2014 Chevrolet Silverado – HVAC unit
CLIENT: Bunce Motor Company
Bunce Motor Company converts American left hand vehicles to right hand drive for the New Zealand & Australian market.
3D Hub has been involved in developing an opposite hand HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) unit to fit the modified interior of the Chevrolet and GMC trucks.
The challenge was to design all the complex functionality into a space that is shorter than the original HVAC unit and to integrate the reusable components such as fans, sensors, servo motors, airflow flaps etc.
We started by 3D scanning the standard HVAC unit to capture the design features, then scanned the firewall, underside of the new dash, glove box and ducting. With this data we constructed a design envelope in which to lay out the major components e.g. AC core, heater core, dual-zone control flaps, air-recirculation module.
Each component needed to be carefully considered with each providing a challenge e.g. how to control the dual-zone control flap with air flowing in the reverse direction and still use the servo motors.
The HVAC unit housing has been designed specifically to be 3D printed in SLS nylon. The mechanical properties, design flexibility and limitations of 3D printing have been included in the development, resulting in a product that performs to the same high standards as the OEM unit.