AN INTELLIGENT SOFTWARE SYSTEM FOR THE AUTOMATIC-GENERATION OF NC PROGRAMS FROM WIREFRAME MODELS OF 2-1 2D MECHANICAL PARTS/

The aim of this work is to generate automatically NC part programs for machined components of 2-1/2 dimensions starting from a wireframe CAD model. An IGES post-processor was developed to interface the system t o any CAD system, then a conversion program sought to obtain solid mod elling geometry from the wireframe model. Subsequently, drawing annota tion information was allocated to solid model entities through pattern matching techniques in Prolog. The product model was completed by der iving feature instances according to pre-defined feature templates con structed in Prolog according to a simple model. Operation selection us es the feature model as well as process planning knowledge structured into a hierarchy of Prolog rules processed by a context sensitive infe rence engine. The resulting operation sequence is communicated to a mo dule that calculates cutting conditions and produces NC code. The syst em was proved to work satisfactorily,vith components of an industrial standard. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved