DESIGN FOR MACHINING USING EXPERT-SYSTEM AND FUZZY-LOGIC APPROACH

Design for machining is an essential part of design for manufacturabil ity (DFM). This paper presents a fuzzy logic expert system, SMARTDFM, to help designers obtaining technical information about design for mac hining. It can help design engineers to consider various machining asp ects in the early stage of product design. A hierarchical structure ha s been established for the knowledge base. This expert system can clas sify all the components into different component shapes. The design gu idelines and their justifications have been built into the expert syst em. This system also offers graphic display for visualization of the p roduct design. Backward chaining is used in the inference engine. This system solves the uncertainty of the classification of component shap es using fuzzy reasoning. The design engineers can obtain very special ized guidelines and explanations about design for machining, such as c omponent shapes, accuracy and surface finish, work material and standa rdization, kinematic design, component assembly, etc. Furthermore, SMA RTDFM offers the shortest path for all the questions so that design en gineers can get the information about design for machining very quickl y. In simple words, SMARTDFM can be used by design engineers to apply design for machining principles efficiently and effectively.