Engineers at Unverferth Manufacturing created a 177-part assembly of the 12-row Ripper-Stripper® subsoiler (upper right) in Mechanical Desktop (upper left) and used ALGOR linear static stress analysis (lower right) to optimize the thickness, shape and material of the frame, hitch and hinge components to reduce high stresses. These stress results reflect the pull scenario, in which the shanks pull through approximately 18 inches of soil.

PITTSBURGH, PA – March 24, 2004 – ALGOR, Inc., a leading provider of design, analysis and simulation software, announced that Unverferth Manufacturing Company, Inc., a top supplier of agricultural equipment, used ALGOR software to speed up their design cycle and meet a tight deadline for the new 12-row, folding-frame Ripper-Stripper® strip-till subsoiler. The design team achieved a 50% time reduction from previous design cycles and saved tens of thousands of dollars in prototypes while creating a more robust and reliable product.

The new Ripper-Stripper® subsoiler would save cotton farmers time in preparing their fields for planting by offering a subsoiler that would prepare more rows simultaneously. Unverferth Manufacturing engineers needed to optimize the design and make prototypes of the subsoiler within three months in order to field test it at the start of the cotton planting year and have it on the market in less than a year.

The engineers assigned had never attempted a project of this complexity with such restrictive time limitations. "Prior to this project, all of our FEA projects had been far less complex and we had up to 6 months to optimize the design before a prototype was produced," explained Design Engineer Tom Steffan. "When the plan to design the larger subsoiler and build prototypes in less than three months was presented to me, my first reaction was that it could not be done."

The design team was counting on FEA to help them quickly optimize this new product. They began by creating a 177-part assembly of the proposed design in Mechanical Desktop and directly capturing it using ALGOR's InCAD technology. "When choosing an FEA package, we were impressed with the direct CAD/CAE data exchange and meshing tools of ALGOR's InCAD technology and the option of using ALGOR’s Mechanical Event Simulation for combined motion and stress analysis," said Product Engineer Richard Anderson.

The design team chose to put the model through a series of linear static stress analyses which simulated conditions such as pulling through soil, lifting out of the ground, folding up the subsoiler's wings and being transported. Based on the results, the size and shape of components were optimized to distribute the loads while minimizing machine weight. Stronger alloys were used only for highly loaded areas.

"Using ALGOR FEA, we were able to increase the capacity of the [subsoiler's] frame tenfold with a total weight increase of only about 60 lbs of steel, which is less than 1% of the total weight," said Anderson, who notes that the subsoiler exceeded field-test expectations during the 2003 planting season and is now available for the 2004 planting season. "The final design we arrived at using ALGOR FEA not only performed well in field testing, but indicated that its long-term durability and reliability will be outstanding."

That long-term durability is good news to Unverferth Manufacturing’s Director of Engineering, David Smith, who comments, "I sleep better at night knowing that we optimized our design with ALGOR FEA software."

Visit the Customer Application Stories section of the ALGOR web site for this complete story and others.

About Unverferth Manufacturing Company, Inc.
Unverferth Manufacturing, based in Kalida, Ohio, has been serving the changing needs of America's farms since 1948. The company began with the manufacturing and marketing of dual- and triple-wheel systems and components. The impact of this innovation is evident on over 90% of North American farms and has since expanded into the world market. Today, Unverferth Manufacturing is a leading manufacturer and supplier of innovative agricultural equipment that helps farmers across the United States and around the world produce low-cost, safe and nutritious foods and other crops, such as fibers.