An intelligent CAD system for mechanical design

ABSTRACT The Design for Manufacturability Auditor discussed in this paper illustrates the application of an integrated knowledge-based/CAD system to assist in producing a design that adheres to preferred manufacturing practices. This effort is but one step in the long journey toward the development of intelligent CAD systems for mechanical design. Our objective is to develop a CAD system that consists of features that assist users in following the DFX (“Design For X”) practices in an early product development stage. The “X” in “DFX” stands for “manufacturability, assembly, repairability, etc.” The development of intelligent CAD systems for mechanical design is often interrupted by obstacles. Some of the issues confronting today's researchers include design representation, managing and using existing components and subsystems, geometric reasoning, knowledge-based systems, and open architecture of vendor tools. However, new algorithms and rule-based system development tools are steadily being developed to apply to advanced knowledge-based systems, user-programmable geometric modeling systems for implementing geometric reasoning, and data abstraction for programming in an object-oriented style. These new tools will dramatically alter the mechanical design process: both the development of future computer-aided design systems and the way a designer uses a CAD system to develop a new product.