An intelligent process planning system for micro turn-mill parts

Abstract

An attempt has been made to develop a generalised system for the generation of process plan for the manufacture of micro parts in this work. It has two components; first one deals with automatic part feature extraction from feature-based model and second one performs the execution of process planning activities in accordance with feature using knowledge-based system approach. The proposed system maps extensible markup language (XML) data for the feature based-model and produces the corresponding manufacturing activities needed for the manufacture of micro parts. The process plan modules considered in this work includes process sequence, tools and fixtures, process parameters selection and set-up plan generation. An attempt has been made to develop process parameters selection module based on experimental investigation and optimisation apart from manufacturing catalogues and user manuals. Feature extraction through XML files avoids complex feature extraction process. The application of the developed system has been verified with a case study. The present system is limited to micro turn-mill features. Incorporation of more micro features and consideration of other activities of process plan ensures a complete process planning system for micro-machining processes.