A review of research, commercial software packages and patents on family mould layout design automation and optimisation

摘要

Family mould layout design (FMLD) is demanding and experience-dependent. It involves many sub-design tasks that determine the cost and performance of a family mould in the early conceptual mould layout design phase. This paper conducts a comprehensive literature review in the field of FMLD. The review ascertains that family mould cavity and runner layout design (FMCRLD) automation and optimisation is the critical knowledge gap in FMLD, and it should be viewed as a complex combinatorial layout design optimisation problem. The second part of this paper extends the review of the literature regarding possible computational techniques for supporting FMCRLD automation and optimisation. The review discovers that the evolutionary design approach using genetic algorithms reveals a new opportunity to automate and optimise such complex FMCRLD with an explorative and generative design process embodied in a stochastic evolutionary search. However, implementation of this innovative approach is full of challenges. Further research on this topic is urgently needed.