27-06-2012, 01:04 PM
NX5 FOR ENGINEERING DESIGN
NX5 FOR ENGINEERING.pdf (Size: 7.95 MB / Downloads: 230)
INTRODUCTION
The modern manufacturing environment can be characterized by the paradigm of delivering
products of increasing variety, smaller lots and higher quality in the context of increasing global
competition. Industrial companies cannot survive worldwide competition unless they introduce
new products with better quality, at lower costs and with shorter lead-time. There is intense
international competition and decreased availability of skilled labor. With dramatic changes in
computing power and wider availability of software tools for design and production, engineers
are now using Computer Aided Design (CAD), Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) and
Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) systems to automate their design and production processes.
These technologies are now used everyday for engineering tasks. Below is a brief description of
how CAD, CAM, and CAE technologies are used during the product realization process.
PRODUCT REALIZATION PROCESS
The product realization process can be divided into design and manufacturing. The design
process starts with identification of a new design need that is identified by the marketing
personnel after getting feedback from the customers’ demands. Once the relevant design
information is gathered, design specifications are formulated. Next, a feasibility study is done
with relevant design information. Detailed design and analyses then follow. Detailed design
includes design conceptualization, prospective product drawings, sketches and geometric
modeling. Analysis includes stress analysis, interference checking, kinematics analysis, mass
property calculations and tolerance analysis, and design optimization. The quality of the results
obtained from these activities is directly related to the quality of the analysis.
BRIEF HISTORY OF CAD/CAM DEVELOPMENT
The roots of current CAD/CAM technologies go back to the beginning of civilization when
engineers in ancient Egypt recognized graphics communication. Orthographic projection
practiced today was invented around the 1800’s. The real development of CAD/CAM systems
started in the 1950s. CAD/CAM went through four major phases of development in the last
century. The 1950’s was known as the era of interactive computer graphics. MIT’s Servo
Mechanisms Laboratory demonstrated the concept of numerical control (NC) on a three-axis
milling machine. Development in this era was slowed down by the shortcomings of computers at
the time. During the late 1950’s the development of Automatically Programmed Tools (APT)
began and General Motors explored the potential of interactive graphics.