DIGITAL PANEL ASSEMBLY FOR AUTOMOTIVE BODY-IN-WHITE

摘要

This paper presents the methodology of Digital Panel Assembly (DPA), a computer aided approach in automotive body panel assembly. Core to the methodology is special-purpose finite element software, EAVS, that can simulate the panel assembly processes and predict assembly dimensions by taking into considerations of the compliant nature of panels and sub-assemblies. To validate the methodology, a non-contact EOIS optical scanning procedure for panel measurement is established. The validation study shows that the reported methodology can accurately predict the 1st level panel sub-assemblies. Finally, the resource requirements, functional capabilities, and scalability of the digital panel assembly methodology towards a complete Body-in-White implementation are discussed.