EXPERT SYSTEM FOR PROCESS PLANNING

JAN DUDA AND JANUSZ POBOZNIAK

Cracow University of Technology, Poland

SUMMARY
In this paper a domain - specific expert system architecture with special emphases put on the
control mechanism is presented. Procedurally encoded control mechanism is driven by explicitly
represented declarative control knowledge, describing how to use the planning knowledge
represented as production rules. On the basis of such knowledge three stages were specified:
selection of the generalized structure of manufacturing process, reversible design of the semi
finished product and intermediate shapes, and generating the machining process. The prototype
of an expert system is also presented in this paper. The system combines the rule and frame
technique to represent the knowledge and is built using the expert system EXSYS
PROFESSIONAL as the skeleton .

INTRODUCTION Such configuration of the expert system can

CAPP system is the vital link to integrate
CAD/CAM. One of the most promising approaches
is the use of an expert system. The task of an expert
system for process planning is to select the planning
operations and defme their sequence in a way
providing the optimum manufacture of the product
with respect to the manufacturing cost and time,
taking all available means (processing machines,
fittings, personnel) into consideration.
Manufacturing process planing with the use of an
expert system should be treated as solving the
planning problems of decisive nature by a planning
system. A model of the planning system was
presented in [1] [3]. On the basis of this model,
reflecting real situation occurring during planning of
the manufacturing process an expert system
prototype was worked out.
EXPERT SYSTEM ARCIDTECTURE
A chart of the expert system operation is
shown in fig. 1. The expert system for process
planning is considered as a combination of three
following components:
• a database describing the processing capabilities
of the manufacturing system,
• a base of manufacturing knowledge, defining
general and detailed principles of the building of
processing systems for machining,
• a control mechanism, responsible for the
processing of knowledge according to the
assumed form of its representation.
solve decision-making problems on the basis of the
characteristics of the planning task determining the
production (batch) size, and on the basis of
geometrical and processing characteristics of the
workpiece. As a consequence of planning decisions
the databases of the expert system are modified,
reflecting the progress in the process planning.
DATABASE OF PROCESSING CAP ABILITIES
OF MANUFACTURING SYSTEM
Detailed analysis of the system operation
reveals, that the set of single operations performed in
the system Tw can be divided into three subsets:
Tw=TTR +Top+TID
where:
TTR- operations changing the characteristics of the
workpiece (the shape, dimensions, condition
of surface) as the result of tools action on the
workpiece (called "the transformers");
TTR = {ttrl, ttr2, ttr3, ... }
ttr(Attr ,Bttr ,Cttr)
Top- operations changing the position or
orientation of the workpiece or the tool in the
· manufacturing system (called "the
operators");
Top= {top I. top2, top3 •... }
top (Atop. Bt0 p, Ct0 p)
TID - operations describing and comparing the
characteristics of the workpiece with the
quality requirements at the particular stage of
its processing ("the identifiers");
TID= {tid!. 1id2, tid3, ... }

527

A. K. Kochhar (ed.), Proceedings of the Thirty-First International Matador Conference

© Department of Mechanical Engineering University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology 1995
528 EXPERT SYSTEM FOR PROCESS PLANNING
Fig. 1 Scheme of operation of an expert system for process planning
tid (Atid, Btid, Ctjd)
Operations ttr' top, tid' can be described using
models determined by:
A -type of operation
B - the way of execution
C - the parameters of operation
The database of processing capabilities of
the manufacturing system can be created on the
basis of planning operations defmed above. The
determination of the model of operations taking
place in the manufacturing system is the start point
for the description of processing capabilities of the
manufacturing system. The operations tw E Tw can
be executed on particular stands of the
manufacturing system basing on fixed and
exchangeable tool instrumentation and on cutting
and measuring tools. The relations between the
operations tw and other elements of manufacturing
stands constituting the manufacturing system create
a system of links with a very complex structure.
Thus a relational model of data is proposed to
describe the processing capabilities of the
manufacturing system. The components of
manufacturing system are described by the following
of frames
Manufacturing knowledge
data base in the form of
production rul es
relations:
• Ro - the relation of machine tools, containing
the characteristics of the machine tools
constituting the manufacturing system,
• Rz- the relation of feeding equipment (robots,
manipulators) containing the characteristics of
the feeding equipment,
• RK - the relation of measuring devices
(measuring machines) containing the
characteristics of measuring machines.
• Rzpw - the relations containing the
characteristics of exchangeable object
instrumentation,
• RZNW - the relations containing the
characteristics of exchangeable tool
instrumentation.
• RN - the relation containing tools
characteristics.
The relations defining the links between the
operations tw E Tw and other components of the
manufacturing system (machine tools, exchangeable
tool and object instrumentation, tools). These links
are described by the following relations:
RTR - the relations containing the possibilities of