Research On Key Technologies For Knowledge-based Injection Mould Assembly Design System

Injection mould assembly design is a key part of injection mould design and is a creative thinking process based on design experts' experience and knowledge. How to increase the automation of injection mould assembly design has been the focus of injection mould CAD area.This paper applies KBE(Knowledge-based Engineering)technology into injection mould design. We transform the expert experience in injection mould assembly design into a format accepted by CLIPS(C Language Integrated Production System), establish injection mould assembly design knowledge base, and utilize CLIPS inference engine to accomplish the automatic knowledge inference, hence realize the intelligent design of injection mould assembly.First, this paper overviews the development and state of CAD/CAM, the basic principles, realization technologies and application prospect of KBE, proposes local intelligent design method, use part design in software engineering, establishes the overall structure of knowledge-based injection mould assembly design system, clearly illustrates the system's activity and inner data flow, which are the necessary preparation for the implementation and realization of the system.Second, research is conducted on the key technologies for the realization of the system: the acquirement, representation and inference of injection mould assembly design. Embedded CLIPS is used as the knowledge inference engine to the system and intelligent injection mould assembly design is realized. By acquiring expert experience and knowledge in injection mould assembly design, translating them into a production rule format that can be accepted by CLIPS, we establishes injection mould assembly design knowledge base. The procedure of embedding CLIPS on VC platform is given, the information exchange between VC and CLIPS, database access, inference process control and check, inference mechanism are also thoroughly studied. We also study on how to automatically generate three dimensional CAD model by using featured based parameter technology. The major data structure used in the implementation of the system is given.Based on the above theory study, knowledge-based injection mould assembly system is developed using C and Pro/TOOLKIT on the platform of Pro/E. Case studies show the technology method proposed by the paper is feasible.We believe it's highly valuable to combine KBE teclinology, CAD technology, expert knowledge and experience to establish intelligent design and decision system, develop an advanced mould design expert system, improve overall technology level in mould design, design high quality by low cost and good decision ability.