Feature-based adaptive numerical control programming method for the environment of changing manufacturing resources

Abstract

Manufacturing environment is always changing due to unexpected reasons, including urgent job insertion, unavailability of machine tools, and changes of production planning, which has imposed significant challenges for numerical control programming, as numerical control programs are always not available any more for changed manufacturing resources. Traditional numerical control programming mode cannot adapt to the new manufacturing environment, and this problem becomes especially pressing for large manufacturing enterprises with production characteristics of small batches and large varieties. In order to address this issue, a feature-based adaptive numerical control programming method for changing manufacturing environment is proposed. A framework including preprocess module and postprocess module is constructed, and the flexibility of the numerical control program is realized through the function separation of the two modules. A feature-based information model including geometric and process information is established for flexible numerical control program generation when manufacturing resources are changed. About 75% numerical control programming work which is manufacturing resource free is done by preprocess module, and the rest is done by postprocess module for changing manufacturing environment. The implementation of the prototype system for the numerical control programming of a typical aircraft structural part shows the feasibility of the proposed method.