Mechatronic Tool for High-Fidelity Pneumatic Tire Modeling
WATERLOO, CANADA, July 26, 2006 — Maplesoft™, the leading provider of high-performance software tools for engineering, science and mathematics, announced today the availability of the DynaFlexPro™/Tire module. DynaFlexPro is a Maple™-based tool for modeling and simulating the dynamics of complex mechanical multibody systems such as mechanisms, robots and machinery. With DynaFlexPro/Tire, the range of applications is further increased to include vehicles. Now users can develop very efficient, high-fidelity models of mechanical systems for use with Simulink®, Real-Time Workshop and HIL test systems that facilitate the development of new vehicle designs, including active sub-systems and their electronic controllers.
“Mechatronics combines the precision of mechanical engineering, electronic control and systems thinking in the design of products and manufacturing processes to obtain the best possible end result,” said John McPhee, Chief Scientist at MotionPro Inc. “While the study is enormously popular in countries such as Japan and Germany, it is only beginning to take hold in North America. With its growing arsenal of mathematical modeling software and the new DynaFlexPro/Tire, Maplesoft is at the forefront of widening this movement.”
Designed by MotionPro Inc., and launched under the MapleConnect™ Premier program, DynaFlexPro/Tire is an optional add-on package to DynaFlexPro. With this module, users can incorporate the latest pneumatic tire models into simulations of vehicle systems. Kinematic quantities, such as slip angle, longitudinal slip, and inclination angle, are derived as optimized computational sequences. These are used by various tire force models, including Fiala, Calspan, and Pacejka’s magic tire formula to determine the tire forces and moments.
“The DynaFlexPro/Tire add-on is the latest evolution in mechanical modeling and simulation,” said Maplesoft CEO Jim Cooper. “We wanted to ensure that engineers in the automotive industry focused on tire manufacturing, chassis/suspension design, stability control, off-road vehicles and heavy-duty mobile equipment with pneumatic tires, as well as university teachers and researchers in vehicle dynamics and control, have the most cutting-edge tools available to efficiently and effectively design the safest and best vehicles.”
Optional features of DynaFlexPro/Tire allow the user to control how the tire slip and rolling radius are calculated and to include tire transients through differential equations involving relaxation lengths. By generating optimized simulation code from the symbolic equations, real-time simulations of complex vehicle models are obtained. It also works in conjunction with a graphical user interface, DynaFlexPro/ModelBuilder, to enable the rapid creation of system models using block diagrams and drop-down menus.
Availability and Pricing
Both DynaFlexPro and DynaFlexPro/Tire are available directly from the Maplesoft Web Store at http://webstore.maplesoft.com or by contacting Maplesoft Sales at 1-800-267-6583. Maple 10 and DynaFlexPro are required to use DynaFlexPro/Tire. DynaFlexPro/Tire can be purchased for $2500 US (single-user). Volume, upgrade, government and academic discounts apply. Outside of the US & Canada, the product will be available from Maplesoft’s reseller partners. A list of partners is available online at http://www.maplesoft.com/contact/international/index.aspx.
About Maplesoft
Maplesoft is a leading developer and provider of interactive mathematical software. Its suite of products includes Maple, the most powerful and intuitive tool for solving complex mathematical problems and creating rich, executable technical documents; BlockBuilder™ for Simulink®, a First Principles physical modeling environment that offers automated export to Simulink; Maplesoft-MAA Placement Test Suite, a powerful Web-based placement testing system, automatically assessing student responses and performance; Maple T.A.™, a system for creating Web-based tests, assignments and exercises; and MapleNet™, a platform that allows Maple users to publish their live Maple documents on the Web.
Over two million users at thousands of organizations have applied Maple in nearly every technical field, including aerospace, automotive, biotechnology & pharmaceuticals, chemical systems, control theory and design, electronics, finance, mechanical systems, optimization, and signal processing. Maplesoft's commercial customer base includes Allied Signal, BMW, Boeing, DaimlerChrysler, DreamWorks, Ford, General Electric, Hewlett Packard, Lucent Technologies, Motorola, Raytheon, Robert Bosch, Sun Microsystems, Toyota and Tyco. Additionally, over 90% of advanced research institutions and universities worldwide, including MIT, Stanford, Oxford, the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the Department of Energy, have adopted Maplesoft products to enhance their education and research activities. For more information, visit www.maplesoft.com.
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