An Expert System Framework for Design of Bending Die

This paper presents an expert system framework for design of bending die. Considerations for development of expert system are discussed at some length. The proposed framework divides the task of development of expert system into different modules for major activities of bending die design. It gives stress on automation of four major activities of die design viz. manufacturability assessment, process planning, design/selection of die components and modeling of die components and die assembly. A procedure of development of expert system modules is also described at length. Production rules for each module are recommended to be coded in the AutoLISP language and designed to be loaded into the prompt area of AutoCAD or through user interface created using Visual Basic. Each module of the proposed framework is user interactive. The proposed system framework is flexible enough to accommodate new acquired knowledge. As the proposed system is implementable on a PC having AutoCAD software, therefore its low cost of implementation makes it affordable even by small scale sheet metal industries.