Object-oriented design of product assembly feature data requirements in advanced assembly planning

Abstract

Purpose This paper introduces a schema for the product assembly feature data in an object-oriented and module-based format using Unified Modeling Language (UML). To link production with product design, it is essential to determine at an early stage which entities of product design and development are involved and used at the automated assembly planning and operations. To this end, it is absolutely reasonable to assign meaningful attributes to the parts’ design entities (assembly features) in a systematic and structured way. As such, this approach empowers processes such as motion planning and sequence planning in assembly design. Design/methodology/approach The assembly feature data requirements are studied and definitions are analyzed and redefined. Using object-oriented techniques, the assembly feature data structure and relationships are modeled based on the identified requirements as five UML packages (Part, three-dimensional (3D) models, Mating, Joint and Handling). All geometric and non-geometric design data entities endorsed with assembly design perspective are extracted or assigned from 3D models and realized through the featured entity interface class. The featured entities are then associated (used) with the mating, handling and joints features. The AssemblyFeature interface is realized through mating, handling and joint packages related to the assembly and part classes. Each package contains all relevant classes which further classify the important attributes of the main class. Findings This paper sets out to provide an explanatory approach using object-oriented techniques to model the schema of assembly features association and artifacts at the product design level, all of which are essential in several subsequent and parallel steps of the assembly planning process, as well as assembly feature entity assignments in design improvement cycle. Practical implications The practical implication based on the identified advantages can be classified in three main features: module-based design, comprehensive classification, integration. These features help the automation and solution development processes based on the proposed models much easier and systematic. Originality/value The proposed schema’s comprehensiveness and reliability are verified through comparisons with other works and the advantages are discussed in detail.

Assessing sustainable recyclability of battery systems: a tool to aid design for disassembly

“…This method offers a trade-off between accuracy and complexity, exemplified in a case study on an LCD screen within the electrical and electronic equipment field. The introduction of a disassembly map stems from previous work on feature-based design for assembly (De Fazio et al, 1993), also used for advanced assembly planning (Khabbazi et al, 2017(Khabbazi et al, , 2018, and provides details to streamline disassembly. The map by De Fazio et al ( 2021) delivers a full representation of a product architecture.…”

From CAD to Plug & Produce - A generic structure for the integration of standard industrial robots into agents

“…Further, tolerances from CAD models and force sensors have been used to feel and verify the assembly [14]. Another approach is to link product design directly into assemblies by machine-readable answers to queries by object-oriented and feature-based data modeling, divided into five different ontologies, part relationships, mating, joint, and handling features [15,16]. A semantic description language RoboEarth describes the kinematics and actions of mobile service robots utilizing maps of the environment defined by standardized semantics [17].…”

Beyond assembly features: systematic review of the core concepts and perspectives towards a unified approach to assembly information representation

“…Finally, other generic definitions do not offer further details about the information contained in an assembly feature (Van Holland and Bronsvoort 2000;Pang et al 2006;Rachuri et al 2006;Manbub Murshed et al 2008;Zhang et al 2015;Hasan et al 2016b;Lupinetti et al 2016a;Khabbazi et al 2018). Additionally, a standardized definition of assembly feature was provided in the STEP standard as "an element to specify the relationships between a pair of assembled components" (ISO 2005).…”

“…A sample of additional approaches includes the collaborative product assembly design system (Shyamsundar and Gadh 2001), the assembly feature graph-tree model (Qi 2009), the product-process-system model (Lanz 2010), the assembly feature data instance model (Khabbazi et al 2017(Khabbazi et al , 2018; and, the feature-based function block control framework (Adamson et al 2019). Also, the semantics approaches such as Sinfonia (Brunetti and Golob 2000), the 3D virtual assembly process planning (3DVAPP) ontology (Lv et al 2011), the Assembly Reference Ontology (ARO) (Imran and Young 2015); and the ontology model for assembly process planning knowledge (Huang et al 2015).…”