Framework for the integration of assembly modeling and simulation based on assembly feature pair

• Published in: International journal of advanced manufacturing technology 2015-05, Vol.78 (5-8), p.765-780
• Main Authors: Zhang, Jie, Xu, Zhijia, Li, Yuan, Jiang, Shoushan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Assembling; Assembly; CAE) and Design; Computer simulation; Computer-Aided Engineering (CAD; Constraint modelling; Designers; Engineering; Industrial and Production Engineering; Mechanical Engineering; Media Management; Motion planning; Original Article; Product development; Simulation; Software reviews
• ISSN: 0268-3768; 1433-3015
• DOI: 10.1007/s00170-014-6671-0

Assembly modeling and simulation are two important activities in product development. The former makes an assembly model by specifying mating constraints between parts. The latter visually simulates the process of forming an assembly model through sequencing and finding paths of parts. In practice applications, the sequence of assembling parts in assembly modeling cannot be directly utilized to facilitate path finding and sequencing in assembly simulation, and specifying mating constraints in assembly modeling and finding/sequencing paths of parts in assembly simulation are usually accomplished manually, which are tedious and error-prone. One responsible reason is that when creating part models, designers know how they will interact with each other, but this information is not stored in part models. To alleviate the problems, this paper introduced the concept of assembly feature pair (AFP) and proposed a framework method to integrate assembly modeling and simulation. An AFP consists of form feature pairs on two parts together with assembly behaviors. Correspondingly, the mating constraints between parts and the information of assembly process can be captured to facilitate assembly modeling and assembly simulation. Based on AFP, the framework method can integrate assembly modeling and simulation from three aspects: (1) AFPs will be embedded into part models at part modeling stage, storing designers’ knowledge of how parts will interact with each other, (2) the laborious work of applying mating constraints between parts in assembly modeling will be replaced by instantiating the embedded AFP in part models, and the instantiation sequence of AFPs will be directly used in assembly simulation, and (3) the manual work of planning and sequencing paths of parts in assembly simulation will also be replaced by instantiating the embedded AFP in part models based on the randomized motion planning theory. To demonstrate the theoretical framework, an implementation sample was presented.