Interoperable CNC System for Turning Operations

The changing economic climate has made global manufacturing a growing reality over the last decade, forcing companies from east and west and all over the world to collaborate beyond geographic boundaries in the design, manufacture and assemble of products. The ISO10303 and ISO14649 Standards (STEP and STEP-NC) have been developed to introduce interoperability into manufacturing enterprises so as to meet the challenge of responding to production on demand. This paper describes and illustrates a STEP compliant CAD/CAPP/CAM System for the manufacture of rotational parts on CNC turning centers. The information models to support the proposed system together with the data models defined in the ISO14649 standard used to create the NC programs are also described. A structured view of a STEP compliant CAD/CAPP/CAM system framework supporting the next generation of intelligent CNC controllers for turn/mill component manufacture is provided. Finally a proposed computational environment for a STEP-NC compliant system for turning operations (SCSTO) is described. SCSTO is the experimental part of the research supported by the specification of information models and constructed using a structured methodology and object-oriented methods. SCSTO was developed to generate a Part 21 file based on machining features to support the interactive generation of process plans utilizing feature extraction. A case study component has been developed to prove the concept for using the milling and turning parts of ISO14649 to provide a turn-mill CAD/CAPP/CAM environment.

Authors:

• Yusri Yusof
• Stephen Newman
• Aydin Nassehi
• Keith Case

Keywords:

References:

[1] S. T. Newman, A. Nassehi, X. W. Xu, R. S. U. Rosso
Jr, L. Wang, Y. Yusof, L. Ali, R. Liu, L. Y. Zheng, S.
Kumar, P. Vichare, and V. Dhokia, "Strategic
advantages of interoperability for global manufacturing
using CNC technology," Robotics and Computer-
Integrated Manufacturing, vol. 24, pp. 699-708, 2008.
[2] A. Nassehi, R. D. Allen, and S. T. Newman,
"Intelligent Replication of Manufacturing Information
between CAD/CAM Systems and CNC Controllers,"
presented at Proceedings of the 16th International
Conference on Flexible Automation and Intelligent
Manufacturing Conference (FAIM2006), Limerick,
Ireland, June 2006, 2006.413-420
[3] S. Newman, "Integrated manufacture for the 21st
century Development of the STEP-NC standard and its
implications for manufacturing processes worldwide,"
Metalworking Production, vol. 148, pp. 13-16, 2004.
[4] ISO, "International Organization for Standardization -
ISO 10303-1:1994, Part 1: Overview and fundamental
principles . Product data representation and exchange,"
1994.
[5] ESPRIT, "Project 8643, Optimized preparation of
manufacturing information with multi-level CAM-CNC
coupling (OPTIMAL): final report for publication.,"
1997.
[6] P. Muller, "STEP-NC - New data interface for NC
programming," in STEP-NC Newsletter, Issue 1, April
2000. Erlangen, Germany, 2000, pp. 1-2.
[7] P. Muller, "STEP-NC - New data interface for NC
programming," in STEP-NC Newsletter, Issue 2, July
2000. Erlangen, Germany, 2000, pp. 1-4.
[8] F. Ahlquist, "A Methodology for Operation Planning,"
in Department of Mechanical Engineering, Licentiate
thesis, 2002, 89
[9] R. D. Allen, J. A. Harding, and S. T. Newman, "The
application of STEP-NC using agent-based process
planning," International Journal of Production
Research, vol. 43, pp. 655-670, 2005.
[10] X. Xu and S. T. Newman, "Making CNC Machine
Tools More Open, Interoperable and Intelligent,"
Computers in Industry, vol. 57, pp. 141-152, 2006.
[11] A. Nassehi, S. T. Newman, and R. D. Allen, "STEPNC
compliant process planning as an enabler for
adaptive global manufacturing," Robotic and Computer
Integrated Manufacturing, vol. 22, pp. 456-467, 2006.
[12] X. W. Xu, P. Klemm, F. M. Proctor, and S. H. Suh,
"STEP-Compliant Process Planning and
Manufacturing," International Journal of Computer
Integrated Manufacturing, vol. 19, pp. 491-494, 2006.
[13] S.-J. Shin, S.-H. Suh, and I. Stroud, "Reincarnation of
G-code based part programs into STEP-NC for turning
applications," Computer Aided Design, vol. 39, pp. 1-
16, 2007.
[14] S. H. Suh, B. E. Lee, D. H. Chung, and S. U. Cheon,
"Architecture and implementation of a shop-floor
programming system for STEP-compliant CNC,"
Computer-Aided Design, vol. 35, pp. 1069-1083, 2003.
[15] S. Heusinger, R. S. U. Rosso-Jr, P. Klemm, S. T.
Newman, and S. Rahimifard, "Integrating the CAx
Process Chain for STEP-Compliant NC Manufacturing
of Asymmetric Parts," International Journal of
Computer Integrated Manufacturing, vol. 19, pp. 533-
545, 2006.
[16] X. W. Xu, "Realization of STEP-NC enabled
machining," Robotics and Computer-Integrated
Manufacturing, vol. 22, pp. 144-153, 2006.
[17] I. Choi, S.-H. Suh, K. Kim, M. Song, M. Jang, and B.-
E. Lee, "Development process and data management of
TurnSTEP: a STEP-compliant CNC system for
turning," International Journal of Computer Integrated
Manufacturing, vol. 19, pp. 546-558, 2006.
[18] S.-H. Suh, D.-H. Chung, B.-E. Lee, S. Shin, I. Choi,
and K.-M. Kim, "STEP-compliant CNC system for
turning: Data model, architecture, and
implementation," Computer-Aided Design, vol. 38, pp.
677-688, 2006.
[19] X. Xu and J. Wang, "Development of a G-Code Free,
STEP-Compliant CNC Lathe," presented at Proc of the
2004 International Mechanical Engineering Congress
and Exposition (IMECE),, Anaheim, California,
U.S.A., 2004
[20] X. W. Xu, H. Wang, J. Mao, S. T. Newman, T. R.
Kramer, F. M. Proctor, and J. L. Michaloski, "STEPCompliant
NC Research: The search for Intelligent
CAD/CAPP/CAM/CNC Integration," International
Journal of Production Research, vol. 43, pp. 3703-
3743, 2005.
[21] S. T. Newman, A. Nassehi, X. W. Xu, R. S. U. Rosso-
Jr, L. Wang, Y. Yusof, L. Ali, R. Liu, L. Zheng, S.
Kumar, P. Vichare, and V. Dhokia, "Interoperable
CNC for Global Manufacturing (Keynote paper),"
presented at Flexible Automation and Intelligent
Manufacturing, FAIM2007, Philadelphia, USA,
2007.1-13
[22] R. S. U. Rosso-Jr, S. T. Newman, and S. Rahimifard,
"The adoption of STEP-NC for the manufacture of
asymmetric rotational components," Proceedings of the
Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part B: J.
Engineering Manufacture, vol. 218, pp. 1639-1644,
2004.
[23] L. Alting and H. Zhang, "Computer aided process
planning: A state of the art survey.," International
Journal of Production Research, vol. 27, pp. 553-585.,
1989.
[24] M. A. Younis and A. M. A. Wahab, "A CAPP Expert
System for rotational components," Computers and
Industrial Engineering, vol. 33, pp. 509-512, 1997.
[25] ISO, "International Organization for Standardization -
ISO 10303-Part 21 Industrial automation systems and
integration - Product data representation and exchange
- Part 21: Implementation methods: Clear text encoding
of the exchange structure," 2002.
[26] M. Landy, S. Siddiqui, and J. Swisher, JBuilder
Developer-s Guide, 2003.
[27] Y. Yusof, K. Case, S. T. Newman, and X. W. Xu., "A
STEP Compliant System for Turning Operations,"
presented at 17th International Conference on Flexible
Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing (2007
FAIM), Philadelphia, USA, 2007.140-147
[28] Y. Yusof, "A STEP Compliant Approach to Turning
Operations " in Wolfson School of Mechanical and
Manufacturing Engineering Doctoral Thesis, 2007, 248
[29] ISO, "International Standard 14649-10: Part 10 :
Industrial automation system and integration - Physical
device control - Data model for computerized
numerical controllers - Part 10 : General process data,"
2004.
[30] ISO, "International Standard 14649-12: Part 12 :
Industrial automation system and integration - Physical
device control - Data model for computerized
numerical controllers - Part 12 : Process data for
turning," 2005.
[31] ISO, "International Standard 14649-11: Part 11 :
Industrial automation system and integration - Physical
device control - Data model for computerized
numerical controllers - Part 11 : Process data for
milling," 2004.