A Knowledge Base System for Rapid Design of Harvesting Machinery Chassis

Abstract

During the design of harvesting machinery chassis, a lot of factors should be considered, such as the standard data, expert experience, design formulas and the components' 3D models. It is very difficult to use and manage so many kinds of design data reasonably. Accordingly, the knowledge base system for design of combine harvester chassis is developed based on KBE in this paper. Based on the comprehensive analysis of structural characteristics and design requirements about harvesting machinery chassis, the design knowledge is divided into two parts as follows: one is case knowledge including machine parts, standard parts and hydraulic components; the other is rule knowledge composed of formulas, parameters and type selection. In consideration of the obvious structure of case knowledge and clear causal relationship of rule knowledge, an object- oriented hybrid knowledge representation method combining production knowledge representation with frame knowledge representation is proposed. According to the knowledge representation method, the attribute labels of structural parameters, performance parameters and concept description are determined, and the storage structures of assembly relationships and 3D models of instance knowledge are designed. Meanwhile, the knowledge tree approach is used to design the storage structure to save the rule knowledge such as formula sheets, parameter tables, rule tables, etc. Then the storage of knowledge is realized with the application of relational database SQL Server 2008. Finally, by using Visual Studio 2008 and ADO, a knowledge base system for rapid design of harvesting machinery chassis is built up. The function modules of user management, case- base management and rule-base management are designed and the user operation functions including the addition, modification, inquiry and deletion of knowledge are developed in this system. Most important of all, the system, which is not only convenient to use and manage the knowledge, but also comprehensive to support the rapid design of harvesting machinery chassis, will shorten the developing time of new products and improve design efficiency.