Awais Ahmad Khan

An automatic fixture modeling system using search strategy

Fixtures are critical part of both traditional and modern manufacturing operations. The time allocated to the design and manufacture of these components significantly impacts production cycle time and can improve the quality of current and future products, and therefore, significant consideration is required to design fixture and their applications in manufacturing. In this article, design of an automatic modular fixture modeling system is proposed for prismatic components. The proposed system consists of fixture planning, fixture layout, and fixture assembly modules. The process and setup plans are used as input into the system. A rule-based system is developed to assign suitable locating scheme to locate and clamp datum for fixture planning phase. The search strategy is designed to select the locating and clamping points based on geometric and functional constraints. The final fixture assembly is achieved using standard fixture components and CATVBA editor using CATIA V5 as the platform. The graphical fixture database is constructed using commercial fixture components from manufacturers such as Fixture Works and Carrlane. The proposed methodology is successfully validated with multiple case studies.

Computer-aided process planning in prismatic shape die components based on Standard for the Exchange of Product model data

Insufficient technologies made good integration between the die components in design, process planning, and manufacturing impossible in the past few years. Nowadays, the advanced technologies based on Standard for the Exchange of Product model data are making it possible. This article discusses the three main steps for achieving the complete process planning for prismatic parts of the die components. These three steps are data extraction, feature recognition, and process planning. The proposed computer-aided process planning system works as part of an integrated system to cover the process planning of any prismatic part die component. The system is built using Visual Basic with EWDraw system for visualizing the Standard for the Exchange of Product model data file. The system works successfully and can cover any type of sheet metal die components. The case study discussed in this article is taken from a large design of progressive die.

An automatic and optimal selection of parts orientation in additive manufacturing

In additive manufacturing processes such as stereolithography and fused deposition modeling, optimal part orientation is pivotal in improving the quality of the part. This paper aims to propose an automatic and optimal part orientation system to improve part quality/accuracy in additive manufacturing, which minimizes the production time and hence reduces the cost of product.,The developed system reads STEP AP 203 E2 file from CATIA V5 and generates data extraction output file by extracting the relevant geometrical and topological data using an object-oriented approach. Afterwards, the algorithms and rules are developed to extract and recognize feature faces along with their geometric properties such as face type, face area, parallelism and perpendicularity. The feature data obtained that are used to develop feasible part orientations depend on the maximization of G&DT for all part faces. The automatic slicing is then achieved by creating slicing file using CATVBA editor inside CATIA V5.,After slicing, output data are exported in Excel data sheet to calculate the total additive volume of the part. The building time of the part is then calculated on the basis of machine parameters, part geometry, part height, layer thickness and amount of support volume needed to build the part. The optimal orientation of the part is achieved by maximization of G&DT value and minimization of production time. The proposed methodology is tested using an illustrative example.,Although lot of approaches have been discussed in the literature, automation of setup planning/orientation of the part in additive manufacturing is not fully attained. Therefore, the article focuses on the automation of setup planning by adding automatic feature extraction and recognition module along with the automatic slicing during setup planning. Moreover, the significance of adding feature extraction and recognition module is to achieve best accuracy for form feature faces and hence reduction in post processing machining/finishing operations.

An automatic fixture design system for creating prismatic parts

A modular fixture system is a flexible alternative to a dedicated fixture. In this paper, an automatic modular fixture design system is suggested for creating prismatic parts. The system contains fixture planning, fixture modelling, and fixture assembly. The part geometrical database and process plans are considered as inputs to the system. A rule- based method is applied to assign the feasible locating scheme and the locating and clamping datum. The search strategy is designed to determine the most suitable locating and clamping points. The final fixture assembly is made with the standard fixture components using the CATVBA Editor inside CATIAV5. The proposed methodology is successfully validated with a case study.