Finn Witt of Washington University in St. Louis went for a practical design solution. He took a tool, we are all familiar with, an Open-End Wrench. We have all used them and they can get a bit weighty, especially if they are used all day long, day in and day out. Finn went through several iterations, eliminating non-practical designs, and took advantage of strategic Non-Design Space placement to settle on a great design that was 63% lighter but still had an amazing 5.2x safety factor. Way to go Finn, better get Craftsmen on your speed dial!

Shruti Patil, Viraj Patil, Abhinav Wani, and Shreya Mali from Team Ayodhya of Rajarambapu Institute of Technology in India decided to go with a Rocker Arm for their optimization. The team modeled up the rocker arm as well as important parts of the frame in Altair Inspire and set about to see if they could improve it. After finding the current design had a factor of safety well beyond what was needed, they put Inspire to work. Following a creative setup and a quick analysis, they had their new design which came in at an astounding 84% reduction in mass. That’s not a typo, under their guidance, Inspire reduced the material usage by 84% and still maintained a respectable 1.7x factor of safety. Team Ayodhya you might just have a record there. Way to go and congratulations!

Madu Chukwuemeka of the University of Benin in Nigeria realized that just about everywhere you look, there is potential for weight savings. Madu picked a Hydraulic Jack as his target for optimization. Anyone who has ever changed a tire knows those jacks can weigh A LOT, but safety is critical as a failure could mean damage to the vehicle or worse, the person working on the vehicle. Using Altair Inspire, Madu reduced the mass of the jack by an incredible 50% while keeping a safety factor that guarantees it will not fail. Madu, great work, your success is really “uplifting”!