Ming-style chair parts and its group technology application research

In order to apply the group technology to the production of Ming style furniture, enhance the ability of enterprises to cope with the production of small-batch, multi-variety furniture, this article will take Ming-style chair furniture as an example to make a reasonable division of its parts. The types of Ming-style chair parts are combed, the characteristic information of each component is extracted and the joint mode of mortise and tenon between two parts is summarized. In this way, the process of each mortise and tenon structure is summarized, and the correspondence between mortise and tenon structure and the machinery is established. According to this method, the Ming-style chair parts are summarized and classified into 211 kinds. Based on the similarity of parts processing machinery, all parts of the Ming-style chairs are classified into groups by fuzzy clustering algorithm and MATLAB software calculation. The purpose of this article is to provide a divisional idea for the pre-part classification preparation of Ming-style chair parts in groups for the part family.

HUMAN COGNITION INSPIRED PROCEDURES FOR PART FAMILY FORMATION BASED ON NOVEL INSPECTION BASED CLUSTERING APPROACH

Human cognition based procedures are promising approaches for solving different kind of problems, and this paper addresses the part family formation problem inspired by a human cognition procedure through a graph-based approach, drawing on pattern recognition. There are many algorithms which consider nature inspired models for solving a broad range of problem types. However, there is a noticeable existence of a gap in implementing models based on human cognition, which are generally characterized by “visual thinking”, rather than complex mathematical models. Hence, the natural power of reasoning - by detecting the patterns that mimic the natural human cognition - is used in this study as this paper is based on the partial implementation of graph theory in modelling and solving issues related to part machine grouping, regardless of their size. The obtained results have shown that most of the problems solved by using the proposed approach have provided interesting benchmark results when compared with previous results given by GRASP (Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure) heuristics. Keywords: Cellular manufacturing systems; part family formation; human cognition; inspection-based clustering.

Reconfigurable Machine Tool Design for Box-Type Part Families

The reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS) is a new manufacturing technology and paradigm that resolves the contradictions regarding high efficiency, low cost and flexible production in the mass production of part families. Reconfigurable machine tools (RMTs) are the core components of RMSs. A new approach is proposed for the design of RMTs, which is closely related to the process planning of a given box-type part family. The concepts of the processing unit and the processing segment are presented; they are not only the basic elements of the processing plans of machined parts, but also closely related to the structural design of RMTs. Processing units created by processing features can be combined into various processing segments. All the processing units of one processing segment correspond to the machining operations performed by one RMT. By arranging the processing segments according to the processing sequence, a variety of feasible processing plans for a part can be obtained. Through analysis of the established similarity calculation model for processing plans, the most similar processing plans for the parts in a given part family can be determined and used for the structural design of RMTs. Therefore, the designed RMTs can achieve rapid conversion of processing functions with the least module replacement or adjustment to realize the production of the parts in the part family. Taking the production of a gearbox part family as an example, the validity of the presented method is verified.

A Method for Design of Modular Reconfigurable Machine Tools

Presented in this paper is a method for the design of modular reconfigurable machine tools (MRMTs). An MRMT is capable of using a minimal number of modules through reconfiguration to perform the required machining tasks for a family of parts. The proposed method consists of three steps: module identification, module determination, and layout synthesis. In the first step, the module components are collected from a family of general-purpose machines to establish a module library. In the second step, for a given family of parts to be machined, a set of needed modules are selected from the module library to construct a desired reconfigurable machine tool. In the third step, a final machine layout is decided though evaluation by considering a number of performance indices. Based on this method, a software package has been developed that can design an MRMT for a given part family.

A Method for Design of Modular Reconfigurable Machine Tools

Presented in this paper is a method for the design of modular reconfigurable machine tools (MRMTs). An MRMT is capable of using a minimal number of modules through reconfiguration to perform the required machining tasks for a family of parts. The proposed method consists of three steps: module identification, module determination, and layout synthesis. In the first step, the module components are collected from a family of general-purpose machines to establish a module library. In the second step, for a given family of parts to be machined, a set of needed modules are selected from the module library to construct a desired reconfigurable machine tool. In the third step, a final machine layout is decided though evaluation by considering a number of performance indices. Based on this method, a software package has been developed that can design an MRMT for a given part family.

A Method for Design of Modular Reconfigurable Machine Tools

Presented in this paper is a method for the design of modular reconfigurable machine tools (MRMTs). An MRMT is capable of using a minimal number of modules through reconfiguration to perform the required machining tasks for a family of parts. The proposed method consists of three steps: module identification, module determination, and layout synthesis. In the first step, the module components are collected from a family of general-purpose machines to establish a module library. In the second step, for a given family of parts to be machined, a set of needed modules are selected from the module library to construct a desired reconfigurable machine tool. In the third step, a final machine layout is decided though evaluation by considering a number of performance indices. Based on this method, a software package has been developed that can design an MRMT for a given part family.

Conceptual Design of an Attachment Based Reconfigurable Machine Tool Using Design Structure Matrix

There has been very little research in the field of Reconfigurable machine Tools (RMTs). None of the past research developed a method to design a set of RMT configurations required to machine a part-family. This thesis presents a novel method to determine the functional specifications of the RMT configurations required to machine a part-family. The method is developed by firstly designing the RMT required to machine a single part. Thereafter, this method is extrapolated to suit the problem of a part-family. To design the RMTs for a single part, firstly, the part is decomposed into manufacturing features. Next, a novel method is developed to cluster the features. Each of these feature-clusters corresponds to a single RMT configuration. Based on the machining requirements of these RMT configurations, the modules are designed. These modules are assembled to form the final RMTs. The method is demonstrated by applying it to an example part.

Conceptual Design of an Attachment Based Reconfigurable Machine Tool Using Design Structure Matrix

There has been very little research in the field of Reconfigurable machine Tools (RMTs). None of the past research developed a method to design a set of RMT configurations required to machine a part-family. This thesis presents a novel method to determine the functional specifications of the RMT configurations required to machine a part-family. The method is developed by firstly designing the RMT required to machine a single part. Thereafter, this method is extrapolated to suit the problem of a part-family. To design the RMTs for a single part, firstly, the part is decomposed into manufacturing features. Next, a novel method is developed to cluster the features. Each of these feature-clusters corresponds to a single RMT configuration. Based on the machining requirements of these RMT configurations, the modules are designed. These modules are assembled to form the final RMTs. The method is demonstrated by applying it to an example part.