Eleven Exploding Luftballons:
Alibre Design User Finds New Way to Move Mountains
Richardson, TX - January 30, 2005 - The inventor of Avalanche Blast, an ambitious project to make controlled avalanches safer, found that Alibre Design provided the right tools at the right price to bring a great idea into commercial reality.
Avalanche Blast is the brainchild of Werner Greipl, who designed the 1387-part assembly in Alibre Design - the fastest growing 3D parametric solid modeling software. Greipl, a helicopter engineer, pilot, and alpine rescue instructor based out of Ottobrunn, Germany, learned the 3D CAD software at the same time he was developing his ideas and sketching out the initial parts for Avalanche Blast. "I got the free trial version and then did the whole job in two weeks," says Greipl. "The Alibre approach is quite straightforward. It didn't take me long to get used to it."
Greipl, a university-educated mechanical engineer, constructed the vast majority of solid parts in his own shop from Alibre Design's 3D models. Only three parts required outsourcing to a Computer Numerical Control (CNC) fabricator. Through Alibre Design, these 3D parts could be easily communicated to subcontractors, says Greipl. "There's also an easy milling program module included in Alibre Design Professional. I just exported the files without any problem."
The Luftballoon ingenuity has paid off for the German helicopter expert. The inventor has recently sold the Avalanche Blast design to a French manufacturer, Technologie Alpine de Sécurité (T.A.S.), which manufactures the ground-based GAZEX gas-powered avalanche control systems. T.A.S. plans to make the airborne Avalanche Blast commercially available soon. Griepl was glad he put his ideas into Alibre Design: "For a good price, Alibre Design gave me high performance."
About Alibre
Alibre Inc. develops and markets Alibre Design™, the fastest growing parametric 3D solid modeling software for mechanical design and manufacturing. One-fifth the cost of comparable software, Alibre Design delivers quick ROI, ease-of-use, rich functionality and unique real-time support, and is enabling small and medium-sized businesses and workgroups to put 3D CAD on every engineer's desk, similar to utilities like Word or Excel. Alibre also delivers Alibre Design Xpress, the industry's only true 3D parametric modeler available free of charge. Alibre Design is available in thirteen languages and distributed worldwide.
Founded in 1997, Alibre Inc. is privately funded and based in Richardson, Texas.
About Avalanche Blast
Avalanche Blast -- a device to safely deliver explosive charges via helicopter for avalanche mitigation -- was invented by Werner Griepl of Schliessee, Germany. Greipl, an engineer and pilot, is general manager of Helicopter Travel Munich (HTM), and Fun Flight und Helicopterdienste. He also trains mountain search-and-rescue personnel internationally through his firm Heli Rescue Consult, GmbH: www.helirescueconsult.com. The device will soon be available commercially from T.A.S., manufacturer of GAZEX avalanche mitigation systems.
View a video clip of Avalanche Blast in action
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Media Contact:
Greg DeMars
Alibre Inc.
pr@alibre.com
972-671-8492
Longer feature and images available upon request
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