Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) has named Brookhaven
National Laboratory (Brookhaven Lab) — a national research laboratory
overseen by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy — as
the Autodesk Inventor of the Month for July in recognition of its innovative
nanotechnology equipment.
Brookhaven Lab is the current home of the National Synchrotron Light Source
(NSLS), one of the world’s most widely used scientific user research facilities.
Each year, thousands of researchers use the facility’s bright beams of
X-ray, ultraviolet and infrared light while conducting research in such diverse
fields as biology, medicine, chemistry, environmental sciences, physics and
materials science.
Brookhaven Lab is building NSLS-II, an electron storage ring designed to produce
X-rays more than 10,000 times brighter than the current NSLS. Nearly 900 feet
in diameter, the NSLS-II will enable scientists to focus on important scientific
challenges at the nanoscale level, such as generating new types of materials
to harvest solar energy or developing high-temperature superconductors to transmit
electricity more efficiently.
Digital Prototyping Keeps Project Moving
Brookhaven Lab mechanical designers, engineers and scientists are
relying on Autodesk Inventor software from authorized Autodesk system integrator
Widom Associates to design and digitally prototype the complex NSLS-II equipment.
“There’s so much information we can get from a digital prototype
created in Inventor software,” said Mike Loftus, supervisor of the mechanical
design group for the NSLS-II project at Brookhaven Lab. “Inventor helps
us select different materials, perform analysis and truly visualize our designs
of the NSLS-II.”
Brookhaven Lab keeps track of its designs using Autodesk Vault Manufacturing
software and uses Autodesk Navisworks software to share project models with
Torcon, the general contractor charged with building the facility that will
house the various NSLS-II components. The enhanced communication helps Brookhaven
Lab and Torcon collaborate effectively while ensuring that construction of the
NSLS-II remains on schedule.
“On the largest and most complex mechanical engineering projects, Digital
Prototyping keeps everyone on the same page,” said Robert “Buzz”
Kross, senior vice president, Manufacturing Industry Group at Autodesk. “Brookhaven
Lab’s NSLS-II venture shows how digital prototypes enable efficient coordination
across myriad internal and external teams, helping to avoid mistakes and reduce
overall time and costs.”