Computational Technology Resources - CCP

Keywords: object-oriented database management system, extensible query language,.

Summary

The usage of virtual prototyping has had great impact on the product development process during the last decade. It has evolved from mainly being applied to high-priced and low series products to include advanced analyses on everyday products [1]. This includes analysis of many of the processes that are performed in manufacturing of a product, such as cutting, welding and heat treatment. The focus of this project is to support the use of simulation tools for the manufacturing process with efficient information management. A system is being developed using database technology were it is possible to handle information prepared for and generated by simulation of analysis models for various types of manufacturing processes.

The manufacturing of the product must be planned during the same time as the product is developed, and in co-operation with the product developers. It is important to determine how the product and the manufacturing process best shall be designed to manufacture the product in the best and most cost-effective way. A change of the product, due to manufacturing problems, affects many areas of the development and is thereby costly. When a product is manufactured, a chain of different manufacturing processes is involved. These processes can ideally share information common to several or all processes such as geometry and material data. It is therefore important that the different simulations that represent the manufacturing processes can exchange information. In the current system, the user gets an overview of the information, such as shapes, nodes, elements, and boundary conditions, and can extract the information that is needed for the next step of the manufacturing simulation. The system uses an embedded database management system for representing and storing the information in a database. This information can then be extracted by posing queries to the database from the simulation tools or by an interactive user.

Incorporated into the system is the general design and simulation program I-DEAS from SDRC. The universal file format, which is an open de facto standard that many simulation programs can import and export, is used for information exchange. A second program incorporated into the system is the MARC finite element program from MSC Software. In this case a procedural interface is used to exchange finite element information. AMOS II [2] is the database management system that is used to store the information and that communicates with the system by using a Java API connection to the database. Furthermore, the system uses the Java3D API to visualize the information to the user, which has the ability to rotate and zoom in to check that the right information is retrieved. The system also has the capability to store information that belongs to the different types of simulations such as various forms of boundary conditions.

The information that is communicated is represented in an information model based on the language EXPRESS [3] that is part of the STEP standard. The EXPRESS language is developed to be capable of representing product information and relations within products. In this work, an information model that is designed to describe analysis information is used. The database management system AMOS II has an interface that makes it possible to import information models represented in the EXPRESS language and import corresponding data, based on STEP Part 21 files. The STEP Part 21 file format is defined in the STEP standard, and describes the information represented in an information model described in EXPRESS.

References

1: Johansson, H., Larsson, T., "Information flow and simulations support in the product development process � A case study", Proceedings from Produktmodeller �98, pp. 271-208, ISBN 91-7219-364-6
2: Fahl, G., Risch, T., and Sköld, M., AMOS � "An Architecture for Active Mediators", The International Workshop on Next Generation Information Technologies and Systems, Hais'fa, Israel, June 28-30, 1993, pp. 47-53
3: ISO 10303-11, Part 11: Description Methods: The EXPRESS Language Reference Manual, ISO 10303-11, International Organisation for Standardisation, 1994

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Front Page Browse CCP CSETS CTR IJRT Other Authors Search Purchase Guide FAQ Contact us	Civil-Comp Proceedings ISSN 1759-3433 CCP: 76 PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ENGINEERING COMPUTATIONAL TECHNOLOGY Edited by: B.H.V. Topping and Z. Bittnar Paper 50 A System for Information Management in Simulation of Manufacturing Processes H. Johansson+, P. Åström+ and K. Orsborn* +Department of Mechanical Engineering, LuleåUniversity of Technology, Sweden Department of Information Technology, Uppsala University, Sweden doi:10.4203/ccp.76.50 purchase the full-text of this paper Full Bibliographic Reference for this paper , "A System for Information Management in Simulation of Manufacturing Processes", in B.H.V. Topping, Z. Bittnar, (Editors), "Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Engineering Computational Technology", Civil-Comp Press, Stirlingshire, UK, Paper 50, 2002. doi:10.4203/ccp.76.50 Keywords:* object-oriented database management system, extensible query language,. Summary The usage of virtual prototyping has had great impact on the product development process during the last decade. It has evolved from mainly being applied to high-priced and low series products to include advanced analyses on everyday products [1]. This includes analysis of many of the processes that are performed in manufacturing of a product, such as cutting, welding and heat treatment. The focus of this project is to support the use of simulation tools for the manufacturing process with efficient information management. A system is being developed using database technology were it is possible to handle information prepared for and generated by simulation of analysis models for various types of manufacturing processes. The manufacturing of the product must be planned during the same time as the product is developed, and in co-operation with the product developers. It is important to determine how the product and the manufacturing process best shall be designed to manufacture the product in the best and most cost-effective way. A change of the product, due to manufacturing problems, affects many areas of the development and is thereby costly. When a product is manufactured, a chain of different manufacturing processes is involved. These processes can ideally share information common to several or all processes such as geometry and material data. It is therefore important that the different simulations that represent the manufacturing processes can exchange information. In the current system, the user gets an overview of the information, such as shapes, nodes, elements, and boundary conditions, and can extract the information that is needed for the next step of the manufacturing simulation. The system uses an embedded database management system for representing and storing the information in a database. This information can then be extracted by posing queries to the database from the simulation tools or by an interactive user. Incorporated into the system is the general design and simulation program I-DEAS from SDRC. The universal file format, which is an open de facto standard that many simulation programs can import and export, is used for information exchange. A second program incorporated into the system is the MARC finite element program from MSC Software. In this case a procedural interface is used to exchange finite element information. AMOS II [2] is the database management system that is used to store the information and that communicates with the system by using a Java API connection to the database. Furthermore, the system uses the Java3D API to visualize the information to the user, which has the ability to rotate and zoom in to check that the right information is retrieved. The system also has the capability to store information that belongs to the different types of simulations such as various forms of boundary conditions. The information that is communicated is represented in an information model based on the language EXPRESS [3] that is part of the STEP standard. The EXPRESS language is developed to be capable of representing product information and relations within products. In this work, an information model that is designed to describe analysis information is used. The database management system AMOS II has an interface that makes it possible to import information models represented in the EXPRESS language and import corresponding data, based on STEP Part 21 files. The STEP Part 21 file format is defined in the STEP standard, and describes the information represented in an information model described in EXPRESS. References 1 Johansson, H., Larsson, T., "Information flow and simulations support in the product development process � A case study", Proceedings from Produktmodeller �98, pp. 271-208, ISBN 91-7219-364-6 2 Fahl, G., Risch, T., and Sköld, M., AMOS � "An Architecture for Active Mediators", The International Workshop on Next Generation Information Technologies and Systems, Hais'fa, Israel, June 28-30, 1993, pp. 47-53 3 ISO 10303-11, Part 11: Description Methods: The EXPRESS Language Reference Manual, ISO 10303-11, International Organisation for Standardisation, 1994 purchase the full-text of this paper (price £20) go to the previous paper go to the next paper return to the table of contents return to the book description purchase this book (price £85 +P&P)
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