Improving product design phase for engineer to order (ETO) product with knowledge base engineering (KBE)

In industry currently Computer Aided Design (CAD) is an important tool for the modification, analysis, or optimization of the 3D virtual environment that replicates the physical product. CAD software is an efficient and reliable tool. However, as globalization increases customer demands, this process needs to be faster and more efficient to accommodate changing product design situations, especially for Engineer-to- Order (ETO) products. ^ The traditional method of product design process is to operate CAD software without argumentation. Design engineers create CAD prototypes and drawings based on available knowledge and information which comes from engineering experts, company standards, industrial practices as well as other sources. Research has shown that 80% of knowledge is not captured in the system. It can be time consuming for the design engineer to provide an accurate and consistent virtual product. Researchers have found that the traditional method is unreliable, inaccurate and inefficient. There is room for improvement in the product design situation for ETO products. There is a need to develop a design method that is faster and reduces costs. ^ Knowledge Base Engineering (KBE) is an alternative system that is built to capture and reuse knowledge. KBE technology is well known for reducing lead-time and design errors using automation. Through integrating KBE technology with CAD software, design engineers create virtual product configurations by applying a scripting language to the CAD model. It requires time and effort invested in a different way than traditional design method, which may cost more to develop. However it is more efficient and accurate when producing multiple configurations. ^ This research experiment is to define a better design method for the ETO product situation by comparing the traditional design method with the KBE/CAD integration method. The research question is Is the Knowledge-Based Engineering (KBE) and Computer Aided Design (CAD) integration design approach more efficient for the reduction of lead time and design error than the traditional method for Engineering-to- Order (ETO) product situations

Versatility And Customization Of Portable Cmm In Reverse Engineering A

Reverse engineering is the technique of gathering scientific knowledge about a part by physically examining it. In the computer aided manufacturing world this is referred to as Part to CAD conversion, where the geometry of physical objects are being captured as Digital 3-D CAD Data. This is vital not only to produce drawing of parts for which no CAD data exists, but also is frequently being used to produce better designs. The industry professionals to achieve this are frequently using Coordinate Measuring Machine [CMM] among other tools. The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate the versatility of portable CMM as a Reverse Engineering Tool through application experiments aimed at industrial and non-industrial solutions. The thesis also researches in to the feasibility of customization options through experimentations focused on reverse engineering. Focusing further on Reverse Engineering applications, some of the interesting digitizing and CAD techniques are demonstrated and compared

Supporting connectivism in knowledge based engineering with graph theory, filtering techniques and model quality assurance

[EN] Mass-customization has forced manufacturing companies to put significant efforts to digitize and automate their engineering and production processes. When new products are to be developed and introduced the production is not alone to be automated. The application of knowledge regarding how the product should be designed and produced based on customer requirements also must be automated. One big academic challenge is helping industry to make sure that the background knowledge of the automated engineering processes still can be understood by its stakeholders throughout the product life cycle. The research presented in this paper aims to build an infrastructure to support a connectivistic view on knowledge in knowledge based engineering. Fundamental concepts in connectivism include network formation and contextualization, which are here addressed by using graph theory together with information filtering techniques and quality assurance of CAD-models. The paper shows how engineering knowledge contained in spreadsheets, knowledge-bases and CAD-models can be penetrated and represented as filtered graphs to support a connectivistic working approach. Three software demonstrators developed to extract filtered graphs are presented and discussed in the paper.The work presented has evolved during the IMPACT project, funded by the Swedish Knowledge Foundation, and has been partly presented on three conferences [8-10]. The three conference papers show the rendering of graphs for CAD-models, spread sheets and KBE-rules together with the first case example in this article. The work has also been partially supported by grant DPI2017-84526-R (MINECO/AEI/FEDER, UE), project CAL-MBE.Johansson, J.; Contero, M.; Company, P.; Elgh, F. (2018). Supporting connectivism in knowledge based engineering with graph theory, filtering techniques and model quality assurance. Advanced Engineering Informatics. 38:252-263. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aei.2018.07.005S2522633

Interoperability between Cooperative Design Modeller and a CAD System: Software Integration versus Data Exchange

The data exchange between Computer-Aided Design (CAD) systems is a crucial issue in concurrent engineering and collaborative design. The paper presents research works and techniques dealing with the interoperability of a Cooperative Design Modeller (CoDeMo), aiming at the integration of product lifecycle knowledge, and a commercial CAD system (CATIA V5). Two kinds of approaches are implemented in the considered case of CAD interoperability for exchanging geometric data, respectively: one is based on a traditional static interface, in which STEP AP203 standard is used; the other is based on a dynamic interface, in which Application Programming Interfaces (API) of the targeted CAD system is adopted. Both approaches should enhance the communication, exchange and sharing of product data between CAD systems for improving concurrent engineering. A comparison between these two approaches is made to show their particular advantages and disadvantages. The development of a translator between the both CAD systems based on each approach has been carried out and evaluated on an assembly case

Social tagging as a knowledge collecting strategy in the engineering design change process

This article focuses on analysing the feasibility of using social tagging as a tool for knowledge collection and retrieval in the context of the product development process (PDP). This process is a social activity that involves groups of individuals who share a common goal: to design a product . Traditional knowledge-based systems (KBS) are not very well suited to capture the tacit knowledge that is embedded in this process. Social tagging is proposed in this article as the mechanism to externalize the tacit knowledge about the best CAD modelling strategies between the design team members. This knowledge is especially relevant for the management of engineering change orders because this process is closely related to the modelling methodology used to create the three-dimensional (3D) CAD models that have to be adapted to accomplish a specific design modification. In order to analyse the feasibility of this approach, an experimental study was conducted to understand the tagging process in this context and the benefit of using this information in the modification procedure of 3D CAD models. Preliminary experimental results show that tagging represents a feasible approach to support knowledge collection on best CAD modelling practices.Alduchin-Quintero, G.; Contero, M. (2012). Social tagging as a knowledge collecting strategy in the engineering design change process. Art, Design and Communication in Higher Education. 10(2):147-162. doi:10.1386/adch.10.2.147_114716210

Extending the data dictionary for data/knowledge management

Current relational database technology provides the means for efficiently storing and retrieving large amounts of data. By combining techniques learned from the field of artificial intelligence with this technology, it is possible to expand the capabilities of such systems. This paper suggests using the expanded domain concept, an object-oriented organization, and the storing of knowledge rules within the relational database as a solution to the unique problems associated with CAD/CAM and engineering data

Interoperability between Cooperative Design Modeller and a CAD System: Software Integration versus Data Exchange

International audienceThe data exchange between Computer-Aided Design (CAD) systems is a crucial issue in concurrent engineering and collaborative design. The paper presents research works and techniques dealing with the interoperability of a Cooperative Design Modeller (CoDeMo), aiming at the integration of product lifecycle knowledge, and a commercial CAD system (CATIA V5). Two kinds of approaches are implemented in the considered case of CAD interoperability for exchanging geometric data, respectively: one is based on a traditional static interface, in which STEP AP203 standard is used; the other is based on a dynamic interface, in which Application Programming Interfaces (API) of the targeted CAD system is adopted. Both approaches should enhance the communication, exchange and sharing of product data between CAD systems for improving concurrent engineering. A comparison between these two approaches is made to show their particular advantages and disadvantages. The development of a translator between the both CAD systems based on each approach has been carried out and evaluated on an assembly case

Development of a knowledge-based and collaborative engineering design agent

In order to avoid errors in engineering design that affect the later product life cycle, especially the manufacturing process, an analysis or evaluation has to be performed at the earliest possible stage. As this evaluation is very knowledge-intensive and often this knowledge is not directly available to the engineer, this paper presents an approach for a knowledge-based and collaborative engineering design agent. The technology based on multi-agent systems enables problem-solving support by an autonomous knowledge-based system which has its own beliefs, goals, and intentions. The presented approach is embedded in a CAD development environment and validated on an application example from engineering design

Mechanism Design and Analysis: Developing an Understanding of Mechanism Motion Through Graphical Modeling

The intention of this article is to provide Technology and Engineering Educators with foundational knowledge of mechanism design and analysis and the ability to develop middle and high school students\u27 mechanism knowledge during practical hands-on learning activities in the STEM classroom. Technology and Engineering Educators\u27 implementation of mechanism design and analysis could promote students\u27 increased depth of mechanical knowledge and ability to apply this knowledge during engineering design challenges. In this article, the authors present an introduction to four-bar mechanism design and analysis using CAD software to produce graphical representations. After designing mechanisms graphical, students should be allowed to produce their mechanisms using tools like 3D printers