An investigation of an expert system for sheet-metal bending design

Abstract

The major objective of this paper is to study the possible application of an expert system in sheet-metal bending, and to build a prototype of a sheet-metal bending expert system on a PC/AT. On this basis, a large expert system could then be developed to enhance the design capability of sheet-metal bending. This sheet-metal bending expert system utilizes the qualitative data in a knowledge base and the quantitative data in a database, together with empirical design data, to aid the user in the design of sheet-metal bending. By means of the heuristic concept, the user can use data with the implicit expert experience and can alter the design whenever the design result is not satisfactory. Further to the above, this system has learning capability for the design of sheet-metal bending. When the inference engine cannot infer a result or a large quantity of data is going to be added into the rule base, the learning system can be started to convert data into qualitative rules and then save them in the rule base. Finally, the deduced drawing of the sheet-bending dies is demonstrated using AutoCAD graphic software.