Topology Optimization of Electric Train Cable Carrier

Abstract

In the area of mobility (transport), great efforts are being made to optimize means of transport. While reducing their mass the main goal is to maintain or even improve the performance of the means of transport. Additive manufacturing allows the production of very complex geometric shapes of products that cannot be made by traditional production processes; therefore it has become one of the significant tools in the design of modern vehicles or their parts. Additive manufacturing, combined with appropriate computer tools for numerical design analysis, also allows optimization of product design by topology optimization. In this paper, concept of topology optimization is applied to the roof carrier of a high voltage cable of electric train. Design optimization process was conducted based on two different optimization criteria: minimized part mass and maximized part stiffness.