SBIR Phase II: Rapid Application Development Architecture for Product, Process, and Cost Configuration Across Manufacturing Verticals

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目将开发一个工程咨询系统的原型架构，并验证其应用。虽然产品设计的成本可能只占产品总成本的5%左右，但在设计阶段做出的决策可能对最终产品成本的贡献高达70-80%。在没有足够的制造知识或信息的情况下做出不适当的设计决策，增加了产品开发生命周期中的迭代，给原始设备制造商（OEM）和较低级别的制造商带来了巨大的成本。普渡大学的一项调查表明，90%的工程师/设计师的工艺知识非常少，这表明存在严重的设计-制造知识差距。第二阶段项目的目标和责任是通过开发用于早期设计的工程咨询系统来弥合设计-制造知识差距。该系统类似于拼写检查工具，为工程师/设计师提供可制造性和成本方面的建议。该系统将执行可制造性动态设计（DFM）分析，评估零件几何形状以便提供关于零件的制造方面的建议，特别是零件设计中的工具和过程相关参数，通过将零件的几何和非几何参数映射到基于成本的制造过程模型来帮助估计零件的相对制造成本，将3D形状搜索引擎（从普渡大学获得许可）与零件/工具/成本顾问知识重用代理集成，使用复杂几何推理算法和混合B-rep-voxel方法与商业计算机辅助设计（CAD）系统无缝集成&，并提取基于制造特征的几何信息。如果成功，该产品将使工程师/设计师能够在产品设计早期就工艺和零件/工具的可制造性做出明智的决定，同时作为按需制造“假设”工程师/设计师的教育工具。它将减少非增值设计功能，以便考虑最佳和经济的工艺，从而降低模具成本，同时最大限度地减少OEM和模具公司报价过程中的风险。这项研究的结果也有工程学校的教育影响，向学生介绍制造工艺和设计的可制造性的概念。该公司将向大学提供工程咨询系统，用于其工程课程。拟议研究的成果可以通过工程咨询系统在早期设计中直接联系当地供应商，从而改进产品设计，降低成本，并对当地经济产生积极影响。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop prototype architecture of an engineering advisory system and validate its application. Although the cost of product design could be only about 5% of the total product cost, decisions made during the design stage can contribute as much as 70-80% to the final product cost. Inappropriate design decisions made without sufficient manufacturing knowledge, or information, increases iterations in the product development lifecycle, causing significant costs to both the original equipment manufactures (OEMs) and the lower tier manufacturers. A survey by Purdue University indicated that 90% of the engineers/designers had very little process knowledge, thus indicating that there is a serious design-manufacturing knowledge gap. The aims and responsibilities of the Phase II project are to bridge the design-manufacturing knowledge gap through the development of an engineering advisory system to be used in early design. The system would be analogous to a spell-checking tool, advising engineers/designers on manufacturability and cost. The system will perform Dynamic Design for Manufacturability (DFM) analysis, evaluate part geometry in order to provide advice on the manufacturing aspects of the part, especially tooling and process related parameters in part design, help in estimating relative manufacturing costs for a part by mapping the geometric and non-geometric parameters of the part to a cost-based manufacturing process model, integrate 3D Shape Search Engine (licensed from Purdue University) with Part/Tooling/Cost Advisor & Knowledge Reuse Agent, seamlessly integrate with commercial Computer-Aided-Design (CAD) system using sophisticated geometric reasoning algorithms and a hybrid B-rep-voxel approach, and extract manufacturing feature-based geometric information.If successful this product will enable engineers/designers make informed decisions early in product design about processes and part/tooling for manufacturability while serving as an on-demand manufacturing "what-if" educational tool for engineers/designers. It will reduce non-value added design features so optimal and economical processes can be considered, thus lowering tooling costs while minimizing the risk in the quotation process for both OEMs and tooling firms. The outcome of this research also have an educational impact in engineering schools by introducing students to manufacturing processes and design for manufacturability concepts. The company will provide the engineering advisory system to universities to use in their engineering curriculum. The outcome of the proposed research can improve product design, lower cost and positively impact the local economy by linking local suppliers in early design directly through an engineering advisory system.