Abstract: Taking the drop test of a certain range hood as an example, analyzes the specific causes of outer panel deformation during the drop process. In the drop test of this range hood, obvious deformation of the outer shell occurred. Due to cost constraints, the materials of the outer shell and packaging could no longer be upgraded; thus, the only way to improve structural stiffness and prevent deformation was to modify the ribbing design of the outer shell. In traditional optimization design, the ribbing design mainly relies on the design experience of structural engineers, who modify the structure through simulation analysis and prototype verification. For the areas requiring ribbing, the topography optimization analysis method was adopted to simplify the drop simulation process. With the goal of maximizing the stiffness of the sheet metal, the ribbing design was automatically optimized and iterated, finally obtaining a structure that meets the performance requirements. This method has lower requirements for engineers’ experience. By automatically adjusting the mesh in the finite element model, the optimal design scheme is found. Compared with the traditional optimization method, this case reduces the number of simulation designs, shortens the calculation cycle, saves the corresponding prototyping costs, and has high promotion value.

Key words: Sheet metal design, Topography optimization, Range hood, Drop simulation