Automated design system for drawing dies

This paper describes an automated design system for drawing dies. Taking advantage of pre-built design knowledge base and database, this system is able to output designs of the main components of a drawing die, such as upper dies, lower dies and blank holders, upon users’ input of design information of blank lines, die faces, punch open lines, press data, and types of subcomponents such as hooks, guides, and stopper seats. This die design system is built on top of CATIA V5, and makes use of its built-in modules, including Part Design, Automation and Scripting, and Knowledge Advisor. Our system also includes an inference engine, and user interfaces. We use drawing dies for trunk lid outer panels and engine hood outer panels as concrete examples to showcase the power of our system. Experimental results show that our system can improve the design quality and reduce the design time and cost.