Molds are far more than simple tools used by humans to cast coins or inner casings. In today’s advanced manufacturing world, molds integrate a wide range of high technologies, enabling the rapid and precise formation, welding, and assembly of materials into parts, components, or finished products. Their advantages—such as efficiency, precision, miniaturization, energy savings, environmental friendliness, and superior product performance and appearance—are unmatched by traditional craftsmanship.
Looking ahead into the 21st century, no industry—whether in electronics, biotechnology, materials science, automotive, or home appliances—can thrive without computerized production lines that rely on molds and machining centers. Molds have become a crucial part of modern manufacturing technology, and their level reflects a country’s or enterprise’s overall manufacturing capability. In the coming years, the quality, cost-effectiveness, and technological advancement of China’s five key industries will largely depend on the development and application of molds. Currently, the global mold industry has surpassed the total output of traditional machinery sectors like machine tools and cutting tools.
Modular Design in Mold Development
Reducing the design cycle and improving design quality are essential for shortening the entire mold development process. Modular design leverages the similarity in structure and function among product components to achieve standardization and flexibility. Practical experience has shown that this approach significantly reduces design time and enhances quality. This paper explores the application of modular design in mold development.
Implementation of Modular Mold Design
1. Building a Module Library
The module library is created through three steps: module partitioning, feature model construction, and user-defined feature generation. Standard parts are special cases of modules and are included in the library. To define a standard part, only the last two steps are required. Module partitioning is the first critical step in modular design, as it directly affects the functionality, performance, and cost of the system. For molds, functional and structural modules often overlap. A structural module may contain a functional one, and vice versa. Once the module design is complete, the feature model is manually built in Pro/E, and user-defined features (UDFs) are created using variable parameters such as size and assembly relationships. These UDFs are then stored using grouping technology, completing the module library setup.
2. Developing a Module Library Management System
This system uses two types of reasoning: structure selection and automatic modeling. The first step identifies the general structure, while the second determines all module parameters, achieving the goal of “plasticity.†During structure selection, the system accepts inputs like module name, function parameters, and structural details, then finds the most suitable module from the library. If the result isn’t satisfactory, the user can manually select the module. At this stage, the module is still incomplete, lacking dimensional, material, and assembly information. In the automatic modeling phase, the system uses input data to drive the UDF model, dynamically generating the module and assembling it automatically. This function was developed using Pro/TOOLKIT, a C-based secondary development tool for Pro/E, allowing quick mold design and significantly reducing the design cycle. Since each module is carefully designed, the final mold quality is ensured. The independent UDFs in the library make the system highly scalable.
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