Automated synthesis of sheet metal parts by optimizing a fabrication based graph topology

Abstract

The goal of this research project is to investigate the automatic construction of sheet metal components. While automated synthesis may alleviate this time-consuming process, it is difficult to envision how optimization algorithms, which require a fixed set of variables in order to function, could be used to represent the wealth of modifications that can be made to a part. The technique presented in this paper represents candidate solutions as a graph of nodes and arcs where each node is a rectangular patch of sheet metal, and modifications are progressively made to the sheet to maintain the parts manufacturability. Currently, seventeen modification rules have been developed for four basic sheet metal operations: slitting, notching, shearing, and bending. Given the complex design process of sheet metal components, evaluating candidates is a mixture of several different objectives. These include: 1) minimizing spatial requirements, 2) minimizing fabrication time, 3) minimizing fabrication energy, 4) minimizing part volume, 5) minimizing part deflection under applied loads, and 6) minimizing stress. Currently, only the First four have been implemented, but preliminary results show that solutions can be found that are similar to current solutions created by hand. Copyright © 2005 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. All rights reserved.