Module selection methodology for designing reconfigurable machining systems

摘要

This paper presents a systematic, feature-based selection methodology to select the minimum yet sufficient set of modules (DP's) to satisfy a given set of machinable features (FR's) in order to construct a reconfigurable machining system capable of producing a part family. Two cases of selection are considered: selecting DP's for single FR's, and for multiple FR's. The second case considers two selection scenarios: selecting separate DP's to individually satisfy the FR's, and selecting a single DP to simultaneously satisfy all the FR's. These selection cases and scenarios are necessitated by our previous work done on developing a method for module identification. Each step of the methodology is presented in detail, and then subsequently illustrated by being applied to a case study. The case study deals with the design of the overall layout of a reconfigurable machining system required to machine a given family of die molds.