Fixture design and planning is one of the most important manufacturing activities, playing a pivotal role in deciding the lead time for product development. Fixture design, which affects the part-quality in terms of g...Fixture design and planning is one of the most important manufacturing activities, playing a pivotal role in deciding the lead time for product development. Fixture design, which affects the part-quality in terms of geometric accuracy and surface finish, can be enhanced by using the product manufacturing information(PMI) stored in the neutral standard for the exchange of product model data(STEP) file, thereby integrating design and manufacturing. The present paper proposes a unique fixture design approach, to extract the geometry information from STEP application protocol(AP) 242 files of computer aided design(CAD) models, for providing automatic suggestions of locator positions and clamping surfaces. Automatic feature extraction software "FiXplan", developed using the programming language C#, is used to extract the part feature, dimension and geometry information. The information from the STEP AP 242 file is deduced using geometric reasoning techniques, which in turn is utilized for fixture planning. The developed software is observed to be adept in identifying the primary, secondary, and tertiary locating faces and locator position configurations of prismatic components. Structural analysis of the prismatic part under different locator positions was performed using commercial finite element method software, ABAQUS, and the optimized locator position was identified on the basis of minimum deformation of the workpiece.The area-ratio(base locator enclosed area(%)/work piece base area(%)) for the ideal locator configuration was observed as 33%. Experiments were conducted on a prismatic workpiece using a specially designed fixture, for different locator configurations. The surface roughness and waviness of the machined surfaces were analysed using an Alicona non-contact optical profilometer. The best surface characteristics were obtained for the surface machined under the ideal locator positions having an area-ratio of 33%, thus validating the predicted numerical results. The efficiency, capability and applicability of the developed software is demonstrated for the finishing operation of a sensor cover – a typical prismatic component having applications in the naval industry, under different locator configurations.The best results were obtained under the proposed ideal locator configuration of area-ratio 33%.展开更多
In order to reduce the development cycle of mechanical products and corresponding toolings, a large number of components are utilized in these structures. Accordingly, automatic location method for components is a key...In order to reduce the development cycle of mechanical products and corresponding toolings, a large number of components are utilized in these structures. Accordingly, automatic location method for components is a key issue in the research on intelligent computer aided design （CAD） techniques. Integrated with the investigation into intelligent design techniques for aircraft manufacturing toolings, in-depth researches on this issue are conducted. Formalized automatic location principles, representative methods and implementation algorithms are proposed and established. First, several terms and their formalized representative methods including process condition, location base and location operator are defined. Second, computation modeling of components automatic location and methods of location transformation are proposed. Then, definition of base structure and some key algorithms for automatic location are introduced. These principles and algorithms are developed, applied and verified in research project ＂Jig Intelligent CAD （JiglCAD） System＂.展开更多
基金Department of Science and Technology,Government of India for providing financial support under the scheme FIST(No.SR/FST/ETI-388/2015)。
文摘Fixture design and planning is one of the most important manufacturing activities, playing a pivotal role in deciding the lead time for product development. Fixture design, which affects the part-quality in terms of geometric accuracy and surface finish, can be enhanced by using the product manufacturing information(PMI) stored in the neutral standard for the exchange of product model data(STEP) file, thereby integrating design and manufacturing. The present paper proposes a unique fixture design approach, to extract the geometry information from STEP application protocol(AP) 242 files of computer aided design(CAD) models, for providing automatic suggestions of locator positions and clamping surfaces. Automatic feature extraction software "FiXplan", developed using the programming language C#, is used to extract the part feature, dimension and geometry information. The information from the STEP AP 242 file is deduced using geometric reasoning techniques, which in turn is utilized for fixture planning. The developed software is observed to be adept in identifying the primary, secondary, and tertiary locating faces and locator position configurations of prismatic components. Structural analysis of the prismatic part under different locator positions was performed using commercial finite element method software, ABAQUS, and the optimized locator position was identified on the basis of minimum deformation of the workpiece.The area-ratio(base locator enclosed area(%)/work piece base area(%)) for the ideal locator configuration was observed as 33%. Experiments were conducted on a prismatic workpiece using a specially designed fixture, for different locator configurations. The surface roughness and waviness of the machined surfaces were analysed using an Alicona non-contact optical profilometer. The best surface characteristics were obtained for the surface machined under the ideal locator positions having an area-ratio of 33%, thus validating the predicted numerical results. The efficiency, capability and applicability of the developed software is demonstrated for the finishing operation of a sensor cover – a typical prismatic component having applications in the naval industry, under different locator configurations.The best results were obtained under the proposed ideal locator configuration of area-ratio 33%.
基金National High-tech Research and Development Program of China (2007AA041902)
文摘In order to reduce the development cycle of mechanical products and corresponding toolings, a large number of components are utilized in these structures. Accordingly, automatic location method for components is a key issue in the research on intelligent computer aided design （CAD） techniques. Integrated with the investigation into intelligent design techniques for aircraft manufacturing toolings, in-depth researches on this issue are conducted. Formalized automatic location principles, representative methods and implementation algorithms are proposed and established. First, several terms and their formalized representative methods including process condition, location base and location operator are defined. Second, computation modeling of components automatic location and methods of location transformation are proposed. Then, definition of base structure and some key algorithms for automatic location are introduced. These principles and algorithms are developed, applied and verified in research project ＂Jig Intelligent CAD （JiglCAD） System＂.
