3D Printer: EP-M260
Material: Stainless Steel
In short: Redesign and manufacturing project of Ford Mustang auto exhaust pipe system using 3D additive manufacturing system.
Client: After Market Auto modification enthusiast manufacturing, modified auto equipment, designed to increase performance of modified auto parts far beyond the original stock specifications.
Conventional muffler design attempts to minimize exhaust noise to a minimum, unfortunately using conventional manufacturing methods, yields simple non optimal gas flow path that’s not necessarily the best and causes some performance reduction.
E-Plus was asked by an after-Market auto modification manufacturing to re-design pre-existing Ford Mustang exhaust system and manufacture it using 3D metal additive printing technology.
The existing exhaust system is made of three distinct components responsible to route the burning gases out of the engine: connecting rod, gas heave and exhaust pipe. E-Plus design solution actually combined the various components into one united part. During the design process a great deal of attention was paid to the gas flow at various pressures and engine loads. The intricate structure of the exhaust pipe cannot be manufactured in conventional methods, it can only be 3D printed, as visible in the picture above.
Using 3D printing technology allowed the designer to be free and come up with improved designs, not possible to manufacture in traditional technology. The result was a newly designed part with enhanced gas flow efficiency under a wider range of engine loads and conditions, while significantly lowering part volume and weight.
Once the part design stage was completed, it was 3D printed, using SLA technology for prototyping, basic part fitting and as a visual example for the customer approval.
E-plus 3D used the form of distributed 3D printing, fully utilizing idle time of equipment located in Hangzhou, Beijing and other service centres. It not only increased the utilization rate of these equipment, but also shortened the time of delivery.
The redesigned exhaust system out outperforms the original sock car equipment. The redesigned system is capable of achieving better acoustic wave and weigh 67% less them original system, yet still able to meet and excide the design requirements with a considerable weight saving. Most importantly the newly designed exhaust system significantly reduces the power robbing back pressure, accommodating much wider range of engine loads while producing enhanced engine output.