Multi-piece mould design based on a mixed-integer programming method

Multi-piece mould design is a moulding technology that involves three-dimensional spatial construction of two or more mould pieces in a manner similar to assembling/dissembling a three-dimensional puzzle to build production parts. Using such a moulding technology, complex parts with intricate geomet...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of computer integrated manufacturing Vol. 26; no. 10; pp. 939 - 954
Main Authors: Chen, Yong, Stoyan, Stephen
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis 01.10.2013
Subjects:
computer-aided mould design
mixed-integer programming
multi-piece moulding
rapid tooling
ISSN:0951-192X, 1362-3052
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Multi-piece mould design is a moulding technology that involves three-dimensional spatial construction of two or more mould pieces in a manner similar to assembling/dissembling a three-dimensional puzzle to build production parts. Using such a moulding technology, complex parts with intricate geometries can be made for limited run productions. Compared to traditional two-piece moulds and rapid prototyping, the multi-piece mould approach has many advantages with respect to part complexity and production speed, etc.; however, the technology has challenges in designing the actual multi-piece moulds. Previous methodologies address this problem primarily using heuristics. We present a multi-piece mould design (MPMD) framework that is based on a mixed-integer programming approach. The method constructs the MPMD by minimising the number of mould pieces that is required for a given Computer-Aided Design (CAD) model. The solution strategy for the formulated linear mixed-integer optimisation problem is presented. The algorithmic strategy for solving the resulting mixed-integer programming problem is also provided with examples that illustrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the approach.
ISSN:0951-192X
1362-3052
DOI:10.1080/0951192X.2012.667154