A DESIGN-TO-MANUFACTURE CASE-STUDY - AUTOMATIC DESIGN OF POST-FABRICATION MECHANISMS FOR TUBULAR COMPONENTS

An automated design-to-manufacture system and its implementation are o utlined. The system is described in the context of the design of a mec hanism for post-fabrication of miniature metal tubular components. Pos t-fabrication operations considered include dimpling, bending, slottin g, lancing, punching, corseting, and notching. The system has been dem onstrated to reduce design-to-manufacturing cycle time by many orders of magnitude. The method outlined encompasses the integration of rule- based expertise with theoretical considerations underlying the manufac turing process. Using an artificial intelligence language, this module is then linked to a computer-aided design system to automatically gen erate detailed drawings of the mechanism. The system emphasizes the au tomatic design of the assembly and generation of blueprints and NC cod e for appropriate mechanical parts. To determine whether a component c an be made using current company technology, an advise-on-manufacturab ility module was developed. Analytical considerations pertaining to sp ringback effects in bending of thin-walled tubular components are addr essed as a case study. This paper describes the methodology used in de veloping this system as well as the difficulties encountered during th e development.