nTop week: Engineering design - Student design winner - Karl Costello

Challenge

Design a lightweight piston for Additive Manufacturing using nTop

University

Waterford Institute of Technology/SEAM Research Centre

Project Description

Pistons in internal combustion engines can move cyclically at speeds of 200 Hz. The energy required to keep the piston in motion is directly dependant on the mass of the piston assembly. Therefore, any mass reduction increases the overall efficiency of the engine. Using nTop, a lightweight piston was redesigned for AM. The redesign of this internal combustion engine key component can optimize the current technology that powers most cars today.