ANSYS, Inc.'s Connection Products allow manufacturers to more efficiently leverage their CAD data with ANSYS Design Analysis and Optimization (DAO) tools. ANSYS Connection Products provide a robust interface for moving CAD parts between CAD packages and ANSYS without the challenges of IGES file importation. Part files in any one of the following CAD/CAE file formats may be imported into ANSYS using an ANSYS Connection product:
When initiating a part file import, you can select the layers and entities to import, and can specify whether the part file is to be defeatured after import. In addition to providing these extended features for importation, The Connection Product also allows you to launch ANSYS from Pro/ENGINEER or Unigraphics. This direct launch lets you use ANSYS to analyze parts as you are designing them with the CAD software, thus speeding up the design and testing process.
The ability to defeature or modify a part after importation is significant and unique to ANSYS Connection Products. Some features of a CAD part may not be relevant to an ANSYS analysis, and leaving these features in the solid model can cause the analysis to ultimately fail. Parts with different-sized surfaces requiring different meshes, parts with pinholes, and parts with rounded edges that connect to form sharp vertices are all examples of parts that should be imported with the "Allow Defeaturing" function turned on. These types of features can then be easily removed from the ANSYS solid model after the part has been successfully imported.
If you want to more effectively leverage your CAD data created with AutoCAD, CATIA, Mechanical Desktop, Microstation Modeler, Pro/ENGINEER, Solid Designer, Solid Edge, SolidWorks or Unigraphics with ANSYS to improve reliability and reduce time to market please send us an e-mail with your request, or give us a call to talk with one of our trained Sales Professionals.