reality expertise to deliver this project. The team used their Enterprise Ireland Capital Programme 2019 funded Artec 3D scanner to conduct multiple artifact scans from various angles to cover all visible surfaces. Additional scans focused on mounting hole locations to capture higher level detail. A full scan of the tractor was also captured.
All captured data was merged and aligned to create a complete 3D model of the tractor chassis. Unwanted noise and artifacts were removed from the scanned data. Enhanced detail around mounting hole locations was captured to ensure precision. Gaps and holes were filled to ensure a continuous surface representation. 3D scans were edited and processed and unified 3D Models were created.
The accuracy of the 3D model was verified against the original chassis measurements.
A visual inspection was performed to ensure the model aligned with the required detail level, particularly at mounting holes. The final 3D model was supplied to Hibra Design supporting various file formats (e.g., STL, OBJ, STEP).
1
Irish Company
1
Innovation Voucher
1
3D Model
“This project was such a success in so many ways. We got serious exposure from it underpinned by a quality job delivered by the excellent Nimbus Gateway. We will be back..”
Mike Keane, CEO, Hibra Design
Hibra Design & Nimbus Technology Gateway partnership
This was an excellent project that supported a tractor engine cavity capture use case. Hibra Design now support an animation of this project’s output on their website. In addition, the project coincided with Hibra Design featuring on the RTE science programme “Heated” – “This edition explores how design engineering company Hibra is re-engineering big industrial machines, such as tractors, diggers and cranes, to run on electricity”. This gave Hibra Design great exposure and recognition while also showcasing the expertise of the Nimbus Gateway and the capabilities of the Enterprise Ireland Technology Gateway Programme.