SOFIA Project at the University of Stuttgart, Germany

Yannick Lammen, a mechanical engineer, and Jan Drennel, an undergraduate student, at the University of Stuttgart in Germany talk to SOLIDWORKS about their work for the SOFIA project.

Also find link to video here.

SOFIA. the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy, is a 2.5 meter in diameter telescope mounted in the fuselage of a modified 747SP aircraft. The University of Stuttgart chose SOLIDWORKS Research Edition to design various parts and assemblies for the project because most of the industry partners used the software, and also, for students it is a very easy-to-use and a powerful tool.

“SOLIDWORKS is used to modify the parts, to research the parts”, explains Yannick, “the simulation toolbox to simulate assemblies and also to do stress analysis”. He continues, “It was quite a challenging task but with programs like SOLIDWORKS, it is easy to design those kind of assemblies”.

One of the major design issues they face with the project are the differences in temperatures which, Jan explains, was made easy using SOLIDWORKS because the parts could be designed and the immediately simulated, It eliminated the need to use multiple software or to convert files to various formats. “Can just do it all in one software”, says Jan who is currently doing an internship for SOFIA project in California.

He adds, “we are able to validate our designs with SOLIDWORKS with simulating the parts and doing the thermal simulations and motion simulations”.

These talented scientists enjoy their work on the project. “There have been a lot of breakthroughs already”. It has been an amazing experience of solving many design challenges and new problems everyday.

“For me, it’s like a dream job”, wraps up Yannick.

Thank you for sharing your experiences with the SOLIDWORKS.