CUPRA puts 3D printed automotive parts to the test. (Credit: CUPRA)
CUPRA, the sports car subsidiary of Spanish auto company SEAT, has become the latest automotive brand to adopt 3D printing for new vehicle development.
Working with HP, the company has been using additive manufacturing to quickly produce new, lightweight parts for its CUPRA Leon Competición racecar which was presented at the inauguration of the new CUPRA Garage headquarters in Martorell, Spain, not too far away from HP's Barcelona HQ, last Friday.
The company employed HP's Multi Jet Fusion technology, specifically its latest Jet Fusion 5200 production model, to manufacture and test a range of end-use parts including the steering wheel's centre control module, new door mirrors, air intakes and cooling intakes.
Xavi Serra, Head of technical development at CUPRA Racing said the key benefit was the ability to produce multiple parts, on-demand to quickly test a variety of designs. Serra commented: "Since vehicle development is now done in parallel, this technology enables us to react swiftly to any changes in the design process."
While the door mirror on a TCR racing vehicle needs to be the same shape as that of a production car, the engineers took the design a step further by adding an air intake duct to the maximum pressure points to deliver the added function of cooling the driver. The parts were tested in a wind tunnel under the same extreme conditions as a standard production part, and then on the Portimao race track in Portugal.
Door mirror produced with HP Multi Jet Fusion. (Credit: CUPRA)
Virginia Palacios, Head of Systems Product Management, 3D Printing & Digital Manufacturing, HP Inc, said: “3D printing is going to signal a turning point in the automotive industry by accelerating lead times and HP 3D technology is helping designers create parts that could not be produced with other technologies."
Serra added: “This technology is and will continue to be key in countless fields to make the most complex ideas a reality."
With its 3D printing activity, CUPRA joins the likes of McLaren, which has been using Stratasys' technology to produce parts for its Formula 1 vehicles, and Bugatti which is applying metal 3D printing from SLM Solutions to engineer high-performance components. For commercial vehicles, BMW has been championing additive manufacturing through the establishment of a dedicated facility and the manufacture of customer-facing parts including its customisable MINI Yours series and a topology optimised folding mechanism that's now on every model of the BMW i8 Roadster.
