Customer Stories

A deeply imaginative problem-solver, Cumings developed considerable expertise in solid modeling and computer-aided design during his long career in the aviation industry. He was also an early adopter of Autodesk® Inventor® Professional software, part of the Autodesk solution for Digital Prototyping. Within three months, Cumings used Inventor Professional to help design a digital prototype of his innovative new wind turbine. "Inventor is just where you naturally want to be when you design a machine," says Cumings.

Shortly thereafter, Cumings revealed his design ideas to longtime colleague Weisbrod, and the pair decided to found Freiezo, with Cumings serving as chair and Weisbrod as chief operating officer and co-founder. "I’ve always been passionate about the outdoors, conservation, and the environment," says Weisbrod. "When we started Freiezo, our goal was to create a clean tech, zero-landfill product for installation on business and residential rooftops. Essentially, we want to create wind energy without a trace."

For help designing the wind turbine, Freiezo turned to Autodesk® Product Design Suite Ultimate software—provided through the Autodesk Clean Tech Partner Program. This suite encompasses software for 3D design, simulation, and tooling, and includes Eco Materials Adviser, an easy-to-use tool within Inventor Professional that Freiezo engineers used to evaluate the environmental impact of different materials on product design. "One of our goals is to use materials that are extremely light, extremely durable, and have minimal environmental impact," says Weisbrod.

Using traditional methods, Freiezo would have had to purchase different materials, build multiple prototypes, and test each one in order to see which met their performance, cost and environmental requirements—a lengthy and expensive process. "Eco Materials Adviser saved us months of development time," says Weisbrod. "Being able to evaluate materials in a digital environment helped us avoid the costs, time, and waste associated with creating multiple physical prototypes." This work helped Freiezo secure a grant from the state of Missouri to conduct a feasibility study on recycled-plastics supply chains.

Using what they learned from the Digital Prototyping process, Freiezo engineers have created a small number of optimized physical prototypes. "They have been very quiet, stable, and durable," says Cumings. "In fact, a recent prototype survived a near direct tornado strike almost unscathed." Current design efforts now focus on improving power output.

Through participation in the Clean Tech Partner Program, Freiezo has also begun to use Autodesk tools such as Autodesk® Vault data management software, which provides a single, online repository for file storage.

Freiezo also uses cloud-based Autodesk® PLM 360 software for product lifecycle management, with plans to implement more functionality after completing its current design validation efforts. “Before adopting Autodesk PLM 360, we were 30 days behind schedule,” says Weisbrod. “Using PLM 360, we caught up in only 10 days. It helped us gain control
of project management and visibility without stifling team flexibility or changing the corporate culture.”