Solukon launches SPR-Pathfinder PRO software with 1 million-particle simulation for LPBF depowdering

Solukon has launched SPR-Pathfinder PRO, an upgraded simulation package for planning powder removal from complex laser powder bed fusion parts. The software removes the previous 2.4 million-voxel ceiling and increases particle-simulation capacity to one million, a 20-fold jump from the prior 50,000-particle limit, letting engineers model powder movement through sub-millimeter channels before a part is printed. Solukon simultaneously launched SPR-Pathfinder BASIC, a lower-cost tier for moderately complex parts that omits PRO's cross-sectional inspection tools. CEO Andreas Hartmann said the upgrade responds to customers whose geometries had exceeded the earlier software's simulation limits.

The added resolution matters because depowdering, not printing, is often the bottleneck for parts with dense internal lattices or long conformal channels, and traps discovered after a build means scrapped material and rework. PRO's X, Y, Z cross-sections and adjustable transparency let teams catch inaccessible channels at the design stage, what Solukon calls Design for Depowdering, and adjust orientation or outlet placement before committing to a print. The software also estimates depowdering time and can export process data via OPC UA for traceability, positioning it as a production-planning input rather than a standalone visualization tool. Solukon has not published accuracy figures for its time estimates against measured results.