Development of an Internet-enabled interactive fixture design system

Development of an Internet-enabled interactive fixture design system

F. Mervyn, A. Senthil kumar*, S.H. Bok, A.Y.C. Nee

Department of Mechanical Engineering, The National University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore, Singapore 119260

Received 18 October 2002; received in revised form 13 December 2002; accepted 6 January 2003

Abstract

Fixture design is a complex and an intuitive process. An efficient fixture design system is essential to cut costs and reduce the product lead-

time. In today’s manufacturing landscape, various computer-aided systems exist to aid the various stages of manufacturing. A fixture design

system should be able to transfer information with the various other systems to bring about a seamless product design and manufacturing

environment. A fixture design system should also be portable on different operating platforms. This paper addresses the development of an

Internet-enabled interactive fixture design system. The Internet and the use of XML as a file format provide a means for the transfer of

information and knowledge between the various computer-aided manufacturing systems. The system has been implemented using Java and is

based on a three-tier Thin Client–Fat Server architecture. This ensures the platform independent performance of the system. A locating

scheme independent interactive fixture design method has also been developed in this work for detailed fixture design.

q 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Fixture design; Internet based manufacturing; XML schema

1. Introduction

Present day customer demands point towards a need for

greater customization and for shorter product lead times. To

meet this demand, new manufacturing concepts such as

computer integrated manufacturing, flexible manufacturing

systems, lean manufacturing, Agile Manufacturing and

recently Internet-based manufacturing have been

implemented. The ultimate aim of Internet-based manufac-

turing is to resolve problems with heterogeneous manufac-

turing software products and create a seamless collaborative

manufacturing environment. In order to achieve this goal,

the various computer-aided systems involved in the

manufacturing process have to be interoperable. This

paper presents a step towards this goal through the

development of an Internet-enabled fixture design system.

Fixtures are devices that serve the purpose of holding the

work-piece securely and maintaining a consistent relation-

ship with respect to the tools while machining [1]. As such,

they play a crucial role in the geometric accuracy of a

machined part. Modular fixtures are a type of flexible fixture

that is basically a set of ready-made, re-usable, standard

components and combination units, such as base plates,

spacers, locators, stop elements and clamps [2]. These

modular elements can be assembled like a ‘LEGO’ set to

handle work-pieces of different shapes and sizes, thus

offering a great amount of design flexibility and reusability.

Designing modular fixtures requires an increased level of

knowledge due to many possible combinations of different

fixture elements, and the fixture configuration has to satisfy

many constraints on stability, location, restraints and cost.

To aid in arriving at an optimal fixture design, research has

focused on the development of computer-aided fixture

design systems. An effective fixture design system should be

portable on different operating platforms, interoperable with

other manufacturing systems and should allow flexibility in

arriving at optimal fixture designs. The work presented in

this paper discusses a means of achieving these research

issues.

This paper is organized as follows. Section 2 discusses

related research on computer-aided fixture design systems

and other Internet-enabled manufacturing systems. Section

3 describes the developed architecture of the system and

Section 4 the proposed XML schemas. The main interactive

fixture design methodology is presented in Section 5 and

Section 6 concludes the paper.

0010-4485/03/$ - see front matter q 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/S0010-4485(03)00009-5

Computer-Aided Design 35 (2003) 945–957

www.elsevier.com/locate/cad

* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ65-6874-6800; fax: þ65-6779-1459.

E-mail address: [email protected] (A. Senthil kumar).

http://www.elsevier.com/locate/cad

2. Related research

2.1. Computer-aided fixture design systems

A vast amount of research has been carried out in the area

of computer-aided fixture design. In this section, some of

these works will be presented.

2.1.1. Standalone fixture design systems

Initial attempts in developing computer-aided fixture

design systems were mainly interactive in nature. These

systems made the task of fixture design easier by integrating

the systems with fixture element databases. Fixturing faces,

points and elements were selected by the designer. Work in

this category includes those by Markus et al. [3], Miller and

Hannam [4], Nee et al. [5], Fuh et al. [6] and Rong and Li [7].

Further progress in research saw the development of

semi-automated systems. Semi-automated systems require

certain inputs such as fixturing surfaces from the user while

automating other tasks such as fixture element selection.

Work in this category includes [8–11]. The research on

automated systems has received the greatest amount of

attention. Rule-based expert system was a popular approach

adopted by many researchers. Nnaji et al. [12] developed a

framework for rules-based expert fixturing using the 3–2–1

locating principle. Nee and Kumar [13] proposed an object/

rule-based framework for automating fixture design. Kumar

et al. [14] developed a system that integrates CAD with an

expert system shell.

Various other artificial intelligence techniques have been

employed in developing automated fixture design systems.

Roy and Liao [15] developed a system employing a

blackboard framework with knowledge sources based on

heuristics, fixturing stability, fixturing accessibility and

deformation. Kumar et al. attempted the use of machine

learning [16], genetic algorithms [17] and neural networks

[18] for the conceptual design of fixtures.

2.1.2. Internet-enabled fixture design systems

The research that has been carried out in the area of

Internet-enabled fixture design systems is still quite limited

at the time of writing this paper. Wagner et al. [19] have

implemented a fixture design system over the World Wide

Web (WWW) known as FixtureNet. In their system, the part

is described by its silhouette, i.e. in a 2D form. CyberCut

[20], a networked manufacturing environment, offers a

design for manufacture CAD interface, computer-aided

process planning (CAPP) and access to an open architecture

machine tool for the fabrication of parts. CyberCut utilizes a

novel hardware fixturing method, called reference free part

encapsulation (RFPE).

2.2. Other Internet-enabled manufacturing systems

Although the research on developing Internet-enabled

fixture design systems is limited, various Internet-enabled

applications have been developed for other manufacturing

areas. Many manufacturing support systems require access

to CAD data and research has seen several approaches of

dealing with this in a distributed manufacturing environ-

ment. One solution offered is the use of standard file formats

such as STEP and IGES for CAD models located at central

databases. Roy and Kodkani [21] proposed the use of a

translator to convert CAD models into VRML based models

which can then be viewed over the WWW. The VRML

models are stored in an existing product data repository. The

translator resides on a main central server and can be

accessed remotely by a designer. Xie et al. [22] proposed a

WWW-based integrated sheet metal product development

platform based on an information integration framework to

link part design with process planning, simulation and

manufacturing systems. The geometry of the part was

represented by STEP files. Wang and Zhang [23] developed

an integrated CAD/CAPP/CAM system that is supported by

an Internet/Intranet network and TCP/IP protocol and is

based on central databases to support collaborative product

development. A feature based product definition model was

used.

The use of standard file formats for CAD models located

at central databases requires application systems to down-

load large files. In a collaborative manufacturing environ-

ment, various design changes occur and manufacturing

systems would need to obtain the entire CAD model each

time a design change occurs to analyze the part for

manufacturability. To overcome this inefficiency, several

researchers have proposed the use of polygonized models

for visualization of CAD parts. Shyamsundar and Gadh [24]

proposed a client–server based architecture for collabora-

tive virtual prototyping of product assemblies over the

Internet. A polygonized representation of the part was used

for visualization and an Internet-centric, compact assembly

representation was also developed. In their system, a solid

modeller was employed as an application server. In that

way, the complexity of installation and maintenance of the

solid modeller is removed from the client.

2.3. Discussion on related research

The standalone computer-aided fixture design systems

reviewed have mainly been deployed on specific computer

systems or on specific CAD systems. A drawback of these

systems is that it causes users to be ‘locked’ into the

particular computer architecture or CAD system. When

CAD systems are revised, it is difficult to redeploy the

fixture design system and sometimes makes it not

functional. Also, different manufacturing firms often use

different operating platforms. Standalone systems would

therefore only be available to the limited group of users

using a particular operating platform or CAD system. To

avoid these drawbacks, the criteria for an integrated fixture

design system would be portability on different operating

F. Mervyn et al. / Computer-Aided Design 35 (2003) 945–957946

platforms and decoupling from traditional standalone CAD

systems.

Although the research carried out on standalone systems

provides various efficient techniques to carry out fixture

design, it is apparent that the need for communication

between a fixture design system and other manufacturing

systems such as CAPP and computer-aided numerical

control systems has not been dealt with. Research on

Internet-enabled fixture design systems presently only uses

the Internet as a medium for deployment and does not

provide the functionality of the standalone systems. The

need for communication is also not dealt with.

The aim of interactive systems is to allow flexibility

to the user to arrive at detailed fixture designs for

complicated parts which cannot be achieved by many of

the automated systems. A limitation of most of the

interactive systems lie in the fixture design sequence

imposed on the user. Many systems rely on the 3–2–1

locating principle and limit the user to the choice of

fixture locations based on this principle. In Ref. [7], an

alternative approach is presented where the user is

prompted to choose from a database of locating schemes.

These include the 3–2–1, pin-hole and V-block locating

schemes and their variations. However, it still relies on

specific locating schemes and the flexibility of detailed

fixture design is limited. Therefore, an approach to

interactive fixture design is required which provides a

user with flexibility in arriving at detailed fixture

configurations.

The research presented in this paper offers a solution to

these issues by describing a developed interoperable fixture

design system that is capable of carrying out fixture design

in a 3D environment. A specific locating scheme indepen-

dent fixture design methodology has been developed to

allow flexibility in arriving at optimal fixture designs. The

use of polygonized models and deploying the modelling

kernel on the server has presented an efficient means of

decoupling manufacturing support systems from standalone

CAD systems and yet provides the functionality of CAD

systems. In this paper, we adopt a client–server architecture

and implement it on a fixture design system. The described

system embeds the facet data of the polygonized model on

an XML file. The extensibility of XML files allows other

information such as face tags to be included in the facet data

representation. As client interaction is based on the

polygonized models, the client can have access to more

information without re-communicating with the server. This

enhances the facet representation of a part, yet keeps the

representation compact. A means to transfer fixture design

information across different platforms is also proposed

using XML as a file format.

3. System architecture

The developed system uses Java as the programming

language, Java3D as the graphics API and XML as the

information exchange file format so as to provide the

flexibility of interoperability on a variety of operating

platforms. The architecture of the developed system,

shown in Fig. 1, is generally known as a Three-tier Thin

Client–Fat Server architecture. In this architecture, there

is a clear distinction between the client and the server

share of program execution. The client serves as a means

for user input and visualization of the 3D models. The

server executes the various modelling operations and the

repository houses the modelling and fixture elements

data.

3.1. Server

The server houses work-piece and fixture element solid

model part files in Parasolid’s xmt_txt format. The

functionality to retrieve information from the xmt_txt file

and carry out polygonization of the model is provided by the

Parasolid modelling kernel deployed at the server. As the

Parasolid modelling kernel was written in a native language,

a Java native interface (JNI) class is required to make

function calls to the modelling kernel.

When a function call from a client is made to retrieve

a work-piece or fixture element, the server class

polgonizes the model and stores the facet information

in the form of a facet data (FD) XML file at the HTTP

server. The required information for client side visual-

ization is stored in the FD XML file which is discussed

in detail in Section 4.1.

3.2. Client

The client side comprises of three main portions: (1)

menu class, (2) viewer class and (3) interactive fixture

design (IFD) module. The client starts the application

with the menu class, setting up the graphical user

interface (GUI) and the Java3D canvas for modelling

and fixture designing. All the basic capabilities of a

constructive solid geometry (CSG) modelling system are

available on the solid modelling interface [25]. These

include all the primitive solid functions (block, sphere,

cylinder and prism), Boolean operations (union, subtrac-

tion and intersection) and transformation operations

(translation and rotation). When a modelling or object

selection is made on the menu, a function call is made to

the server through the Java remote method invocation

(RMI) interface.

The viewer class handles the rendering and visualization

of the model design on the Java3D canvas. Through the

function calls that are made, FD XML files on the HTTP

server are parsed and the data is sent to Java3D classes for

rendering onto the canvas.

The IFD module consists of five main portions: the main

IFD methodology, fixture element query class, fixture

design blueprint class, the fixture design information parser

and the different fixture rules’ algorithms.

F. Mervyn et al. / Computer-Aided Design 35 (2003) 945–957 947

Fig. 1. Architecture of developed system.

Fig. 2. System application.


The main IFD methodology starts the IFD application

and guides the user through the design process. The fixture

element query class retrieves information about the fixture

elements from the database. The fixture design blueprint

class is responsible for obtaining all the essential data about

the completed fixture design and embedding the data in the

fixture design XML file. The fixture design information

parser retrieves the fixture design XML file for the purpose

of regenerating completed designs. The various fixture rule

algorithms embedded in the system guide the user through

the stages of the design process and advise the user on how

to achieve an acceptable solution. These rules have been

implemented using the Java programming language.

3.3. Repository

The repository houses the fixture element database and

the Apache HTTP server. The FD files are placed on the

Apache HTTP server. The fixture element database was

developed using a MySQL relational database server. The

use of MySQL database management system allows the

fixture element query class via Java database connectivity

(JDBC) to make complicated queries and this is useful in

implementing more rules into the system. A whole array of

fixture elements such as base plates, support pins, locating

cylinders, stops, clamps and risers from IMAO Corpor-

ation’s Venlic Block Jig System (BJS) [26] are stored in the

database. The database server also allows various people

who are concerned with fixture elements to view their

inventory status.

3.4. System application

Fig. 2 shows how the developed system aids in

creating a collaborative manufacturing environment for

fixture design.

The product designer can create a part in any

geographic location and save it in the server. The process

planner plans the process and sends the information in the

form of XML files to the repository. The fixture designer

is then able to view the part through the fixture design

client and also the process plan information from the

repository wherever he/she is and carry out the design of

the fixture. The fixture design information is then saved in

the repository as the fixture design XML file. The process

planner is able to view the fixture design on his client

system by just retrieving the relevant fixture design XML

file for the work-piece. The fixture designer is also able to

update the inventory status of the fixture elements on

Fig. 3. DTD of a FD XML file.

Fig. 4. Example of FD XML file.


the database. The procurement planners would thus be

able to track the inventory status of the fixture elements

through the web interface. However, as far as the present

study is concerned the author’s focus is to demonstrate the

ability to use the Internet as a medium to establish fixture

design capabilities and hence, the process and procure-

ment activities will not be discussed here.

4. XML Schema

4.1. Facet data

The FD XML file contains information on the facets of

the polygonized model of work-pieces and fixture

elements. These FD are then used for visualization. When

Fig. 5. DTD of fixture design XML file.

Fig. 6. Example of fixture design XML file.


representing data using XML, a document type definition

(DTD) has to be specified first. This would govern the data

structure contained by the XML file. The structure of the

DTD of the FD XML file is shown in Fig. 3.

Tags in XML follow a hierarchical structure. The root tag

of an XML file is always kDOCUMENTl. In the FD schema,

each body, identified by a kBODYTAGl, is divided into

faces. A kFACETAGl is present to identify the various faces

of the body. kFACETYPEl provides information on the type

of the face, for example, cylindrical, plane and spherical.

kSNAPPOINTl refers to the vertices of each face. Each face

is further divided into elemental triangles known as facets.

The kFACETl tag contains the coordinates of the vertices of

each triangle.

Fig. 4 shows a polygonized model of a cube and a portion

of the corresponding FD XML schema. From the schema, it

can be seen that kBODYTAGl of the part is 119. The

highlighted face has a kFACETAGl of 179 and a

kFACETYPEl of plane. The face has been divided into

two facets and the corresponding vertices of the first facet

can be seen in the figure.

4.2. Fixture design

The DTD of the fixture design XML file is shown in

Fig. 5.

The fixture design XML file is crucial in the creation

of a collaborative environment for fixture design.

Fig. 7. Sequence of IFD.

Fig. 8. Loading of work-piece on client’s screen.


The information in this schema includes details on the work-

piece, base plate, supporting surfaces, points and elements,

locating surfaces, points and elements and clamping

surfaces, points and elements. The fixture design XML file

also serves the purpose of providing information to fixture

analysis modules.

Fig. 6 shows a completed fixture design and a portion

of the corresponding fixture design XML schema. It can

be seen from the figure that the name of the work-piece

is provided in the kSELECTEDWORKPIECENAMEl tag.

The information on the base plate is provided in the

kBASEPLATEl tags. It can also be seen that

fixture elements are associated with the faces of the

work-piece. The locating surface in this case has a

kFACEIDl of 448.

5. Interactive fixture design methodology

In this section, a flexible, locating scheme independent

fixture design methodology that has been developed to

Fig. 9. Base plate selection rule.

Fig. 10. Base plate selection dialog.


allow detailed fixture design for complicated parts is

presented. The IFD system methodology is sequentially

interactive in nature as shown in Fig. 7.

5.1. Importing the work-piece

When the IFD process is initialized, the user is presented

with the options of loading a work-piece in Parasolid’s

xmt_txt format from the server or using an existing part that

has been modelled on the solid modeling interface or

loading an existing fixture design setup. The server

polgonizes the chosen work-piece and saves the FD in the

XML format in the repository. The viewer class then

retrieves the FD and loads the work-piece on the client’s

screen as shown in Fig. 8.

5.2. Selection of supporting faces and base plate

Once the work-piece is loaded, the user is prompted to

choose supporting faces to place on the base plate.

Supporting faces can be selected with the constraints that

a face cannot be selected more than once and the normals of

the faces cannot differ by more than 45 degrees. Upon the

completion of supporting faces selection, the system queries

the user if the base plate selection rule should be fired as

shown in Fig. 9. This rule makes the choice of base plates

easier by making available for selection only those base

plates with an area greater than 1.5 times of the largest

work-piece cross-sectional area. The base plate selection

dialog box (Fig. 10) then appears allowing the user to

choose an appropriate base plate. The flowchart of this stage

is shown in Fig. 11.

Fig. 11. Supporting faces and base plate selection flowchart.


5.3. Locating elements, faces and points selection

Locating elements are the first group of fixture elements

to be selected as the exact location of the work-piece on the

base plate depends on locators. Choice of locators, faces and

points in this algorithm do not rely on specific locating

schemes. The fixture designer is allowed to choose as many

locators, locating faces and points and is only restricted by

certain constraints. These constraints include the following:

(a) No redundant location is allowed.

The algorithm for the checking of this constraint for

planar faces is as follows:

Table 1

Assembly relationship table

Locating Face Locator

Adjustable stops Edge supports Locating cylinders V blocks Round pins Diamond pins

Planar Against Against Against

Cylinder (hole) Fit Fit

Cylinder (outer profile) Against Against Fit

Fig. 12. Locating elements, faces and points selection flowchart.


IF (number of locating faces chosen .1)

THEN

(get normal of present face)

IF (normal of present face is opposite to normal of any

previous chosen face)

THEN (reject face)

(b) Possibility of assembly.

For proper assembly of fixture elements, a locating

element and a locating face must have a mating

relationship. An assembly relationship table (Table 1)

has been developed to check if a mating relationship

exists between the locating face chosen and the face of

the locating element. The system rejects locating faces for

which no mating relationship exists. For example, if a

user chooses an adjustable stop as a locating element and

then chooses a cylindrical face (hole) to be a locating

face, the system rejects the choice and prompts the

selection of a new face. If a mating relationship exists, the

system subsequently checks for the possibility of actual

assembly. For example, the system checks if interference

or jamming would occur during the mating of a

cylindrical face (hole) with round pins. These assembly

constraints have been implemented in the form of rules.

(c)Fixture design heuristics.

Fixture design heuristics prevent the violation of fixture

design principles.

A typical fixture design heuristic is as follows:

IF (n locators are used to locate a face)

THEN (n 2 2 locators must be adjustable)

Upon the choice of the first locator, the locating face is

mated with the face of the locator and this determines the

exact location of the work-piece on the base plate. The

sequential flow of the interactive locating elements, faces

and points selection methodology is shown in Fig. 12.

5.4. Selection of supporting elements and points

The fixture designer is first prompted to choose between

placing the supporting faces directly on the base plate and to

use supporting elements to lift the work-piece off the base

plate. If the supporting faces are chosen to be placed on the

base plate, this stage is exited and the method leads to the

clamping stage. Otherwise, the supporting element selection

dialog box appears requesting the choice of a supporting

element. Similar to the choice of locators, the user is not

restricted to the number of supporting elements and points.

However, the constraints imposed on these choices include

the use of adjustable supports if more than three supports are

chosen, assembly relationships between supporting faces

and elements and the height of the supports are not to be

greater than the height of the locators.

5.5. Selection of clamping elements, faces and points

For the clamping of the work-piece, the user can

choose to implement top clamping, side clamping or both.

If a top clamp is selected, the user will be prompted to

first select a horizontal top face on the work-piece to be

Fig. 13. Complete IFD solution.


clamped, followed by an adjoining vertical face and a

point on the base plate to position the clamp. The system

will then determine the risers needed to elevate the top

clamp using the height of the top face. If a side clamp is

selected, the user will be prompted to select a vertical face

to be clamped followed by point on the base plate. The

rack blocks required to elevate the side clamp is

determined based on the height of the support cylinders

that have been chosen.

At the end of the clamping stage, the user is prompted

to save the completed fixture design in the form of the

fixture design XML file in the repository. A completed

fixture design is shown in Fig. 13. This design was

carried out using two locating cylinders, two adjustable

stops, three supporting cylinders, a screw jack and three

side clamps. This illustrates the ability of the system in

arriving at fixture designs independent of locating

schemes.

6. Conclusions

This paper has presented the development of a

complete Internet-enabled IFD system capable of carrying

out 3D fixture designs. The use of Java and Java3D makes

the system versatile and interoperable on different

operating platforms. The developed 3 tier thin client–fat

server architecture and the fixture design XML file aids in

creating an Internet-centric integrated manufacturing

environment for fixture design and decoupling fixture

design systems from traditional CAD systems. The

specific locating scheme independent IFD algorithm

provides flexibility in arriving at complicated fixture

designs while ensuring fixture design principles are not

violated. Research is currently underway in developing a

general XML schema for fixture design information

support in an integrated manufacturing environment.

More fixture design heuristics rules are also being

implemented together with an automatic interference

checking capability between machine tool path and fixture

elements.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the National University of

Singapore for funding this research project. They are also

grateful to IMAO Corporation, Japan for providing the

fixture element data. The authors also thank the reviewers

for their suggestions in improving this paper.

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Fathianathan Mervyn is currently pursuing a

PhD in mechanical engineering at the National

University of Singapore. He received a BEng

in mechanical engineering with a Minor in

Information Systems at the same university in

2001. His research interests include fixture

design, intelligent fixturing and Internet-based

design and manufacturing.

Senthil Kumar’s research interest have

focused on the computer applications to

fixture design, manufacturing processes,

applications of AI techniques in manufactur-

ing and Internet based Design. He has co-

authored a book Advanced Fixture Design

for FMS (with Nee and Whybrew) and has

published over 70 papers in the International

Journals and Conferences. He is also a

recipient of the Serope Kalpakjian’s Out-

standing Young Manufacturing Engineers

Award (2002) and is now an Associate

Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the National University of

Singapore.

Nee is a professor of manufacturing engineer-

ing at NUS and the Co-Director of the

Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA) Program.

His research interest is in computer appli-

cations to tool, die, fixture design and plan-

ning, intelligent and distributed manufacturing

systems, and application of AI techniques in

manufacturing. He currently holds regional

editorship, department editorship, associate

editorship and member of editorial board of

14 international journals in the field of

manufacturing engineering. In 2002, he was

awarded the Doctor of Engineering (DEng) degree from UMIST for his

research achievements in manufacturing engineering.

SH Bok is a CAD/CAM Specialist involved in

the research and development of collaborative

design and engineering solutions. He has a

Masters from NUS. His research interests are

in Engineering Collaboration on the Internet in

the areas of Manufacturing and Construction,

Visualization and WWW-based technologies.


Documents

Development of an Internet-enabled interactive fixture design system