Engineers at Cummins are using virtual reality to get a one-to-one perspective on engines and components, often before anything is built.
Cummins indicates that there are many important design aspects that can’t be seen on a computer screen, such as ease of service. With virtual reality, engineers can look at even the largest engines as though it was sitting right in front of them. This innovative work takes place in a Cummins location referred to as CAVE (CTC Advanced Virtual-prototyping Environment). Providing computer-generated, three-dimensional images of engines is complex. Cummins uses an example of building a house to explain virtual reality’s benefits. A home builder can create prints or show on a computer screen what a house will look like. However, it’s typically not until after the home is built that customers can see areas they wish were dimensionally different. Virtual reality allows you to see the dimensions in true scale, enabling you to make changes early in the design process.
In addition to design engineers at the tech centre, the CAVE is used for customers who want to see how an engine will fit in their vehicles. Regulators also sometimes visit to learn more about how Cummins’ clean technology works. Virtual reality has even been used to help train service technicians.
Making a big engine easy to service is important to maximizing engine uptime for customers. The CAVE has plastic devices that users can hold that appear in their virtual reality goggles as human hands, wrenches and drills. They enable designers to see how hard or easy it will be to get to a particular section of an engine or a part. The technology can also identify potential ergonomic issues for technicians. A single part on a larger engine can weigh hundreds of pounds. Cummins indicates that virtual reality has significantly improved in quality while decreasing in price. This could mean that at a time in the not too distant future every design team at Cummins has its own virtual reality system. Source