Considering the competitiveness of current automotive market, the search for low cost solutions that fulfill quality demands becomes essential to product development processes. A great issue in engine mount design consists of obtaining optimized geometrical shapes, maintaining component quality as well as complying with project requirements.
In this work, an analysis is proposed to optimize the engine mount differential side of a commercial vehicle; all project steps for this component are also presented. A comparison between the try-error method and the topologic optimization method (TOM) was made, both using the finite-element method (FEM). The TOM has proved to be a powerful tool for optimizing geometry in a variety of engineering problems.
Afterwards, the resulting geometry of TOM will undergo a yet more accurate optimization process, using the engine mount geometrical shapes as design variables.
Finally, a geometrical viability study will be carried out in order to adjust the final shape to the manufacturing process.