An Extended Data Model for Production-Orientated Integral Bifurcated Sheet Metal Products

Within the algorithm based product development process optimized geometries of integral bifurcat-ed sheet metal products can be obtained. The ex-isting data model to enable the automated genera-tion of CAD-Models of optimized geometries con-tains exclusively topological and geometrical da-ta. In order to consider production-orientated design requirements the existing data model is extended. Relevant parameters, requirements and limits regarding product development and produc-tion process are identified and assigned as non-geometric data in different categories. The extend-ed data model is modelled using the object-orientated approach considering the relationships between topological, geometric and non-geometric data. A scheme of XML-format file based on the extended data model is introduced. A CAD-Model of an integral bifurcated sheet metal product demonstrates the use and potentials of the extended data. The extended data model inte-grates relevant data generated within different steps of the product creation process and support the production-orientated design of integral bifur-cated sheet metal products.