in preparation for architectural certification, designPORT was asked to review resultant forces due to wind loads on an astrological dome structure. through this verification, a potential weakness in the system was identified and changes in material specifications were recommended, resulting in a more robust design capable of meeting performance requirements.

along with industrial design of a consumer-level wall-mounted electronics enclosure, designPORT was asked to verify that critical PCB components did not experience unacceptable temperature rise given worst-case environmental and duty-cycle conditions. using flow simulation computational fluid dynamic software from SolidWorks allowed us to model the airflow and natural convective cooling rates inside the housing, saving both time and cost of traditional prototyping and testing.

with tens of thousands of units needing to be delivered on a short timeline, our client realized their current 3D glasses had a design flaw causing the lenses to crack. designPORT was brought in to quickly pinpoint the source of the problem and propose a design change to remedy the issue. a series of FEA analyses allowed us to locate the geometry at fault and test a variety of potential changes before determining the best solution.

drop testing is an important, standard test procedure used to evaluate consumer products. designPORT created this custom drop tower for our client to give them the capability to perform these tests with greater precision and repeatability. instead of allowing the item to simply free fall, the product is oriented as desired on the guide, then dropped from the specified height. The guide keeps the exact orientation of the product as it falls onto the impact surface, allowing engineers to test any weak points in their design with greater accuracy and confidence.

a series of FEA analyses were employed to ensure this complex, variable pitch propeller assembly could hold up to the added torque of its new 6100 Hp engine. by breaking the system down into a series of smaller analyses, designPORT was able to improve accuracy while speeding up the process significantly. in addition to validating the design, designPORT was able to help our client beyond the scope of the original project. our analysis showed that the pre-load torque being applied to the propeller and hub bolts was causing plastic deformation in areas that matched damage being observed in the field. with further analysis, new torque specifications were developed to remedy the issue.

industry leading ray tracing software gives designPORT a powerful tool for optical design and optimization. by employing multiple configuration capabilities with sophisticated optimization algorithms, designPORT is able to generate optical systems that can be tuned to meet any list of performance criteria while reducing aberrations. once the system is optimized, designPORT can quickly search our database of over 20 major manufacturers' catalogues to select preferred materials and existing lenses to cut costs and lead times without compromising performance.