A PROTOTYPE SOLID-MODELING-BASED AUTOMATED PROCESS PLANNING SYSTEM

This paper presents a prototype solid modeling-based automated process planning system. In this system a three dimensional (3D) finished par t is built by using a solid modeling package. The solid primitives (cy linder, cone, block, wedge, sphere, and torus) are used to define the removal volume. The process plan is then generated based on the recogn ized solid primitives and production rules. This research was implemen ted on a PC platform. The CAD interfaces for this system were develope d by using the AutoCAD Advanced Modelling Extension (AME) software. Th e solid primitives recognition program was written in the C language a nd embedded in an expert system program developed by using the CLIPS s oftware.