A computer-aided engineering system for feature-based design of box-type sheet metal parts

This paper explores the applications of feature-based representation and design in the area of design for manufacturing to incorporate the tooling and process considerations into the early stages of design. The goal of this research is to apply the concepts of feature-based design and to develop an interactive design tool that can be used to alert the designers to potential production problems, defects and failures, and to provide them with information that can be used to explore alternative design, evaluate trade-offs, and arrive at optimal designs for the given process conditions. This paper illustrates the development of a computer-aided engineering (CAE) system that was constructed using these concepts and applied to designing box-type sheet metal parts.