An automatic 3D CAD model errors detection method of aircraft structural part for NC machining

Feature-based NC machining, which requires high quality of 3D CAD model, is widely used in machining aircraft structural part. However, there has been little research on how to automatically detect the CAD model errors. As a result, the user has to manually check the errors with great effort before NC programming. This paper proposes an automatic CAD model errors detection approach for aircraft structural part. First, the base faces are identified based on the reference directions corresponding to machining coordinate systems. Then, the CAD models are partitioned into multiple local regions based on the base faces. Finally, the CAD model error types are evaluated based on the heuristic rules. A prototype system based on CATIA has been developed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Highlights The 3D CAD model of an aircraft structural part is partitioned into multiple local regions in terms of the base faces. The fillet association level graph is proposed to represent the local region for exploring the CAD model errors. An automatic CAD model error detection method based on heuristics rule is proposed.

Engineered-Based Machining Parameters Analysis for Aircraft Structural Parts

Modern aircraft structures need to be further integrated and parts to be enlarged, the structural parts which require high accuracy of size, shape, and good deformed surface finish, so digital machining process has become key technology in aviation industry. Machining parameters selection is an important phase of machining process, it has very important influence on the dimensional quality of an aircraft structural part. This paper develops a methodology to get an optimal machining parameters in an aircraft structural part machining process, which can satisfies the quality specifications and minimizes the expected value of the sum of machining costs at the same time. An engineered-based model is adopted to describe the machining process of aircraft structural part firstly and then a quantitative machining parameter evaluation methods driven by cost constraint is proposed, an optimal machining parameter is obtained through a computer experiment model which can explore a large number of machining process parameter alternatives. At last, we illustrate the validity and the significance of the engineered-based machining parameters analysis method for aircraft structural parts by a case study. The results have shown that the proposed method could significantly increase the efficiency of aircraft structural parts machining process.