AN AUTOMATED ASSEMBLY ENVIRONMENT IN FEATURE-BASED DESIGN

In the integration of design and manufacturing, one of the primary tec hniques is to evaluate the parts in the assembly so that the labour co st can be reduced. In this paper, the mechanical parts within the desi gn and assembly are examined, and an integrated architecture of an ass embly model is proposed which includes a proper assembly environment, the interface between the assembly model and feature-based design, and a knowledge-based expert system for assembly analysis. In order to de termine satisfactory plans for assembly and to achieve the required fu nctions in the product model, explicit relational information between the major components is implemented. The evaluation of interference ch ecking of the parts and the geometric tolerances (such as perpendicula rity, parallelism, and angularity) of the parts in the assembly model are also studied.