Presentation of the LECAD laboratory

Laboratory for Engineering Design - LECAD
Aškerčeva 6
SI-1000 Ljubljana
Slovenija

Head of laboratory: assoc. prof. PhD. Nikola Vukašinović v.d.
Deputy Head: assoc. prof. PhD. Janez Povh

The development of society, both in civilizational and economic terms, is closely linked to the development of new products and services that eliminate certain problems of a certain group of people or open new needs, new business opportunities, thereby promoting economic growth, which leads to the greater well-being of the people.

The development of new products takes place in several steps, from market analysis, development of the initial concept, construction at the system level, construction of details, testing, improvement and finally regular production. The whole process is in the initial steps of a repetitive nature. The use of computers and CAD modeling software such as PTC Creo, Catia, Siemens NX, SolidWorks, FreeCAD, ELMER and others is inevitable in this process.

More than 40 years ago, when LeCAD began its mission in computer-aided design (CAD) under the leadership of prof. dr. Jožef Duhovnik, the situation was significantly different. Computers and software for engineering design were at a very early stage and most of the engineering design was done manually. For many years now, LeCAD has mastered state-of-the-art technologies for design processes and is transferring this knowledge to students of mechanical engineering, industrial design and future primary school teachers of new technologies.

For the past 15 years, LeCAD has focused on engineering design and construction of more complex products and products for the most demanding operating conditions. With these products, the solutions developed are first virtually tested in a variety of physical conditions using advanced simulation methods that require high-performance computers, so LeCAD has expanded its research focus over the last decade to supercomputing. Laboratory manages one of the few supercomputers in Slovenia and uses it for engineering tasks. All of this has enabled LeCAD to enter several major international science and infrastructure programs related to supercomputing and the development of new high-performance scientific codes for simulations of complex physical processes.

Now, almost 40 years after its founding, LeCAD is a laboratory with 24 people with outstanding competencies in design, supercomputing, mathematics and physics. It develops complex products for industry and the scientific community and contributes to solving long-term human challenges such as energy recovery from fusion reactors, climate change mitigation through sustainable product development or the development of serious disease treatments through advanced biomedical data analysis.

Mission

Using supercomputers and other advanced digital technologies, we research and develop new approaches in design, sustainable products and solutions to operate in the most demanding conditions. We transfer the acquired knowledge to the academic and industrial environment.

Vision

As the central Slovenian laboratory in the field of product design, we will become a leader in Europe in the field of development methods and techniques for design, development of non-metallic mechanical drives, special products and special solutions. We will achieve this through the intensive use of supercomputers and other advanced digital technologies.

Location

The LECAD laboratory has premises at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Ljubljana, Aškerčeva 6.

In the elevator with Roman numerals you choose III, in the elevator with Arabic numbers you choose 4. There the signs direct you to the passage to the old building. The LECAD laboratory is located at the end of the corridor.