Design method and information representation for computer aided welding fixture design

Welding fixtures are made specifically to hold multiple parts together, allow adequate tool passage, resist high heat and sputter, permit passage of weld runoff, and in some cases conduct electricity and provide grounding. Traditionally, welding fixture design often heavily relies on welding fixture design engineers' experience and knowledge and lacks obvious progress in utilizing automatic and intelligent technologies effectively. In this paper, a methodology of computer-aided welding fixture design is proposed. Based on this methodology, the design process is then presented, including: defining requirements, gathering and analyzing the information, fixturing design procedure, fixture design check and verification and post process. This methodology could help designers to make a conceptual fixturing solution quickly and, finally, finish the detailed solution of fixture design. The results of this paper have been shown in a case study using a welding fixture to define each idea of the methodology and to provide an example.