Construction of Integrated Engineering Knowledge Base for Concurrent Engineering based on Virtual Manufacturing

该研究的目的是实现一种虚拟制造环境，通过以计算机兼容的形式系统地组织工程知识来预测产品的功能和可制造性，并严格形式化地描述人类模糊的技术知识和难以转移给他人的并行工程的概念。(1)虚拟制造与并行工程的组织通过对工业实践的考察，研究了基于虚拟制造的并行工程先进制造系统的体系结构。实现了面向设计制造准备活动的协同工作原型系统。(2)核心工程知识的提取和系统化。提取和组织了基于物理原理的基本工程知识，如尺寸、公差、装配、行为等，并组织到数据库中。(3)利用符号数学、非标准逻辑和面向对象的概念，为灵活描述工程知识的复杂语义，构建了通用的集成工程知识库原型系统。(4)集成工程知识的原型，描述了实际工程知识，如复印机的光学部件和汽车发动机组件，研究了工程知识库的构建方法，以及产品和生产工艺知识的组织方法。评估这些结果对并行工程的实际意义是未来的工作。

The Objective of this research is to realize a virtual manufacturing environment which enables to predict product functionality and manufacturability by organizing engineering knowledge systematically in computer compatible form, and to rigorously formalize the concept of concurrent engineering which has been subject to human ambiguous technical know-how and difficult to be transferred to others. For this objective the following items have been investigated.(1) Organization of virtual manufacturing and concurrent engineeringBy surveying the practice of industry, architecture of advanced manufacturing systems has been investigated for concurrent engineering based on virtual manufacturing. Prototype systems have been implemented for collaborative work in design and manufacturing preparation activities.(2) Extraction and systematization of kernel engineering knowledgeBasic engineering knowledge based on physical principles has been extracted and organized, such as dimensions, tolerances, assembly, behavior, etc., and has been organized in database.(3) Generic methods for construction of integrated engineering knowledge basePrototype systems have been constructed for flexible description of complicated semantics of engineering knowledge by use of symbolic mathematics, non-standard logic and object oriented concept.(4) Prototyping of integrated engineering knowledge basePractical engineering knowledge has been described, such as optical components of copiers and automotive engine subassembly, and has been evaluated for its usefulness.A method of construction of engineering knowledge base and organization of product and production process knowledge have been investigated. It is a future work to evaluate practical implication of these results for concurrent engineering.