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Caterpillar Deploys Software from Advanced Visual Systems for Predictive Casting Simulator
Advanced Visual Systems, Inc. has just completed a joint project with
Caterpillar Inc., the world's leading manufacturer of construction
and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines and industrial
gas turbines, to create an interactive, visual user interface
to Caterpillar's state-of-the-art casting simulation software.
Caterpillar's Casting Process Simulator (CaPS) software helps
engineers predict the filling and solidification of metal
castings for Caterpillar engines and components, and AVS/Express
brings these simulations to life for Caterpillar's engineers.
CaPS was developed in the early 1990s through collaboration with Argonne
National Laboratory (ANL) and the Department of Energy, based
on ANL software used to analyze heat transfer and fluid flow
in a nuclear reactor. Through enhancements by ANL, Caterpillar's
Technical Center and various universities, CaPS now provides
a virtual casting environment that lets engineers accurately
predict mold-filling patterns, shrinkage defects, and mechanical
properties of the final casting while avoiding costly shop
floor iterations.
AVS/Express, a comprehensive software development platform, provides the
visual user interface to control the CaPS simulations as well
as to visualize the results. Using AVS/Express's rapid application
development tools, Caterpillar developers have been able to
create a suite of applications for this task. AVS/Express
enjoys a wide user base among both technical and business
users who need to better understand complex data, such as
that associated with manufacturing processes.
CaPS allows Cat engineers to evaluate various gating and riser designs
and adjust casting parameters such as iron composition, pouring
temperature, and more. CaPS not only provides a rich, interactive
visual representation of the casting simulation, but also
can output standard MPEG movies of a simulation for presentation
to engineering teams and suppliers.
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