Computer-aided design, manufacturing and inspection system integration for optical lens production

The main objectives of this research are the development of an integrated manufacturing strategy and the construction of a database management system for the design, machining and inspection of sculptured surfaces. Specifically, the optical lens for colour display tube/colour picture tube is selected as an application example to show the effectiveness and efficiency of the developed manufacturing strategy and database construction methods. In the machining strategy, the total machining time reduction method is proposed for the rough cutting operation based on the optimum tool path planning. In the finish cutting operation, a modified cutter contact variable step method is employed, and optimal tool paths are generated by selecting the proper tool radius within the given tolerance of a designed model. In the inspection strategy, the shortest measuring path is calculated to reduce the inspection time in CMM. In addition, an efficient database management system, which conducts the process from the surface design stage to the inspection result analysis stage, is constructed for the optimization of the sculptured surface manufacturing process. Finally, the required simulation and experimental works are carried out to verify the proposed strategy.