Abstract

The avoidance or reduction of chainsaw kickback is a key safety feature for manufacturers. The challenges for engineers are to obtain more accurate analyses of the problem over the tool’s lifecycle, improve post processing analyses and then to validate the analyses experimentally.

In this technical article, EnginSoft and chainsaw manufacturer Emak explain how they used the advanced system modeling capabilities of the MapleSoft products (Maple and MapleSim) to determine maximum chainsaw system performance, detect performance issues early, manage multiple engineering domains and improve pre- and post-processing analyses, before conducting structural analysis and experimental validation with ANSYS Mechanical Workbench 18.

The article describes the various phases of the workflow process adopted by the engineers in the modeling process, from the creation of the initial model, the mathematical and physics analyses that they conducted, to the analyses of the results obtained, the DOE verification process and finally the experimental validation of their findings.

The use of the MapleSoft and ANSYS software in combination allowed the engineers to drastically reduce trial time and fine-tuning, while also saving time on data interpretation and mathematical analysis in order to improve chainsaw performance, minimising damage and fatigue over the product life to increase chainsaw safety for operators.