1、An Integration Framework for Digital Progressive DieDesign and ManufacturingWANG Guoxian1,ZHANG Wenzu2,A.Y.C.Nee1(1.Department of Mechanical Engineering,National University of Singapore,10 Kent Ridge Crescent,Singapore 119260,E?mail:engp1724 nus.edu.sg;2.Institute of High Performance Computing,1 Sci
2、ence Park Road,#01-01 The Capricorn,Science Park II,Singapore 117528)?Abstract:?This paper reports an effort to develop an intelligent integration f ramework f or digital progressive die design andmanufacturing.Both data?and process?centric integration functions are provided by the framework as if a
3、 special ight?weightPDM/PLM(Product Data Management/Product Lifecycle Management)and WM(Workflow Management)system is embeddedin the integrated engineering environment.A f lexible integration approach based on the CAD(Computer?A ided Design)f rame?work tenet is employed to rapidly build up the syste
4、m while the intrinsic characteristics of the process are comprehensively taken intoaccount.Introduction of this integration f ramework would greatly improve the dynamic performance of theoverall progressive diedesign and manuf acturing process.Keywords:?progressive die;?digital manufacturing;?produc
5、t data integration;?process integration;?integrationf ramework1?IntroductionWith the expansion of computing power and its application to an ever greater range of tasks involved in theproduct development process,modern manufacturers are greatly dependent on the Digital Manufacturing(DM)environment,a
6、new generation of Computer Integrated Manufacturing System(CIMS).While stand?alone DMhardware and software tools are crucial components providing benefits individually,the overall product develop?ment process is most effective only after these tools are completely integrated within a common product
7、data andprocess model.T his fostered considerable research efforts to develop integration frameworks 1,2or agent?basedarchitectures3,4to establish a tight link between product design data and the manufacturing processes,plantand resource information.Historically autonomous disciplines,such as CAD,CA
8、E(Computer?Aided Engineer?ing),CAM(Computer?Aided Manufacturing)and even production planning,are thus brought together in acommon workflow that enables the sharing of important product updates,changes and revisions.In design and manufacturing of progressive dies which are a type of stamping tool use
9、d to mass?producesheet metal components,several suites of engineering,AI(Artificial Intelligence)and VR(Virtual Reality)tools(modules)have been introduced,which greatly improved the development process performance.However,progress in data and process integration solutions for all these toolsseems to
10、 lag behind advances of the DM tech?nologies.For example,a recently reported research has only addressed the integration of a subset of design activ?ities from product(re?)modeling to stamping process planning within the full progressive die development pro?cess(see Fig.1)using the knowledge?based b
11、lackboard architecture10which itself seems to be inferior to thecurrently more popular architecture,MAS(Multi?Agent System).Hardly any research can be found on the in?tegration of the full die development cycle.T his paper presents an integration framework providing a commonsoftware infrastructure f
12、or the tool suite achieved in the IPD(Intelligent Progressive Die)initiative 5,6and fur?ther the downstream die component manufacturing or CAPP(Computer?Aided Process Planning)tools,so thatthe full die development process from design to manufacturing can be cohesively integrated.2?The IPD Initiative
13、T he integration framework presented in this paper isan extension of the IPD system,developed and contin?uously upgraded by the National University of Singapore and the Institute of High Performance Computing inSingapore.The IPD system 5,6includes five functional modules(tools),i.e.,feature?based mo
14、deler,unfold?er,process planning module,die configuration module and drawing preparation module and two complementarymodules,i.e.,die template manager and knowledge?based Shell.The design process steps with their corre?sponding functional modules and outputs working on the IPD system are shown in th
15、e upper part above thedashed?line in Fig.1.T he main contributions of the IPD initiative are reflected in two aspects.Firstly,the de?55?sign information achieved in every process step in the fully digitalized design process is stored in a suitable fea?ture?based form,which allows reuse of the design
16、 elements(i.e.,those defined in the feature?based productmodel and other intermediate models)as well as the manufacturing knowledge to automate downstream designtasks using knowledge?based feature?mapping technologies.Secondly,it virtualizes designs using 3D virtualiza?tion technology,e.g.the 3D strip layout.This provides an additional layer of design checks to reduce design er?rors in the early design stage.Fig.1?Progressive die design and manufacturing process flow based on IPD system and its
