Problem to be solved
Hibra Design is the first and only Irish automotive design engineering company. It offers a full suite of vehicle development services. It provides sustainable alternative energy solutions which reduce operational costs, produce healthier working environments and increase production efficiency. Hibra Design help operators of off-highway fleet speciality vehicles. These companies have the challenge of rising operational costs and demanding environmental legislation. However, no off-the-shelf battery-electric solution exists.
Hibra Design re-engineer these vehicles by replacing the diesel powertrain with clean, battery-electric powertrain systems.
The company approached the Nimbus Gateway to access their 3D scanning and editing expertise for a pilot exercise involving a tractor engine cavity supplied to them by Bord na Móna. The exercise was hosted by the Munster Technological University.
Solution
The Nimbus User Experience Design Research Team used their extended reality expertise to deliver this project. The team used their Enterprise Ireland Capital Programme 2019 funded Artec 3D scanner to conduct multiple artifact scans from various angles to cover all visible surfaces. Additional scans focused on mounting hole locations to capture higher level detail. A full scan of the tractor was also captured.
All captured data was merged and aligned to create a complete 3D model of the tractor chassis. Unwanted noise and artifacts were removed from the scanned data. Enhanced detail around mounting hole locations was captured to ensure precision. Gaps and holes were filled to ensure a continuous surface representation. 3D scans were edited and processed and unified 3D Models were created.
The accuracy of the 3D model was verified against the original chassis measurements.
A visual inspection was performed to ensure the model aligned with the required detail level, particularly at mounting holes. The final 3D model was supplied to Hibra Design supporting various file formats (e.g., STL, OBJ, STEP).
Impact for the company
This was an excellent project that supported a tractor engine cavity capture use case. Hibra Design now support an animation of this project’s output on their website – https://www.hibra.ie/. In addition, the project coincided with Hibra Design featuring on the RTE science programme “Heated” – “This edition explores how design engineering company Hibra is re-engineering big industrial machines, such as tractors, diggers and cranes, to run on electricity”. This gave Hibra Design great exposure and recognition while also showcasing the expertise of the Nimbus Gateway and the capabilities of the Enterprise Ireland Technology Gateway Programme.
“This project was such a success in so many ways. We got serious exposure from it underpinned by a quality job delivered by the excellent Nimbus Gateway. We will be back.”
Mike Keane
CEO, Hibra Design
