光盤盒底盒注塑模具設(shè)計與制造【含CAD圖紙+三維CROE+文檔】,含CAD圖紙+三維CROE+文檔,光盤,盒底盒,注塑,模具設(shè)計,制造,CAD,圖紙,三維,CROE,文檔 ORIGINAL ARTICLEAlgorithm for automatic parting surface extensionin the mold design navigating processWen-Ren Jong&Tai-Chih Li&Rong-Ze SyuReceived: 30 June 2011 /Accepted: 28 November 2011#Springer-Verlag London Limited 2011Abstract This study focused on the planning and de-velopment of an algorithm and process for automaticparting surface design under the CAD software archi-tecture. Relating to the smooth opening of a mold, theparting surface is an important step of mold design. Theparting surface can be categorized into the main partingsurface and the shut-off parting surface. This studydeveloped an algorithm of extension rules for the mainparting surface and determined the contour vector andgeometric relationship via computer software. It canrealize the main parting surface automatic extensionand can be embedded into a web-based mold designnavigating process. Through a standardized design pro-cess, it can reduce the number of mouse clicks by 90%,enabling users to rapidly complete mold designs, reducedesign errors, and improve efficiency.Keywords Molddesign.Automaticdesign.Partingsurface.Navigatingprocess.Pro/Web.Link1 IntroductionTraditional mold design and manufacturing processes, fromthe conceptual design and mold design to manufacturing,assembly, and testing, depend on the expertise andexperience of professionals. However, it takes time tofoster a professional who can do the job independently,and personnel turnover may lead to substantial lossesfor enterprises and the loss of intangible assets, such asaccumulated experience and expertise. Therefore, how toretain experienced employees and allow other employeesto effectively absorb knowledge through systematicmanagement is a topic of concern. It is a current trendto integrate knowledge and technology into automaticdesign concepts for various types of professional appli-cation modules that engineers can directly use. System-atic automation can shorten model design time andreduce human errors in design, as well as losses result-ing from the flow of talent. This study aimed to devel-op a mold parting surface design based on the conceptof automation.Nee et al. 1, 2 suggested generating a three-dimensionalparting line and parting surface, based on the best partingdirection, to divide the molding surface into three majorgroups according to the de-molding direction and topolog-ical relationship. The maximum edge loop surface groupsare defined to generate the edge loop, and different surfaceedge loop groups are set up to define the major parting lineand other parting lines, respectively. In addition, Nee et al.also proposed an effective method to identify and extractundercuts and produce the ideal de-molding direction by thenumber and corresponding volumes of the undercuts. Fu etal. 3 proposed that the possibility of parting and the obvi-ousness of the surface, as well as its plasticity, can improveparting design efficiency. Chakraborty and Reddy 4 deter-mined the optimal de-molding direction, parting line, andparting surface of a two-plate mold by integrating the min-imum undercut areas and the parting surface smoothness aswell as the minimum model depth. Weinstein andW.-R. Jong (*):T.-C. Li:R.-Z. SyuDepartment of Mechanical Engineering,Chung Yuan Christian University,Chung-Li 32023, Taiwan, Republic of Chinae-mail: wenrencycu.edu.twW.-R. Jong:T.-C. Li:R.-Z. SyuR&D Center for Mold and Molding Technology,Chung Yuan Christian University,Chung-Li 32023, Taiwan, Republic of ChinaInt J Adv Manuf TechnolDOI 10.1007/s00170-011-3831-3Manoochehri 5 divided the surface into a mutual relation-ship in the positive direction of the convex surface to findout the optimal draft angle and position of the parting line.Ravi and Srinivasan 6 employed a computer-aided partingsurface design and proposed the relevant design logic forparting models applied in mold design to help engineers.Kong et al. 7 proposed a method using a penetration holeas the searching feature to effectively repair shut-off holeswith complex shapes by applying topological-basedgraphics. Li et al. 8 proposed a method of automaticallygenerating a parting surface that uses edge curves to producea curved surface by segmentation before integrating thesegments to complete the repair of a parting surface. Kumaret al. 9 used polyhedron face adjacency graph to identifytypes of undercuts, completely visible and partially visible,and used the result to determine the optimal parting surface.Dignum and van de Riet 10 proposed a language tomanage knowledge. The language can sort knowledgeby category to summarize sporadic information intorational knowledge for future mining and use. Regardingknowledge management systems, Fahey and Prusak 11pointed out that an excessive emphasis on technological as-pect can lead to indifference between knowledge andinformation. In this case, a knowledge management systemis similar to information management, and it fails to completethe tasks of knowledge management. Thibault et al. 12proposed an integrated productprocess approach to evaluatethe consistency and design parameters with experts knowl-edgedatabasetohelpdesigners selectsuitableforgingprocessand product design parameters. Jong et al. 1315 con-structed a knowledge-based, customized web-based mold de-signnavigatingprocessandinstalledamolddesignnavigatingsystem in a web server. Designers can go online and use thesystem in applications.Most of the past studies have discussed improving theparting surface design and methods of identification withoutmentioning how to apply them in actual design and effec-tively help engineers complete the design tasks. Hence, thisstudy first established the functionality of automaticallygenerating the parting surface and then integrated it withthe mold design navigating process constructed by Jong etal. 13. Different from the past studies, the purpose of thisstudy was not to create or identify the optimization ofparting line. This study focused on how to extend theparting surface automatically with a designed parting linewith a decided mold opening direction. Besides, this studyFig. 1 Development platform of the design navigating processInt J Adv Manuf Technolcould be applied to the CAD software directly. According tothe parting line features planned by the navigating system,the contour vector and geometric relationship were deter-mined. Next, by program computation and judgment, themain parting surface was automatically extended and com-pleted. The completed parting surface was then incorporatedinto the navigating system for mold separation. Thus,knowledge-based automatic functionalities could replacecomplex manual operations to improve design efficiency,reduce errors, and allow the design to become standardized.2 Mold design navigating processIn response to the complex demands of the market, athree-tier architecture 16 has been applied to developsystems, including the mold design navigating system.Based on the project management and relational data-base, this system establishes a standard automatic designprocess. This study attempted to integrate the databasewith the knowledge management system based on thethree-tier system in order to transform design knowledgeand technology into actual processes and functionalitiesto help designers develop molds more rapidly and shareknowledge more easily.2.1 Web-based three-tier architectureA three-tier architecture 16 is the most commonlyused structure for building e-commerce systems. Itincludes the presentation layer, the business logic layer,and the data layer. Its main difference from the tradi-tional client/server architecture is the independent busi-ness logic layer, which can reduce the burden on thecomputer at either the client end or the server end. Thepresentation layer, mainly the browser, is responsible forreceiving the data input by users and presenting theresults. The business logic layer is the bridge betweenthe user interface with the data layer, and the data layeris responsible for the business logic algorithm and dataprocessing as well as web server functions. The datalayer is only for data access and storage. The architec-ture can be constructed within a single server computer.According to the load of the computer, the architecturecan also be separately built into a number of indepen-dent operational platforms.The design navigating platform proposed in this studywas built using the Pro/ENGINEER CAD software, usingits ability to support web browsers that enables users todevelop and design within authorized enterprise networks.In addition, the three-tier architecture developed by Jong etFig. 2 Mold design processInt J Adv Manuf Technolal. 13 was introduced, as shown in Fig. 1, to develop theprogram via Microsoft.NET Framework. International In-formation Services was employed as the web server. Thewebpage development languages used were ASP.NET 4.0(C#), AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) asyn-chronous access technology at the server end and theHTML, CSS, JavaScript, and built-in Application Program-mer Interface (API) set of the CAD software, providing thelogic judgment and data processing the system required.MS-SQL 2008 Express Relational Database ManagementSystem was employed for data access and storage. Regard-ing the media used for data storage and access, the CADfiles generated in the design process were stored in theweb disks of the Intranet. This system enables designersto carry out navigating design within the scope ofIntranet through the embedded browser of the CADsoftware. Meanwhile, the executives and clients on theInternet can also log onto the system to monitor theproject process and design results. With CAD widelyused by the mold development personnel as the coretool, this platform realizes the seamless integration ofproject management, design navigating, and knowledgemanagement.2.2 Navigating process architectureBefore manufacturing, the molds of plastic modelsshould undergo the stages of conceptual design anddetailed mold design. At the design change stage, nec-essary mold design processes are conducted accordingto customer demands. Figure 2 illustrates the molddesign process planned by Jong et al. 14 accordingto the actual implementation in practice. The initialconceptual design is the most important stage, with theFig. 3 User interface of mold design navigating processInt J Adv Manuf Technolpurpose of thoroughly analyzing the model status andpresenting a reliable and accurate report to customersfor subsequent detailed mold design and other relatedissues. The report can affect the cost of manufacturingthe mold and can also provide a reference in the follow-up mold design stage. When the client confirms all theanalysis results of the conceptual design, the processmoves to the detailed mold design stage, covering themold corecavity design, the mold base design, and theengineering drawing design. In the mold industry, seniorengineers often conduct the conceptual design. Engi-neers with 23 years of training can design the moldcorecavity and mold base, while novice engineers aremainly engaged in engineering drawing design.When implementing the detailed mold design, unlessnecessary, engineers design according to the contents ofthe conceptual design. However, features generated at theconceptual design stage are usually for tabulation and plot-ting diagrams only. As a result, the design process is slowdespite the tables and diagrams for reference at the molddesign stage. As necessary features, such as the positions ofthe parting line, angle pin, sliding block, cavity insert, andeject pin, should be reestablished at this stage, the geometricfeatures cannot be used, and repeated work may result inhuman design errors. In addition, most mold designs aretraditionally developed in a sequential process, resultingin a long waiting time for the late-stage designers. Forexample, when the parting surface design is unfinished,the designer responsible for the mold separation anddetailed component has to wait. Some enterprises mayassign one person for one project to reduce waitingtime; however, this may result in the inefficiency tomake full use of the designers capacities.As the entire mold design and manufacturing processcovers a wide range and has complex operations, with-out the control of project management and knowledgemanagement, enterprises cannot improve the overallcompetitiveness. The mold design navigating process isapplied to connect the entire design process, save thedesign information of various stages in a database, andFig. 4 EvalOutline functionalrelation diagramFig. 5 Integration of design and knowledge managementInt J Adv Manuf Technolfeedback information at the proper time. Meanwhile,using a feature-oriented design, the features obtained atthe conceptual design stage can be reused in the de-tailed mold design stage. Then, by project control andcollaborative capabilities, a small number of experiencedengineers can be in charge of the important early stages,Fig. 6 Historical knowledge baseFig. 7 Parting line loopInt J Adv Manuf Technolsuch as the conceptual design and project analysis,while engineers with less experience can collaborate atthe detailed mold design stage. In this way, the employ-ees capabilities can be fully used and the model devel-opment process can be accelerated. Through thesecondary development interface provided by the CADsoftware, the design navigating process is developed forengineers to directly operate the CAD software accord-ing to the process. Figure 3 shows some user interfacesof this mold design navigating process. As such, theautomatic parting surface process proposed in this studyutilizes the feature-oriented concept of the system tocomplete the construction of the parting surface andintegrate it into the design navigating process.2.3 Secondary developmentMost CAD software has a corresponding secondary devel-opment toolkit (API) for users to conveniently developcustomized functions. The Pro/ENGINEER CAD systemprovides three development language environments, includ-ing Pro/Toolkit, Pro/J-Link, and Pro/Web.Link. Pro/Toolkit isa development language based on C+, and it is the develop-ment environment with the most supporting functions. Pro/J-Fig. 8 Extending rule of the parting line going through XY-axesFig. 9 Pro/Web.Linkget parting line which goes through the X-axis and Y-axisInt J Adv Manuf TechnolLink is Java-based. Although the functions provided by Pro/Web.Link are not comparable with those provided by theformer two languages, Pro/Web.Link still provides hundredsof commonly used functions that can directly communicateand operate in the CAD environment. In addition, it is a web-based development language and its programming codes canbe directly written in the JavaScript environment. As a result,it has the capacity for online access and storage of CADinstructions. Hence, this study mainly used Pro/Web.Linkfor the secondary development interface.The entire mold design process includes many tediousand repetitive operations such as file input, size computa-tion, interference checks, and graphic capture, as well asoperations including the assembling, saving of file, andregenerating relevant models. Automatic processing throughprogramming can eliminate many redundant operations.Taking geometric outline computation as an example, al-though CAD provides many corresponding tools, it requiresnumerous mouse clicks and selections to get the results.Through the direct writing of measuring tools using Pro/Web.Link, it takes only one click and selection by the usersto obtain the dimensions of the geometric shape. The systemthen automatically determines the proper size of the moldcorecavity. In this way, it can accelerate the model designprocess and reduce human errors.Figure 4 illustrates the geometric shape computationfunctional relation diagram. The Pro/Web.Link guidelinemanual 17 can help users determine the correspondingpurpose of the functions. According to the EvalOutlinemethod, the function requires the presentation of the spatialmatrix of the model (pfcTransform3D) as well as thefeature removal item types (pfcModelItemTypes). Thecomputation of the model size requires the geometricshape only, and the unnecessary coordinates, points, andaxes can be removed using pfcModelItemTypes. TheEvalOutline method is classified into the category ofthe pfcSolid. Therefore, it should be determined by itsequivalent relations and the pfcModel type should beidentified. The relevance of the pfcBaseSession can thusbe obtained. Using the parental relationship with pfcSes-sion, the type of MpfcCOMGlobal necessary for theinitial announcement can be obtained accordingly. Suchhierarchical relational search and type declaration canrealize the access capabilities of CAD functions.3 Automatic parting surface designThe automatic parting surface planned in this studywas built in the mold navigating process 13. At theinitial conceptual design stage, design navigating cou-pled with design historical knowledge base helps theplanning of the parting line and feeds the results backFig. 10 Parting surfaceextending sequenceFig. 11 Pro/E curve equationInt J Adv Manuf Technolto the historical knowledge base for reference duringthe next design. At the mold design stage, the concep-tual design is employed to establish the parting linefeatures and determine the direction and geometricalrelationship of the parting line using Pro/Web.Link.Coupled with the customized user-defined features inPro/ENGINEER, the main parting surface is automati-cally developed and established.3.1 Conceptual designMold conceptual design requires a thorough analysis ofthe model and decision making of the follow-up molddesign. In the mold industry, the conceptual designstage is often assigned to senior development engineers.Without a systematic knowledge management, if thesenior engineers leave, the design experience andknowledge cannot be maintained and accumulated.Therefore, this study employed a historical knowledgebase in the parting line planning of the conceptualdesign stage to systematically summarize historical de-sign. When engineers are planning the parting line, itcan provide reasonable suggestions and reduce designerrors and change time, as well as feedback reasonabledesign results to the historical database for future refer-ence, in cases of similar models. Thus, the historicalknowledge base can be updated along with the designprojects, and the design technology and experience canbe accumulated. As shown in Fig. 5, with the help of ahistorical knowledge base, the design results are achieved bythe design navigating process. The design results are addedFig. 12 Curve loop directionFig. 13 Comparison of extending sequence and parting line segmentdirectionsInt J Adv Manuf Technolinto the historical knowledge base to help in the developmentof similar models, forming a knowledge accumulation andinheritance loop. Figure 6 illustrates the interface of the his-torical knowledge base for reference in the design navigatingprocess.3.2 Mold designThe proposed automatic parting surface design mainly usesthe parting line features generated from conceptual design todevelop the surface, and the parting line as shown in Fig. 7is based on the curve loop generated by the geometric edgesof model.In the mold design of this study, we determine the direc-tions and geometric positions of curve segments by thesecondary development language, Pro/Web. Link, and de-fine the extension directions of the segments using Z-axis asthe mold opening direction with rules as below:Rule 1:The extending directions of segments at four posi-tions in a model parting line are definite at thebeginning, namely, the parts going through the X-Table 1 Rules of the starting and ending points of the parting line (symmetrical method)Zone 1Zone 2Zone 3Zone 4Start pointEnd pointStart pointEnd pointStart pointEnd pointStart pointEnd pointClockwise parting line loopt01.0t00.0t00.0t01.0t00.0t01.0t01.0t00.0Counterclockwise parting