Solid Edge 2020 will be available for download soon (mid-July 2020), so I thought I’d share my thoughts on this latest release from Siemens PLM Software.Click the links, if you haven’t already read the Press Release or seen the Fact Sheet. Plus, there have been numerous articles already posted about the new enhancements in Solid Edge 2020.So, I will not try and cover everything added or enhanced in this article.Instead I will focus on several features that I believe will benefit the average designer, or ones that I feel will have an impact on their current procedures. Hence the name of this blog article.

Switching to the Common License Platform

Solid Edge 2020 has adopted the Common Licensing Toolkit (CLT). This isthe same license platform as NX, Teamcenter, NX CAM, Tecnomatix, etc. How will this affect the average user?There is only one major impact. V220 licenses will NOT validate previous versions. Siemens PLM recognizes that this can be a bit of an issue, if you wish to continue using an older version of Solid Edge, as you migrate to Solid Edge 2020. Therefore, they have stated that: “Customers may continue using their pre-v220 license in parallel during the migration to v220”.

My favorite Part environment enhancement

Solid Edge 2020 has made an enhancement to the existing Rectangular and Circular Pattern commands to support patterning of sketch elements, in the Ordered paradigm. This includes:

•       Additional support of selection of sketch elements

•       Support of orientation angle for rectangle pattern

•       Preview of patterned instances within sketch

•       Editing of pattern

•       Add and delete support of sketch elements in pattern geometry

This is something that Users have been requesting for a long time, and I feel will be well received by most, if not all, designers.

My favorite Part environment new feature

Solid Edge 2020 has added a new Compare Models tool. Using the Compare Models tool allows a designer to compare two versions of a design file and easily understand what was added, removed, or modified between the two versions.

Similar to the compare drawings tool, this tool will compare models based on geometry (volume comparison), and File properties. This supports comparisons of parts, sheet metal parts, Assemblies, and FOP/FOA members.

My favorite Sheet Metal environment enhancement

Solid Edge 2020 has made an enhancement to the Ordered Lofted Flange, in the Bends option. The Bends option now creates real bends between planar plates. Previously, the bend marks were only written to DXF from within sheet metal environment. Therefore, the bend table would only pick up the 2 bends whether you used bend lines or not.

With this new enhancement, bend lines can now be listed individually.

My favorite Sheet Metal environment new feature.

Solid Edge 2020 has added a new Bend Bulge Relief command that will add relief to simple bend ends, where it is needed. A bend bulge is a model deformation that occurs when metal plates are bent. It’s more evident in parts with larger thickness and small bend radius. This deformation is not shown in bends created in Solid Edge sheet metal parts, but a need exists to create a relief to deal with them during manufacturing.

Here are some key points about this new feature:

•       The user will select single or multiple eligible bend ends and define relief parameters

•       The command will have three different options: Circular, V-Shaped and U-Shaped

•       Relief cutouts will be created in the flat state and then bent back (hidden from user)

•       The feature will be available in “Ordered” only, Sync users should use a hybrid approach

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My favorite Assembly environment enhancement

Solid Edge 2020 has made several enhancements to improve assembly performance, including combining several display and interaction settings into a new high- performance mode for large assemblies.

The assembly enters this mode based on total component count setting, found on the “Assembly Open As” tab in the Solid Edge Options. Users can exit this mode from ribbon as needed.

My favorite Assembly environment new feature.

Solid Edge 2020 has added a new Find Components command in the assembly environment.

This new command replaces the need to create a query, and can be accessed from the Select group.It allows you to search the assembly for components based on criteria.

My favorite Draft environment enhancement

Solid Edge 2020 has enhanced 2D geometry display performance. They do this by not displaying insignificant geometry (less than a pixel). This is controlled by the culling option on the View Tab, in Solid Edge options. Below is an example:

Example: Large Layout Drawing

•       1,448,937 displayed objects

•       No culling – Display everything

•       5.702 seconds to display

•       Culling enabled – Does not display tiny objects

•       Perceived display change is insignificant

•       1.56 seconds to display

My favorite Draft environment new feature

Alas, Solid Edge 2020 has no new features in Draft this time. Just enhancements to existing features. Efforts seemed to have gone into integrating the add-on packages for this release. Which leads me into my final section.

My favorite Add-on enhancement

For years now Solid Edge has had the Simply Motion environment built into the assembly environment. This is the introductory module for motion simulation from Design Simulation Technologies. In Solid Edge 2020, full functionalities of motion simulation are now available to validate various applications, such as:

•       Size motors and actuators

•       Determine power consumption

•       Determine boundary conditions for stress analysis

•       Friction

•       Force Transmission

•       Spring and Damper Stiffness

•       Hydraulic actuators

•       Reduce vibrations

•       Understand unbalance effects on mechanisms

•       Understand bearing loads

Solid Edge Motion creates moving parts directly from your assembly components and motion joints directly from assembly constraints. Solid EdgeMotion enables you to:

•       Ensure your assembly performs as expected without parts colliding.

•       Increase the efficiency of your mechanical design process by utilizing a familiar interface/environment.

•       Use a single engineering model, without transferring geometry to/from another application.

•       Eliminate expensive design changes late in the manufacturing process.

Furthermore, if you already own a Solid Edge Premium license, you will get this enhanced functionality for free.

My favorite new Add-on

Solid Edge 2020 is introducing the new Solid Edge 2D Nesting package.This add-on will allow you to place your 2D flat patterns onto a flat sheet and efficiently nest them to ensure less waste of material.

The benefits are numerous, and include the following:

•       New Manufacturing product for Solid Edge portfolio

•       Stand-alone

•       Works with Solid Edge files (PSM, PAR)

•       Imports neutral data formats (DXF, DWG)

•       Automatically extracts required data (if it exists)

•       Most efficient nesting algorithm

•       Continuous nesting improvement until Stop

•       Export data into Solid Edge format (PAR, ASM, DFT)

•       Export data into neutral format (DXF, DWG)

•       ROI very high based on material costs

•       Can nest to multiple sheet sizes (reduce “tailings”AKA partial sheets)

•       User can select best nest from list (not just latest one)

•       Will nest inside openings (increase sheet usage)

•       Angular control of parts + tilt allowance

•       Universal spacing

•       Generate both summary and detailed reports

•       Save time while multi-tasking

Conclusion

Let me just emphasize that there are a lot more new and improved features, in Solid Edge 2020, than what I have mentioned in the article. Plus, I have only focused on several features that I believe will benefit the average designer, or ones that I feel will have an impact on their current procedures. Personally, I feel that this is another powerful release of Solid Edge, which will benefit all users. On the negative side, I was hoping for a Sheet Metal Manufacturing Add-on and a complete Architectural Symbol Library added to the Draft environment. I have been told that they are investigating these enhancements for future releases. If you would like to see these, or any other features added, please make sure you log an enhancement request (ER) with us by calling our tech line at 1-877-215-1883 or contact GTAC to log an ER.