Rapid Development of Cylinder Heads by DSPC

Concurrent engineering is the wave of the future in powertrain development. This paper presents a time accelerated development program to reduce emissions in a gasoline direct injection fuel combustion engine. Several approaches for positioning the injector and the spark plug including multiple plugs for each chamber were explored. Any change in the position of the fuel injector or the spark plug(s) heavily affects the water jacket's design as well as the position of the DOHC shaft's bearings. This paper describes a case study utilizing Soligen's Direct Shell Production Casting (DSPC') while integrating the development of this new cylinder head in record time, bypassing the traditional need for casting tooling. Record number of design iterations were explored in rapid turn-around time and using a paperless process of converting the CAD file of the head into functional cast and CNC machined heads.

DSPC is a rapid casting process which makes conventional prototype casting obsolete. DSPC works by producing ceramic casting molds with integral cores directly from CAD files, without the need for patterns and core boxes. Using DSPC in the design phase enables engineers to test multiple design iterations in various alloys concurrently, expediting and improving the design phase. Additionally, DSPC's reliance on CAD files provides for stringent configuration control, assuring that all design changes are properly documented.