JP5790063B2 - Design support apparatus, design support method, and program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a design support apparatus, a design support method, and a program. In particular, the present invention relates to a design support apparatus, a design support method, and a program that causes a computer to function as a design support apparatus for supporting design of a part by a CAD system.

  As a method for evaluating whether or not an article has a structure that is easy to make, the first method is called design review at the time of design, and an expert in design and production determines the ease of making based on experience, The method to point out is generally performed. The second method is a general method in which a process plan is made based on a design drawing, a processing estimation cost, an assembly estimation ratio, etc. are calculated, and the ease of making an article is determined based on the total value of these values. is there. The third method is to evaluate the ease of processing quantitatively by the assemblyability evaluation method and quantitatively evaluate the ease of processing by the workability evaluation method. There is a method for evaluating ease, that is, ease of manufacture.

  In the first method, since the evaluation is qualitative and not quantitative, it is difficult to objectively and quantitatively express the degree of quality of the evaluation target product and the effect of improvement, Only someone with experience in design and production technology can evaluate it. Further, the second method can estimate the processing cost, assembly cost, etc. of the entire article, each part, or part of the part, but whether the design structure is good or bad or needs to be improved only by the processing cost, assembly cost, etc. It is difficult to judge, and experience, knowledge and considerable calculation time are required for evaluation, and furthermore, it is difficult to evaluate unless the design is completed or close to the end, so even if it is understood that design improvement is necessary, Once the design is completed, it takes a lot of time to change, so it is difficult to improve the design after the judgment, and insufficient design products are transferred to production without improving the design, improving productivity and reducing costs. Often not. The third method can be evaluated without much experience and requires a short evaluation time. However, it is possible to evaluate the total value of two or more evaluation indexes such as workability evaluation and assemblyability evaluation. The design for certain manufacturability is good or bad, that is, it is difficult to easily determine the optimality. When the design proposal A is proposed, or the design proposal B is proposed to improve the workability but the assemblability deteriorates when the improvement is made mainly by the workability evaluation method, which structure plan is proposed by the designer. It is not easy to determine whether or not to adopt.

  The technique described in Patent Document 1 is a technique for calculating the degree of difficulty in manufacturing a design part based on a coefficient based on an empirical value and evaluating it as an abstract score in order to eliminate the problems as described above. . By outputting the result on a printer or a CAD screen, it is possible to make a policy regarding a specific correction (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

Japanese Patent No. 3230813 Japanese Patent No. 3024350

  However, the techniques described in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 cannot know the detailed dimensions, tolerances, processing accuracy, and the like to be changed when changing the specifications of the designed parts. In addition, the techniques described in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 cannot propose a specific amendment plan that exceeds the specified specifications and restrictions.

In order to solve the above-described problem, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a design support apparatus that supports the design of a part by a CAD system. Identify other equipment that can produce parts of other specifications that have lower production costs and shorter production lead time than the existing equipment that can be manufactured, and convert them to other specifications that can be manufactured by the specified other equipment. A warning is given to the shape information of the parts designed by the CAD system by associating the CAD data with the design change plan generation unit that generates the design change plan and associating the CAD system with the design change plan data generated by the design change plan generation unit. together giving, it contains information on the information and other facilities of the current equipment, and design modifications data output unit to prompt the automatic change to the relevant dimension should be modified to be inexpensively manufactured Is provided.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a design support method for supporting the design of a part by a CAD system, wherein the specification of the part designed by the CAD system is manufactured more than the current equipment capable of manufacturing the part of the current specification. Design change that identifies other equipment that can produce parts with other specifications that are low in cost and shortens the production lead time, and generates a design change proposal for parts with other specifications that can be produced by the specified other equipment A warning is given to the shape information of the parts designed by the CAD system by associating the design change proposal data generated in the design change proposal generation stage with the CAD data, and information on the current equipment. and shows the information of the other equipment, and a design variants data output step of prompting an automatic change to the relevant dimension should be modified to be inexpensive to manufacture.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program for causing a computer to function as a design support apparatus for supporting a part of the design by a CAD system, the computer, the specifications of components designed by the CAD system, the current specification part Identify other equipment that can produce parts of other specifications that have lower production costs and shorter production lead time than current equipment that can manufacture the equipment, and change to parts of other specifications that can be manufactured by the specified other equipment The design change plan generation unit that generates the design change plan and the CAD system warn the shape information of the parts designed by the CAD system by associating the design change plan data generated by the design change plan generation unit with the CAD data. In addition to presenting information on current equipment and information on other equipment, automatic changes to relevant dimensions to be corrected that can be manufactured at low cost It is made to function as a design change proposal data output unit for prompting .

  In addition, as described above, the summary of the invention does not enumerate all necessary features of the present invention, and sub-combinations of these feature groups can also be the invention.

  As is clear from the above description, the present invention can manufacture a part that is lower in manufacturing cost and shorter in manufacturing lead time than a part designed by a designer.

It is a figure which shows an example of the block configuration of the design support apparatus 100 which concerns on one Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the parameter which the parameter extraction part 110 extracts. It is a figure which shows an example of the parameter which the parameter extraction part 110 extracted. It is a figure which shows an example of the data stored in the manufacturing equipment construction method data storage part 140 in a table format. It is a figure which shows an example of the data which the design change proposal data output part 130 outputs. It is a figure which shows an example of the operation | movement flow of the design support apparatus. It is a figure which shows an example of the hardware constitutions at the time of comprising the design support apparatus 100 with electronic information processing apparatuses, such as a computer.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described through embodiments of the invention. However, the following embodiments do not limit the invention according to the scope of claims, and are combinations of features described in the embodiments. Not all are essential to the solution of the invention.

  FIG. 1 shows an example of a block configuration of a design support apparatus 100 according to an embodiment. The design support apparatus 100 is an apparatus that supports design of parts by the CAD system 200. The CAD system 200 is a system used for designing parts.

  The design support apparatus 100 includes a parameter extraction unit 110, a design change plan generation unit 120, a design change plan data output unit 130, and a manufacturing facility construction method data storage unit 140. The function and operation of each component will be described below.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of parameters extracted by the parameter extraction unit 110. FIG. 3 shows an example of parameters extracted by the parameter extraction unit 110. FIG. 4 shows an example of data stored in the manufacturing equipment method data storage unit 140 in a table format. FIG. 5 shows an example of data output by the design change plan data output unit 130. FIG. 6 shows an example of the operation flow of the design support apparatus 100. In the description of this operation flow, both FIGS. 1 to 5 are referred to.

  First, the parameter extraction unit 110 reads design data from the CAD system 200 and extracts parameters that are factors for determining a manufacturing facility (S101). Specifically, the parameter extraction unit 110 extracts parameters such as material name, dimension value / tolerance value / surface roughness, processing accuracy (see FIGS. 2 and 3).

  Then, the design change plan generation unit 120 uses these extracted parameters to determine the part processing method (S102). And the design change proposal production | generation part 120 selects the candidate of manufacturing equipment from the determined processing method and the shape of a member (S103). As shown in FIG. 4, the manufacturing equipment construction method data storage unit 140 used at that time stores information such as the target material, the maximum supported size, the minimum flatness, and the minimum processing accuracy. A range that can be manufactured for the extracted dimensions is determined as a manufacturable facility. For example, when the part is a square bar, the design change proposal generation unit 120 selects the plane cutting device as a candidate for a manufacturing facility.

  When the part is a square member, the design change proposal generation unit 120 determines the XYZ directions with the surface having the largest area in the processed cross section when the six surfaces are the bottom surfaces as the bottom surface (S104). And the design change proposal production | generation part 120 extracts the processing precision of a XYZ direction from the manufacturing equipment construction method data storage part 140 (S105).

  And the design change proposal production | generation part 120 selects the installation which has a processing precision smaller than component minimum tolerance, minimum R shape, etc. as the present installation (for example, installation A) which can manufacture the component of the designed present specification. (S106). Then, the design change proposal generation unit 120 calculates the manufacturing cost and the manufacturing lead time from the shape information of the part, the processing speed information of the selected equipment, the depreciation cost, and the like (S107). The manufacturing cost includes labor costs such as material costs and processing costs, expenses such as equipment depreciation and management costs. Therefore, material costs and management costs may be calculated. The production lead time includes equipment preparation time, material setup time, processing time, finishing time, and the like.

  And the design change proposal production | generation part 120 calculates the manufacturing cost and manufacturing lead time by facilities other than the present installation (equipment A) selected in step S106 among the installations (equipment A) selected in step S103. (S108).

  Then, the design change proposal generation unit 120 has other equipment (manufactured with parts of other specifications such that the production cost is lower and the production lead time is shorter than the current equipment (equipment A) capable of producing parts of the current specifications. For example, the facility B) is specified, and a design change proposal to a part with other specifications that can be manufactured by the specified other facility (equipment B) is generated (S109). At that time, the data that became the reason for selecting the current equipment (equipment A) is stored as related dimensions, and the design change proposal data output unit 130 for other equipment (equipment B) that is less expensive than the selected equipment and its specification value. Forward to.

  The design change plan data output unit 130 gives a warning to the CAD system 200 by associating the design change plan data with the CAD data, thereby giving a warning to the shape information of the CAD system 200. At the same time, by prompting automatic changes to the information on the selected equipment A and the information on the inexpensive selected equipment B, and the related dimensions to be corrected that can be manufactured at low cost, the reason for the warning is communicated to the designer, and it is easily inexpensive. In addition, it is possible to make a design change that realizes a reduction in manufacturing lead time.

  According to the present invention, it becomes possible to know information about specific effects when a design change is made, and numerical values such as tolerances, accuracy, dimensions, etc., surface treatment methods, and shapes to be actually changed from design information It is possible to know, and it is possible to leave specific criteria for design change and its history, get clear guidelines at the time of design, and know the design reason back in the past when a failure occurs It becomes. In addition, since it is possible to present a design change proposal that is close to the designer's intentions, it is possible to manufacture at a lower cost, with a shorter lead time, and more appropriately.

  In addition, the manufacturing equipment construction method data storage unit 140 stores information such as the manufacturer of the manufacturing equipment, the model, the processing speed, the retained tool, the tool length, the wear amount, the possible manufacturing construction method, and the like, and the CAD system 200 possesses the information. Determine the processing amount, depth, diameter, bending, plating type, etc. from the product shape information and incidental information, select the appropriate manufacturing equipment, and check the manufacturing lead time, manufacturing cost, and availability of manufacturing from the processing speed and processing amount. You may make it calculate.

  In addition, as manufacturing equipment related information in the manufacturing equipment construction method data storage unit 140, a processing method that is at risk due to an error experienced by an operator such as tool breakage, or a shape that has been made impossible by conventional development. Know-how about the processing may be stored, and the manufacturing cost and the manufacturing lead time may be calculated by feeding back the latest information to the design of processing conditions that are lower or higher than the equipment specifications.

  Also, in the manufacturing equipment method data storage unit 140, defect information such as unmeasurable parts and information on measurement accuracy in inspection after manufacturing and information for reference can be stored, and whether tolerances and shapes set by design can be inspected. You may make it judge.

  In addition, in the manufacturing equipment construction method data storage unit 140, defect information such as fitting defects and cracks in assembly after inspection and reference information are stored, and it is possible to determine whether or not the assembly is possible and risk information in the design. Good.

  In addition, the manufacturing equipment construction method data storage unit 140 may store defect information such as variation in shape at the time of mass production or deterioration due to passage of time, or information for reference, so that the prior determination at the time of design may be performed. .

  In addition, the manufacturing equipment construction method data storage unit 140 may store deterioration at the time of market development, customer defect information, and information for reference, and perform these prior determinations at the time of design.

  In addition, the manufacturing equipment construction method data storage unit 140 may store defect information at the time of maintenance or repair after market development or information for reference, and perform these prior determinations at the time of design.

  In addition, information such as specifications required for design, manufacturing cost, manufacturing lead time, shape, operability, color, operating environment, strength, etc. are attached to the manufacturing equipment construction method data storage unit 140 with priority attached and stored. You may make it display by quantifying and graphing how each parameter changes with design. Further, the frequency and pressure for automatically giving a warning to the designer according to the higher priority may be changed.

  In addition, when it is determined that the processing is difficult from the result calculated from the manufacturing equipment construction method data storage unit 140 and the CAD system 200 information, the procedure for changing the shape to the determined shape may be disabled. . Specifically, the input of numerical values below or above a certain value is restricted when creating a fillet for an R shape, and the dimension measurement input is restricted at a certain value or below when creating a cut section.

  In addition, if it is determined that the processing is difficult from the result calculated from the manufacturing equipment construction method data storage unit 140 and the CAD information, the shape is automatically changed to a shape that can be processed after the shape that has been determined is created. Also good. At that time, the parameter or shape having a low priority is changed according to the set priority.

  FIG. 7 shows an example of a hardware configuration when the design support apparatus 100 is configured by an electronic information processing apparatus such as a computer. The design support apparatus 100 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) peripheral part, an input / output part, and a legacy input / output part. The CPU peripheral section includes a CPU 802, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 803, a graphic controller 804, and a display device 805 that are connected to each other by a host controller 801. The input / output unit includes a communication interface 807, a hard disk drive 808, and a CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory) drive 809 connected to the host controller 801 by the input / output controller 806. The legacy input / output unit includes a ROM (Read Only Memory) 810, a flexible disk drive 811, and an input / output chip 812 connected to the input / output controller 806.

  The host controller 801 connects the RAM 803, the CPU 802 that accesses the RAM 803 at a high transfer rate, and the graphic controller 804. The CPU 802 operates based on programs stored in the ROM 810 and the RAM 803 to control each unit. The graphic controller 804 acquires image data generated by the CPU 802 or the like on a frame buffer provided in the RAM 803 and displays the image data on the display device 805. Alternatively, the graphic controller 804 may include a frame buffer for storing image data generated by the CPU 802 or the like.

  The input / output controller 806 connects the host controller 801 to the hard disk drive 808, the communication interface 807, and the CD-ROM drive 809, which are relatively high-speed input / output devices. The hard disk drive 808 stores programs and data used by the CPU 802. The communication interface 807 is connected to the network communication device 891 to transmit / receive programs or data. The CD-ROM drive 809 reads a program or data from the CD-ROM 892 and provides it to the hard disk drive 808 and the communication interface 807 via the RAM 803.

  The input / output controller 806 is connected to the ROM 810, the flexible disk drive 811, and the relatively low-speed input / output device of the input / output chip 812. The ROM 810 stores a boot program that the design support apparatus 100 executes at startup, a program that depends on the hardware of the design support apparatus 100, and the like. The flexible disk drive 811 reads a program or data from the flexible disk 893 and provides it to the hard disk drive 808 and the communication interface 807 via the RAM 803. The input / output chip 812 connects various input / output devices via the flexible disk drive 811 or a parallel port, serial port, keyboard port, mouse port, and the like.

  A program executed by the CPU 802 is stored in a recording medium such as a flexible disk 893, a CD-ROM 892, or an IC (Integrated Circuit) card and provided by a user. The program stored in the recording medium may be compressed or uncompressed. The program is installed in the hard disk drive 808 from the recording medium, read into the RAM 803, and executed by the CPU 802. The program executed by the CPU 802 includes the design support apparatus 100, the parameter extraction unit 110, the design change plan generation unit 120, the design change plan data output unit 130, and the manufacturing equipment construction method data described with reference to FIGS. It functions as the storage unit 140.

  The program shown above may be stored in an external storage medium. As a storage medium, in addition to a flexible disk 893 and a CD-ROM 892, an optical recording medium such as a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) or a PD (Phase Disk), a magneto-optical recording medium such as an MD (MiniDisk), a tape medium, and an IC card A semiconductor memory or the like can be used. Further, a storage medium such as a hard disk or a RAM provided in a server system connected to a dedicated communication network or the Internet may be used as a recording medium and provided as a program via the network.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated using embodiment, the technical scope of this invention is not limited to the range as described in the said embodiment. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications or improvements can be added to the above embodiment. It is apparent from the scope of the claims that the embodiments added with such changes or improvements can be included in the technical scope of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Design support apparatus 110 Parameter extraction part 120 Design change proposal production | generation part 130 Design change proposal data output part 140 Manufacturing equipment construction method data storage part 200 CAD system 801 Host controller 802 CPU
803 RAM
804 Graphic controller 805 Display device 806 Input / output controller 807 Communication interface 808 Hard disk drive 809 CD-ROM drive 810 ROM
811 Flexible disk drive 812 I / O chip 891 Network communication device 892 CD-ROM
893 Flexible disk

Claims (10)

A design support apparatus for supporting design of a part by a CAD system,
For the specifications of parts designed by the CAD system, specify other equipment that can manufacture parts of other specifications that are lower in manufacturing cost and shorter in manufacturing lead time than current equipment that can manufacture parts of the current specification. A design change proposal generation unit that generates a design change proposal for a part of other specifications that can be manufactured by the specified other equipment;
A warning is given to shape information of parts designed by the CAD system by associating the CAD system with the design change plan data generated by the design change plan generation unit, and the current equipment information and the It indicates the information of the other equipment, the design support apparatus and a design variants data output unit to prompt the automatic change to the relevant dimension should be modified to be inexpensive to manufacture. The design change proposal generation unit, when specifying the other equipment, the production cost and production lead time by the current equipment that can manufacture the parts of the current specification, and the production cost and production lead time by each equipment other than the current equipment in comparison, the among the facilities other than the current equipment, the design support apparatus according the advantageous features than manufacturing cost and manufacturing lead time by current facilities to claim 1, identified as the other equipment. The design change proposal generation unit compares the manufacturing cost and manufacturing lead time of the current equipment capable of manufacturing the current specification with the manufacturing cost and manufacturing lead time of each equipment other than the current equipment. Calculate the manufacturing cost and manufacturing lead time of each equipment other than the equipment, respectively, and the calculated manufacturing cost and manufacturing lead time of the current equipment, and the calculated manufacturing cost and manufacturing lead time of each equipment other than the current equipment The design support apparatus according to claim 2 . The design change proposal generation unit selects the current equipment that can manufacture the parts of the current specification and calculates the specific value when calculating the manufacturing cost and the manufacturing lead time of each equipment other than the current equipment and the current equipment. The design support apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein a manufacturing cost and a manufacturing lead time of the current equipment that has been used are calculated. The design change proposal generation unit determines a processing method of the part based on information on the shape of the part and information on processing accuracy when selecting a current facility capable of manufacturing the part with the current specification. The design support apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein a current facility capable of manufacturing the part of the current specification is selected from the determined processing method facilities. A parameter extracting unit for extracting various parameters of the part from information on the part designed by the CAD system;
The design support apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the design change plan generation unit determines a processing method of the part based on various parameters of the part extracted by the parameter extraction unit. A design support method for supporting part design by a CAD system,
For the specifications of parts designed by the CAD system, specify other equipment that can manufacture parts of other specifications that are lower in manufacturing cost and shorter in manufacturing lead time than current equipment that can manufacture parts of the current specification. A design change proposal generation stage for generating a design change proposal for parts of other specifications that can be manufactured by the specified other equipment;
The CAD system is warned to the shape information of the parts designed by the CAD system by associating the design change proposal data generated in the design change proposal generation stage with the CAD data, and the information on the current equipment It said other equipment provides information, design support method comprising the design variants data output step of prompting an automatic change to the relevant dimension should be modified to be inexpensive to manufacture. Parameter extraction stage for extracting various parameters of the part from the information of the part designed by the CAD system
Further comprising
In the design change proposal generation stage, a processing method for the part is determined based on various parameters of the part extracted in the parameter extraction stage.
The design support method according to claim 7. A program that causes a computer to function as a design support device that supports design of a part by a CAD system,
The computer ,
For the specifications of parts designed by the CAD system, specify other equipment that can manufacture parts of other specifications that are lower in manufacturing cost and shorter in manufacturing lead time than current equipment that can manufacture parts of the current specification. A design change proposal generation unit for generating a design change proposal for a part of other specifications that can be manufactured by the specified other equipment,
A warning is given to shape information of parts designed by the CAD system by associating the CAD system with the design change plan data generated by the design change plan generation unit, and the current equipment information and the A program that displays information on other equipment and functions as a design change proposal data output unit that prompts automatic changes to relevant dimensions that need to be modified so that they can be manufactured at low cost . The computer,
Parameter extraction unit for extracting various parameters of the part from the information of the part designed by the CAD system
Further function as
The design change plan generation unit determines a processing method for the part based on various parameters of the part extracted by the parameter extraction unit.
The program according to claim 9.

Images