Conference Agenda

This paper presents a Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE)-based lightweight redesign of a rigid-link pusher mechanism used in an automatic packaging machine. The reference system is an aluminum Stephenson six-bar linkage operating at a nominal crank speed of 600 rpm and mainly subjected to inertial loads. The proposed workflow combines multibody simulation, static finite-element verification, material substitution, topology optimization, and Computer-Aided Design (CAD) reconstruction while preserving the original kinematic architecture. The mechanism is first reconstructed in PTC Creo and simulated to extract the worst-case joint loads. The original aluminum components are first verified in Creo and then compared with geometrically equivalent Onyx components, which are checked in both Creo and ANSYS. Based on this verification, topology optimization is applied to the connecting rod, slider, and rockers, while the crank is reassigned to Onyx but kept geometrically unchanged due to its limited stress margin. The optimized geometries are manually reconstructed and reassembled in the complete mechanism. The final Onyx-based design achieves an overall moving-mass reduction of about 76%, with component-level reductions up to 86.8%. As a result of the reduced inertial loads, the simulated peak motor torque decreases from approximately 2.6 Nm to 1.5 Nm, with limited output-position deviation. The results indicate that material substitution combined with topology optimization can provide a practical redesign route for reducing mass and actuation requirements in existing cyclic machinery mechanisms without modifying their rigid-link layout.