Efficient NC process scheme generation method based on reusable macro and micro process fusion

Abstract

Process reuse technology has been widely studied and applied in manufacturing industry. However, the current NC process reuse generally assumes that the micro process is compatible with the macro process, but in fact, the reusable processes from the similar local structures of multiple parts are usually difficult to be compatible with each other under the overall manufacturing requirements of the query parts, which leads to the fact that a large amount of user interactions are still required for modification and adjustment in practical engineering applications, so it is not significant to improve the design efficiency. Therefore, an efficient NC process scheme generation method based on reusable macro and micro process fusion is proposed in this paper. Firstly, according to the calculation of semantic distance of process design intention, the micro processes are mapped to the macro process to realize the fusion of the macro process and the micro process, and a compatibility credibility evaluation model is established to evaluate the compatibility of fusion results. Then, when the fusion result is credible, the machining areas corresponding to the process scheme are adjusted and optimized from the geometric level. The adjustment and optimization of machining areas mainly realize the integration of machining areas and the optimization of machining sequence. Finally, the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed method are verified by the test of actual parts.

Process Planning for Large Container Ship Propeller Shaft Machining Based on an Improved Ant Colony Algorithm

“…Process reuse method Deng et al [9] Huang et al [10] Kowalski et al [11] This method is commonly adopted by enterprises but suffers from inflexibility, leading to localized and fragmented process reasoning.…”