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Process Planning For Sheet Metal Parts Based On Information Management
Process Planning For Sheet Metal Parts Based On Information Management
Process Planning For Sheet Metal Parts Based On Information Management
DOI 10.1007/s00170-006-0484-8
1 Introduction
Sheet metal parts are widely used in the manufacturing
industry (such as the car manufacturing, construction
machinery manufacturing and shipbuilding), where the raw
sheet material accounts for a remarkable proportion of the
total production cost. In some conventional manufacturing
factories, however, sheet metal cutting (including flame,
plasma, laser cutting, etc.) is carried out in a divisional
manner, i.e. each workshop within the factory separately
Y. Rao (*) . G. Huang . P. Li . X. Shao . D. Yu
School of Mechanical Science & Engineering,
Huazhong University of Science & Technology,
1037 Luoyu Avenue, Hongshan District,
Wuhan, 430074, Peoples Republic of China
e-mail: ryq@mail.hust.edu.cn
Tel.: +86-27-87543871
Fax: +86-27-87543074
437
CAD
systems
Unfolding
DXF
Production planning
system (e.g.MRPII)
DB
DB
Nesting planning
CAD
Stock-sheets
Inter-nesting
Auto-nesting
KB
Cutting
process planning
Residual
sheet forming
CAPP
Simulation/
Monitoring
NC-programming
CAM
Production planning
system (e.g. MRPII)
Residual sheet
Confirmation
438
Fig. 2 The knowledge-based
integrated CAD/CAPP/CAM
sub-systems
2D-patterns
Process-oriented nesting
Part layout
KB & DB
(CAPP)
Cutting process planning
Nesting Rules
Optimal Nesting
Algorithms
Cutting Sequencing
Algorithm
Cutting Process Rules
Processing layout
Machine Data
Automatic NC-programming
(CAM)
NC codes
Management
Features
Shape
Features
Geometry / Topology
Part Level
Material
Features
Feature
Level
Geometric Level
439
3 Nesting planning
The work plan for sheet metal cutting from the production
planning system (e.g. MRPII) is a general production plan,
which includes the specifications, quantities and due-dates
of the mass sheet metal parts to be produced (cut). In order
to fulfill the work plan, the nesting plans for the sheet metal
nesting and cutting must be generated. First of all, the sheet
metal parts are classified into different groups according to
their material and thickness. Those parts with an identical
material and an equal thickness, which can be laid out onto
the same kind of stock-sheets, are arranged into a specific
group. For the parts within a group (this part group is still
called a work plan in this paper for description convenience), they may be arranged onto a series of separate
stock-sheets due to the size limitation of one such stocksheet. The process of determining which parts are to be
placed and cut from a single stock-sheet is called nesting
planning. A nesting plan assigns the parts to a stock-sheet,
rather than determining the geometric details of these parts
for a complete layout.
Three objectives are required to be met for a good
nesting plan:
bi
S
R
W1
W2
W3
i1
i1
>
>
: 0 ni Ni ;
ni are integers
i 1; 2;:::; M :
(2)
where VAR
M), and
ni
Ni
n o
represents the variance of
ni
Ni
(i=1,2, ...,
12
0
,
,
2
M
M
X ni
X ni C
ni
B
VAR
1 P
@1 P
M
M
A
Ni
Ni
bi i1
bi i1 Ni
i1
1=m
i1
M
X
i1
ni
Ni
2
1=m
M
X
i1
ni
Ni
!2
(3)
440
Fig. 4 The concept of straintransitional-layer for sheet metal
bending
m
:
i
i1
1
2
So, the total problem number is NQ CM
CM
M
CM : For each standard quadratic problem, some goal
programming methods (e.g. Powell, Newton) can be
applied to achieve a solution. Maimon [18] also proposed
a Branch and Brand (B&B) method. Here the three special
cases that commonly arise in the production are discussed:
Outer
contour
ni si
Step 2
Estimate the number (NS) of the given stock-sheets
(lengthwidth) needed to lay out all the parts: NS
Ceil ST =R length width: Ceil(x) denotes the smallest integer greater than x.
Step 3
Calculate the part number (ni) of each type within the
nesting plan: ni FloorNi =NS : Floor(x) denotes the
largest integer less than x.
The final nesting plan is achieved via the iteration
between the nesting planning and the exact nesting by
changing the parameter R according to the method
mentioned before.
S
P
M
X
i1
Outer
contour
S
P: Piercing point
Case 1
The raw material utilization is mainly concerned (W1 >>
W2 and W1 >> W3).
Case 2
The production priority is mainly concerned (W2 >>
W1 and W2 >> W3).
Case 3
The operational efficiency is mainly concerned (W3 >>
W1 and W3 >> W2).
E
P
: Cutting direction
Inner
contour
E
S
P
Inner
contour
S
PS: 'Cut-in' auxiliary path SE: 'Cut-out' auxiliary path
441
Fig. 6 The concept of cutter
diameter compensation
Cutter
Left compensation
4 CAD/CAPP/CAM
The CAD/CAPP/CAM sub-systems are responsible for the
information modeling of sheet metal parts, the generation
of part layouts and the cutting process planning, as well as
the automatic generation of NC programs. These subsystems are integrated in terms of data processing and
information sharing, running under the support of the
knowledge base and database (KB & DB). Figure 2 depicts
the configuration and information flows of the CAD/
CAPP/CAM sub-systems.
Right
compensation
442
180
Ang1
r1 f Mat; H; Ang1 ; r1 H
180
Ang1
r1 k1 H
180
Lunfold
1
(4)
180
Ang2
r2 k2 H
180
Lunfold
(5)
(6)
Rule 3
If the outer contours of two parts both include a long
linear edge, then endeavour to place them adjacent so
that the edge is shared. This long linear edge may be
planned as a shared cutting path and cut only once for
the two parts so as to improve the cutting efficiency
and reduce the manufacturing cost.
Rule 4
Endeavour to lay out small parts together (so that
several adjoining parts may be cut together, being
pierced only once).
These nesting rules, however, may reduce the raw sheet
material utilization rate. Therefore, the trade-off between
reducing waste and improving process is evaluated when
generating a layout. Several nesting algorithms [17] for
different scenarios of the sheet metal part portfolio have
been developed in our study, and the rules for selecting
appropriate algorithms are included in the nesting
approach.
Algorithm 1
The nesting algorithm for identical complex shape
parts.
Algorithm 2
The nesting algorithm for rectangular or close to
rectangular shape parts.
Algorithm 3
The nesting algorithm for irregular shape parts.
Algorithm 4
The nesting algorithm in residual stock-sheets (with
irregular borders).
Realizing that it is unlikely to generate a purely
automatic computerized solution, a humanmachine interaction module (interactive nesting) is developed to improve
the automatically generated layouts. The nesting rules also
work when the layouts are improved via the human
machine interaction.
Rule 1
If a part is required to be placed along the grain of
metal sheet, then fix the orientation of the part or only
allow it a 180 rotation.
Rule 2
If the shape of a part is long and narrow, then try to
place the part close to the border of the stock-sheet to
mitigate the heat distortion.
443
Fig. 7 The parametric descriptions of line and arc and their
offsets. a Line offset. b Arc
offset
offset
d
(x2, y2)
f(t)
f'(t)
offset
d (x2, y2)
f'(t)
f(t)
da
r
t
a
(x0, y0)
(x1, y1)
(0, 0)
(0, 0)
a Line offset
b Arc offset
Rule 1
The part close to the border of the stock-sheet (or
the inner contour area), which may be dynamiTable 1 The part information of a work plan in the case study
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Z30130101611
Z50G120105103
Z50F120101001A
Z50G120101008
Z50F120402003C
Z30130101614
CG50.12.19
CG50.12.1.61
Specification (mm)
100100
200100
696422
12350
450327
230230
260130
150120
(x1, y1)
Area (mm2)
5.9103
1.27104
2.292105
6.0103
6.09104
2.74104
3.33104
1.41104
Quantity
Priority
400
300
100
200
200
400
200
200
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
444
Fig. 8 The first layout to be
repeated 33 times
445
Fig. 10 The automatic generation of NC codes
Rule 4
If two outer contours share a long linear edge, then the
edge is planned as a shared cutting path to be cut only
once for both contours.
4.3 NC-programming
The NC-programming sub-system is responsible for automatically generating the NC codes suitable for the working of the cutting machines. According to the processing
layout from the CAPP sub-system, the geometry of each
part (contour) in the layout is determined, and the cutting
information (such as the piercing point, cutting direction
and cutting path) of each part (contour) is also determined.
The NC-programming process for a layout includes two
steps. Firstly, the common tool path data of all parts
(contours) are generated according to the processing
layout. Secondly, the common tool path data are postprocessed in accordance with the NC instruction sets of the
cutting machines to generate the final NC codes able to
carry out the CNC working.
Due to the significant spot size of a cutting tool (i.e. the
flame/plasma/laser cutting torch in this study), the cutterdiameter (i.e. the spot size of the torch) compensation
needs to be taken into account in the cutting path planning
so as to ensure the dimension precision of the sheet metal
parts. There are two different approaches to compensate the
cutter diameter. One approach is to automatically implement the compensation by the control system of the CNC
machine via the relevant preparatory NC codes in the
second step of NC-programming; the other approach is to
appropriately offset the contours of the sheet metal parts
prior to the generation of common tool path data in the first
step of NC-programming. We term the former hardcompensation whilst the latter soft-compensation.
(1)Hard-compensation
Hard-compensation allows the cutters of various diameters to be used with a common datum, without having to
alter the NC program. The cutter can be assumed to travel
round the profile being cut and allowance for the actual
diameter of the cutter is automatically made by the
controller of the CNC machine. The cutter-diameter
compensation for the CNC cutting machines is controlled
by the following preparatory codes:
Figure 6 illustrates the concept of cutter diameter hardcompensation. The inner contour is left compensated
whilst the outer contour is right compensated. For the
inner contour, starting at any point and face in the direction
of the cutter travel by following the arrows, it can be seen
that the path of the cutter is always to the left of the surface
being machined. Similarly, for the outer contour, the path
of the cutter is always to the right of the surface being
machined.
Whether left or right compensation should be applied to
a contour depends on the type (Outer - outer contour or
Inner - inner contour) and the direction (CW - clockwise or
CCW - counter clockwise) of the contour. For example, if a
contour is Outer and CCW (as in Fig. 6), then it is right
compensated. A unified criterion is presented here to
determine whether left or right compensation should be
adopted:
Sign bCT bCD
(7)
446
where:
(8)
(9)
where (x1, y1) is the start point of the original line, (x2,
y2) is the end point, a is the angle between the line and
the +x axis (0a2), d is the offset distance, t is the
variable (0tlength of the line). In Eq. 10, the sign of
d is obtained by: Sign(d)=bCTbCD, where the meanings of bCT and bCD are the same as in Eq. 7.
b. Offset of arc
Referring to Fig. 7b, the parametric equations of an
original arc and its offset arc are described as Eqs. 11
and 12, respectively.
f t xt; yt r cos t x0 ; r sin t y0
(11)
f 0 t f t dcos t; sin t
(12)
where (x0, y0) is the central point of the original arc, (x1,
y1) is the start point, (x2, y2) is the end point, a is the
start angle (the included angle between the connection
line from the central point to the start point and the +x
axis, 0 a 2), da is the central angle (0 < da <2), r
is the radius, d is the offset distance, t is the variable
(a t a+da).
To obtain the correct offset of an arc in a contour, the
sign of d in Eq. 12 is the key point. Assume bAD is an
integer variable to represent the direction of the arc
along the direction of the contour (bAD=1 if the arcs
direction is CW; bAD=1 if CCW), the sign of d can be
obtained by the following unified criterion: Sign(d)=
bCT bCD bAD, where the meanings of bCT and bCD
are the same as in Eq. 7.
After all elements of a contour are offset, the intersection points between two adjoining elements of the
contour are calculated so as to obtain the whole offset
contour as the compensated tool path.
5 Case study
The presented information system has been successfully
applied in several sheet-metal-related manufacturing factories in China. In this section, an example of the
application in such a factory is presented, where four
CNC flame-cutting machines are used to cut the mass sheet
metal parts for several types of construction machinery in a
centralized way. Table 1 lists the sheet metal parts within
one specific group (material=Q235, thickness=10 mm) of a
work plan generated by the production planning system
(MRPII). The 2D pattern models of these parts have been
established and stored in the database. Refer to Fig. 8 for
the shape of each part type. For simplicity, the part group
here is still described as a work plan.
(1) Nesting planning
(10)
447
6 Conclusions
To support the centralized mass sheet metal cutting
paradigm, an integrated manufacturing information
system, which includes the functions of sheet metal part
modeling and unfolding, nesting planning, automatic and
interactive nesting, cutting process planning, NC-programming, off-line processing simulation and on-line monitoring, is presented in this paper. With the contribution to
some key technologies for its implementation, the whole
information system has been developed in Microsoft Visual
C++ 6.0, and successfully applied in several sheet-metalrelated manufacturing factories in China. Its applications,
one of which is exemplified in the paper, have brought
great benefits to the factories in terms of raw sheet material
utilization, manufacturing cost, operational efficiency and
production management.
Acknowledgement We would like to acknowledge the support of
the National Basic Research Program of China under grant number
2005CB724100.
(4) NC-programming
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