Thesis Report
Thesis Report
Kashif, Muhammad
Patil, Abhijeet
Kashif, Muhammad
Patil, Abhijeet
Date:
Archive number:
Abstract
Preparation of Toolsets for rotary draw bending of Aluminum tubes
requires evaluation of orders from the customers that whether the
tube bending is possible on available machines or not. A quick
response to customers will definitely increase the chances of getting
contract, which can be possible; thanks to advances in technology, by
implementing design automation in the preparation of fixtures and
tooling necessary for tube bending. A Knowledge based system
containing production floor, analytical knowledge and rules based on
empirical data from trial manufacturing of fixture’s production can
definitely be pivotal in automation of metal forming.
Main approach of this work is to integrate CAD & KBS in design and
manufacturing of tube products.
1
INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................................3
1 PRINCIPLES OF TUBE BENDING PROCESS......................................................................................5
1.1 COLD BENDING OF TUBES.............................................................................................................................5
1.1.1 Rotary draw bending ....................................................................................................................6
1.1.2 Compression bending....................................................................................................................7
1.2 DESIGN PARAMETERS FOR TUBE BENDING PROCESS...........................................................................................8
1.2.1 Minimum bending radius...............................................................................................................8
1.2.2 Wall factor.....................................................................................................................................8
1.2.3 Springback.....................................................................................................................................9
1.2.4 Bending factor...............................................................................................................................9
1.2.5 Difficulty Factor .........................................................................................................................10
1.3 DIFFICULTY IN TUBING PROCESS DESIGN.......................................................................................................10
2 IMPLEMENTATION OF A KNOWLEDGE-BASED SYSTEM........................................................11
2.1 WHY A KNOWLEDGE-BASED SYSTEM HELPS?.................................................................................................13
3 A COMPUTERIZED SYSTEM FOR DESIGN OF ROTARY DRAW BENDING TOOLS............14
3.1 SYSTEM OVERVIEW...................................................................................................................................14
3.2 FORMULAS AND RELATIONS FOR TUBE BENDING MACHINE SELECTION...............................................................15
4 TOP DOWN MODELING........................................................................................................................15
5 CASE STUDY............................................................................................................................................17
5.1 SOLID MODELING APPROACH.....................................................................................................................17
5.2 CONFIGURATION.......................................................................................................................................18
5.3 KNOWLEDGE DESIGN STUDIO......................................................................................................................19
6 RESULTS ..................................................................................................................................................26
7 CONCLUSION & FUTURE PERSPECTIVE.......................................................................................31
7.1 IRREGULAR PROFILE SECTIONS.....................................................................................................................31
8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .......................................................................................................................31
9 REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................................32
SEARCH WORDS.......................................................................................................................................33
2
Introduction
3
those files a lot of knowledge is stored and since this knowledge is
applied on the products developed by the company, it will be a part of
the trademark. The system built containing the corporate knowledge
should be transparent and easy to understand fro users and for future
developers. The knowledge should be user friendly. Thus there are
high requirements for documentation both on the system architecture
and the knowledge it contains. In addition to this Elgh and Cederfeldt
points out the following requirements that such a system should meet
(Elgh F., Cederfeldt M., 2005):
4
1 Principles of Tube bending process
The most common processes for cold bending of pipes and tubes are
draw bending, compression bending, roll bending, etc. Ram bending
was probably the first pipe bending method used to cold-form while
rotary draw bending and compression bending are more popular
nowadays. Both of them can be embodied in either manual benders or
powered bending machines. In addition, empty bending is also widely
used in combination with the above two bending methods, because of
less setup time, less tooling cost, and no lubricant needed. Generally,
cold bending requires a center forming die, either fixed or rotated (for
rotary draw bending), a pressure die and a clamping or following die.
In the rotary draw bending, a mandrel and a wiper die are often used.
The components of a die set are shown in Fig. 1.
5
1.1.1 Rotary draw bending
In Rotary-draw bending, at one end rotating center die forms the tube
to the radius of the die. Clamp Die secures the pipe to the die. The
pipe bending machine rotates the die to the desired bend angle and
pressure die forces the pipe to conform to the die radius. After the
pipe bending process, the operator extracts the mandrel from the pipe,
releases the clamp, then removes the bent pipe from the machine.
With proper tooling, this pipe bending process is capable of producing
high quality, tight-radius bends for a wide range of applications.
6
1.1.2 Compression bending
7
Distinguish
Rotary draw bending Compression bending
Parameters
Movement of center
Yes No
die
Movement of pressure
No / Yes Yes
die
Use of mandrel and
Yes No
wiper
Line of tangency in
Fixed Not fixed
space
There are many factors to be considered for tube bending process. The
basic parameters are minimum bending radius, springback, wall factor,
bending factor and empty factor.
D
Rmin =
2E '
D
WF =
t
8
the more likely a mandrel and a wiper are needed to achieve good
bend quality in rotary-draw bending. The wall factor needs to be
considered in conjunction with other factors, such as the Bend factor,
to fully gauge the difficulty of a bend.
1.2.3 Springback
On release of the external loads, the tension stresses on the one side
of the tube and the compressive stresses on the other side create a
net internal bending moment or residual stresses. The residual
stresses cause a springback or a change of the bending angle, Δθ, in
the reverse direction of bending and a change of bending radius, ΔR,
as shown in Fig. 4.
Fig. 4 Changes of bending angle and radius before and after springback
R
BF =
D
9
It is a unit of radial measurement peculiar to tube bending. It is the
sweep of the arc. The minimum degree of bend is about five degrees;
the maximum degree of bend in rotary-draw bending is 180 degrees.
WF
Difficulty factor =
BF
As the Bend factor decreases and the wall factor increases, the tube is
less resistant to bending. As a result, it has a greater tendency to
collapse rather than follow the form of the bend. Consequently, the
material must be contained physically—surrounded at all points,
internally and externally—where the bend takes place, to prevent tube
collapse and any resulting deformities, such as wrinkles. This is needed
in the tangent area, predominantly where the tube changes from a
straight to a bent section and also where the material flows ahead and
behind of the tangent point.
The bend die, clamp die, and pressure die provide this containment to
some extent and can be used in applications in which the difficulty
factor (wall factor divided by Bend factor) is low and the tube is less
prone to collapse. However, more complex applications require more
support and containment. A mandrel inside the tube and a wiper die
behind the tangent point and opposite the pressure die provide
adequate containment, prevent collapse, and accommodate material
flow. (Barry Rooney, 2005)
10
Fig.5: Tube Flattening Wrinkling Wall thinning
2 Implementation of a knowledge-based
system
11
The KBS shows the decision maker how to reduce setup time based on
expertise embedded in the knowledge base as rules. (Kim and Arinze,
1992).The success of a KBS critically depends on the amount of
knowledge embedded in the system. (HAO XING Et al, 2002). KBS are
used in many diverse applications such as financial planning,
manufacturing, tax planning, and equipment design; in fact, they are
more useful than expert systems that attempt to totally replace the
decision makers. (Goul Et al, 1992)
12
in knowledge-based system, the two roles are performed separately.
In general there are two Modules which are as follow:
a) Knowledge Module
b) Control Module
a) Forward-chaining
b) Backward-chaining
13
A KBS is a computer program that has a knowledge module and a
control module. A knowledge module is a knowledge base that stores
all experts’ knowledge and experience in the form of facts or rules. A
control module is then used to find out the result through all kinds of
knowledge; it is thus called inference engine. With the KBS approach,
all relevant process knowledge and experts’ experience can be logically
integrated together to provide engineers with an effective tool in
tubing design and manufacturing.
14
3.2 Formulas and Relations for Tube bending machine
selection
A lot of research has been done on the elastic and plastic analysis of
tube bending and there are various derived equations available for
tube bending analysis. In this work, we have taken formulas of section
modulus and bending moment of circular tubes from the research work
of “Plastic-deformation analysis in tube bending by (N.C. Tang, 2000)”
Circular Tube:
D: Outer diameter of circular tube
d: Inner diameter of circular tube
W: Section Modulus
M: Bending moment
R
k: a geometry parameter of the tube =
2
σ: Material yield strength
0.42
Bending Moment for circular tube = Μ = σ × W × 1.41 + ( )
k
15
designers. Therefore approach used in solid modeling of the draw
bending toolsets is Top down assembly modeling.
In this Work, we first captured the whole design intent and product
structure of the draw bending toolsets. In the second step, after
determining the critical information of the design, we put it on the
higher level of assembly structure and then communicated to the
lower levels i.e. components. In case of change in the parameters in
the assembly structure, that is the way it is in this work, causes an
automatic updating of the components.
Selection of the suitable toolsets for required tube diameter and bend
radius is done on the basis of bending moment. In this work, we have
two fictitious toolsets named as Silfax and Cooler. Knowledge Design
Studio takes the parameters’ values and name of the suitable toolset
for tube bending from MS Excel files and sends this information to Top
down assembly. As a result of it, in Solidworks, parameters’ values are
incorporated in that particular toolset.
16
5 Case Study
1. Creating Blocks/layers
2. Creating Derived sketches
17
Fig.8 Block of Cooler 1
5.2 Configuration
18
Fig.9 Configuration 1
19
Fig.11 Adding parameters to Domain 1
20
Fig.12 Creating new object 1
Fig.13 Implementation 1
21
Fig.14 Excel datasheet 1
22
Fig.15 Parameters entry 1
23
Fig.16 Required objects 1
Fig.17 Execution 1
24
Fig.18 Checking 1
After checking the results, we send the parameters and selected tool
set information to SolidWorks.
25
6 Results
26
Fig. 19 Cooler die-set before change of parameters
27
Fig.20 Cooler die-set after changes of parameter
28
Fig. 21 Silfax die-set before changes
29
Fig. 22 Silfax die-set after changes in parameters
30
7 Conclusion & future perspective
8 Acknowledgement
31
9 References
32
Search words
A
artificial intelligence..........................................31
B
bending factor......................................................9
bottom up...........................................................15
C
center from die....................................................5
circular...............................................................15
cold bending........................................................4
Compression bending..........................................7
D
design parameters................................................8
difficulty factor..................................................10
E
empty bending...............................................5, 33
F
following die.......................................................7
I
Introduction.........................................................3
irregular profile.................................................31
K
KBS.....................................................................1
knoweldge base system.....................................14
knowledge base system.............................1, 3, 31
M
mandrel............................................................5, 6
O
outside diameter..................................................8
P
parameters.........................................................16
R
relation...............................................................15
T
twisting..............................................................10
W
wall factor............................................................8
wrinkling.............................................................9
33