Virtual Reality in the product engineering process of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) devices

AZURA Compact HPLC
AZURA Compact HPLC Source: http://www.knauer.net/

For a final thesis, KNAUER and FHWS have worked on integrating VR in the product engineering process. Being an innovative company, KNAUER was very interested in getting to know new development tools and to use them for product engineering. By combining optical and data-driven information, new insights and ideas for improvement can be generated faster and faster, and errors can be detected at an early stage. With the help of the portable VR Lab of FHWS, KNAUER was able to view transferred CAD models in 3D at its Berlin location and experience the interaction between a human and the 3D model with the help of an assembly simulation.

Thus, it was possible to test how Virtual Reality can be used as a tool at KNAUER in the standard engineering process and to what extent cost savings can be realized. At the same time, it was investigated whether a cross-departmental use of VR generates development synergies.
 

CAD image from the pump project
CAD image from the pump project

Topic of the final thesis:

  • Is it generally possible to integrate VR in the product engineering process and what are the advantages?
  • What preliminary work (e.g. data preparation) are necessary, so that the CAD data can be used in the VR environment?
  • What are the limitations of using VR? 1

Industry partners

The owner-managed medium-sized company KNAUER is one of the technologically leading developers and manufacturers of modern HPLC systems in Germany. HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography) is a separation method for dissolved substances that can be used to detect, quantify and isolate them.

KNAUER HPLC systems are used throughout the world in research and development , quality control and production labs. Applications include pharmaceutical and medical research, the analysis of foods and petrochemical products or environmental analysis. The purification of fine chemicals, active ingredients and proteins is also an important area of application.2


Sources:
1 Final thesis by Artur Ogiermann: “Opportunities and advantages of virtual reality in the product engineering process (PEP) compared to PEP based on rapid prototyping”
2Scientific instruments manufacturer Dr.-Ing. Herbert Knauer GmbH, www.knauer.net/en/KNAUER/About-us