Module: Intergadet CAD/CAM

The future of CAD/CAM – A speculative paper

CONTENTS

ABSTRACT 1

INTRODUCTION 1-2

CAD CAM HISTORY 2-3

THE MECHANICAL CAD TODAY 3-4

THE FUTURE OF CAD 5-6-7

CONCLUSION 7

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Abstract

In today's fast paced world, CAD/CAM systems have become an essential element
in manufacturing companies through out the world. Technology and
communication are changing rapidly, driving business methods for organizations
and requiring capitalization in order to maintain competitiveness. Knowledge prior
to investing into a system is crucial in order to maximize the benefits received from
changing CAD/CAM systems.

The CAD /CAM market place has seen a significant new advance in the
technology every 7 years and is ripe for the emergence of a major new
development. During the past 20 years, the computer-aided design (CAD) industry
has simplified software user interfaces to enable engineers to design products
more quickly and efficiently.

The purpose of the session was to discuss how CAD software might be made
more productive in the future. During the past 20 years, the computer-aided design
(CAD) industry has simplified software user interfaces to enable engineers to
design products more quickly and efficiently.

Introduction :

CAD is sometimes translated as "computer-assisted design", "computer-aided

drafting", or a similar phrase. A related acronym, CADD, stands for "computer-
aided design and drafting". All these latter terms are essentially synonymous, and
refer to the designing and technical drawing of various projects on a computer
rather than a traditional drawing board. The spectrum of engineering projects
commonly created with computer-aided drafting is broad, and include architectural
drafting, mechanical drafting, electrical drafting, and other forms of design
communication. Today they constitute part of a broader definition of computer-
aided design. In this session we will mention at MCAD (mechanical computer
aided design).

In general Computer Aided Design (CAD) package has three component : a)

Design , b) Analysis, c) Visualization. A brief description of these component :

Design : Refers to geometric

modeling, 2-D and 3-D modeling,
including, drafting, part creation,
creation of drawings with various
views of the part, assemblies of the
parts, etc.

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Analysis : Analysis refers to finite element analysis, optimization and other
number crunching engineering analysis. In general a geometric model is first
created and then the model is analyzed for loads, stresses, moment of inertia and
volume etc.

Visualization : Visualization refers to computer

graphics ,which include : rendering a model, creation
of pie charts, contour plots, shading a model, sizing,
animation etc. The visualization is a presentation of
the final model to the interested.

Each of these three areas has been extensively

developed in the last 30 years. Several books are
written on each of these subjects and courses are
available through the academic institutions and the industry. Most commercial CAD
packages (software) consist of only a single component: design or analysis or
visualization. However, a few of the vendors have developed an integrated
package that includes not only these three areas, but also includes the
manufacturing software (CAM). Due to the large storage requirement, integrated
packages use either an UNIX workstation or a mainframe platform, and not the
popular PC platform. With the improvement in PC computing speed, it’s only a
matter of time before we see an integrated package run on a PC. CAD has
revolutionized the modern engineering practice; small and large companies use it
alike, spending several billion dollars for the initial purchase or lease alone. CAD
related jobs are high in demand and the new graduates have advantage over their
senior colleagues, as they are more up to date and more productive.

CAD/ CAM HISTORY

The concept of CAD and CAM is relatively new. The usage is linked with the
development of computers. The actual application of CAD/CAM in industry,
academia and government is only approximately 30 years old. Formal courses in
CAD and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) were introduced in 1970’s. The major
application thrust of CAD came in 1980’s, with the availability of PCs and
workstations. In its early stage of usage, very few engineering companies could
afford the expense of mainframe computers; however, PCs and workstations have
evolved into affordable and adequate platform to support comprehensive CAD
packages that initially were designed to run on the mainframe platform. A brief
history of the evolution of CAD/CAM, according to the decade and the major
CAD/CAM developments, is outlined below.

1960’s
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• Development in Interactive computer graphics research
• Sketchpad system developed by Ivan Sutherland in 1962
• CAD term coined
• First major commercial CAD/CAM software available: CADAM by Lockheed

1970’s
• Application of CAM in government, industry and academia
• National organization formed
• Beginning of usage of computer graphics
• Turnkey system available for drafting
• Wireframe and surface modeling software became available
• Mass property calculation and FEA software became available
• NC tape generating, verification, and integrated circuit software became available

1980’s
• CAD/CAM used for engineering research and development
• New CAD/CAM theories and algorithms developed
• Integration of CAD/CAM
• Solid modeling software became available
• Use of PCs and workstation began

1990’s
• Concept of concurrent engineering developed
• Increased use of CAD/CAM on PCs and worksations
• Improvements in hardware and software

The Mechanical CAD today

Consider: One-quarter of the world's designers and engineers design in 3D. Three-
quarters design in 2D, which is logical because manufacturers still work from 2D
drawings. To answer market demand, 3D CAD vendors are making it easier all the
time to produce 2D-manufacturing drawings from their 3D models. In the long run
these 2D drawings may prove superfluous.

The 3D CAD software’s have entered powerful in the industries. Many vendors
today have managed to include in to theirs MCAD packages libraries of
components as for example, screws, nuts, bearings, etc. CAD packages today
include applications for all the kind of the products. Some of these applications are
mentioned below :

• Piping design

• Harness Design

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 • Sheet Metal Design

Before years the designers of sheet metals products had to only design and
estimate the unfolded scheme. Today the only thing that he has to do is to design
the sheet metal in 3D and the systems will give him all the others. Moving from 2D
to 3D

• Mold design

The capabilities of modern CAD systems include:

¾ Reuse of design components

¾ Ease of design modification and versioning
¾ Automatic generation of standard components of the design
¾ Simulation of designs without building a physical prototype
¾ Automated design of assemblies, which are collections of parts and/or other
assemblies
¾ Output of engineering documentation, such as manufacturing drawings, and
Bill of Materials
¾ Validation/verification of designs against specifications and design rules
¾ Output of design directly to manufacturing facilities

Development in CAD resulted in the following tools and methods:

¾ Wireframes, solid modelling

¾ Intelligent wiring diagrams and production linked database systems
¾ Graphically represented system or plant diagrams and databases
¾ Parametric design models
¾ Real-time process simulation

What the future of CAD?

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If you see the evolution of CAD in the past you can predict the future.
We've witnessed dramatic advances in CAD usability, speed, graphics,
“intelligence,” and automation over the past few years. But even the best 3D
mechanical-design software’s leave plenty of room for improvement. As with every
area of computing, 3D mechanical-design package still needs to be faster, easier
to use, and more useful for communicating with non engineers.

As we mentioned before the last ten years have been made dramatic changes
which have been made not only for the improvements of the designing tools but
also in the integration of cad with related technologies and the integration with the
business process. Although the integration with the business process has not been
developed enough the last years ,the vendor’s of cad software say that they will
give more intention at this direction the next years.

Changes have been also made in the integration of cad with the management of
the data. Some additional modules, are incorporate with the cad tools, and enables
fast, accurate sharing of design data across the manufacturing team.

Output devices such as printers will also go 3D, making it easy

for design engineers to communicate with no technical
customers and to check form, fit, and function before moving
to production. Although 3D printing technology is some two
decades old, the 3D printers themselves now cost less than
$30,000, making them affordable for smaller businesses. This
development will let more customers hold a 3D prototype in their hand earlier in the
product-development process, a quantum leap from viewing 3D models on a
screen. Here again, the result is better products moving more quickly to market.

The key in the changes at the cad softwares the next years will be at the cad tools.
In the years to come, 3D CAD software will steadily improve engineering
productivity by speeding the design process, suggesting options along the way,
and identifying problems earlier. The software will “think” for designers and
anticipate what they are creating. If they are creating weldments, for example,
preconfigured pipes, beams, tubes, and angle irons will automatically fall into
place. The designers in the future they could use only their voices for the designing
of the model. Software will also increasingly offer smart layout and materials
options and assess the structural integrity of a design as it is created. Such
improvements will help speed time to market and reduce the risk of product failure.
A company called Actuality Systems Inc. is commercializing a low-cost scalable 3D
holographic display. The broadcast image will appear in 3D, viewable as a
hovering form (versus 2D image) from any angle.

Recently some of the most popular developers of CAD met each other and they
discussed the future of CAD tools.

“PLM Solutions’ Chuck Grindstaff said his company’s Unigraphics and I-DEAS
development teams are employing a variety of tactics to make their products easier
to use. First, developers are combining multiple related functions into more
powerful, more general capabilities. For example, multiple functions for blending

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surfaces are being combined into fewer tools with options the user can set to
achieve desired results. EDS also is developing more tools tailored to specific
industrial process, such as stamping, forging, casting, and injection molding.
Lastly, PLM Solutions is trying to make commands more consistent while reducing
the number of mouse clicks and menus required to complete design tasks.PTC’s
Mike Campbell said his company is working to simplify Pro/ENGINEER. “We had
86 commands in Pro/ENGINEER that were used for creating and editing geometry
and we consolidated them down to just 23 [in the most recent Wildfire release],” he
told the audience. Autodesk’s Buzz Kross said features used to design machinery
should satisfy functional requirements, not just provide abstract geometric shapes.
“We need to move it to that level in manufacturing where ribs are really ribs and
behave like ribs. A boss should know it’s a boss. ”SolidWorks’ John McEleney
believes reliability is an important factor in making systems easy to use. Engineers
must be able to try different approaches to solving problems without fear that their
systems will crash or that they won’t be able to undo an operation. Ken Hoadley
says his company’s CAD software simplifies design by employing a fundamentally
different architecture from the leading CAD systems. Sensible Free Form Modeling
and Concept software products let users sculpt what appears on the computer
screen to be digital clay using a proprietary “haptic” digitizer that gives force
feedback. “Most people say ‘wow’ when they see it. It’s very natural, very intuitive,”
Hoadley said

Another development of cad tools is going to be in the collaboration design

between the engineers. CAD is moving from the desktop to the network, with
engineers on different sites – perhaps in different countries, and often working for
different companies – applying their particular skills to the problems of design and
production engineering. In the world of CAD/CAM, it's all about facilitating
collaboration. Enhancing collaboration continues to be key in CAD (computer-
aided design) and CAM (computer-aided manufacturing). As companies'
operations, competition and markets become more global, CAD and CAM tools are
taking on more functionality and thereby allowing for increased collaboration
between departments.

The globalization of manufacturing means that companies should be able to design

anywhere, build anywhere and maintain anywhere at any time. Collaboration is
critical to ongoing success in extended enterprises. Collaboration tools use Web
technology and the Internet to allow people in different facilities to interact, resolve
problems, reach consensus and otherwise work together online. This is quicker
and more effective than phone conversations, faxes or mail, and it is more
economical and efficient than getting together for a face-to-face meeting.
Manufacturing engineers can also employ collaborative tools during planning to
help improve production processes, plant designs and tooling, and to allow earlier
impact on product designs. Collaboration can be used for reviewing designs and
change orders with the design team interfacing with tooling designers verifying
tooling assembly and operation reviewing manufacturing process plans and factory
layouts discussing manufacturing problems with suppliers and coordinating tooling
among dispersed sites.

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Conclusions

Although the last seven years nothing revolutionary happened in the CAD tools
,the software’s vendors support that in the short run many things will change the
way of the mechanical design.

The CAD in the future will be more easy to use and learn, and geared to enhance
concept design and construction planning, will be functional and powerful enough
to satisfy the needs of engineering design and integration of all disciplines, and
corporate functions, sectors and levels. It will be more than 2D drawings and more
than 3D models, it has to handle Object and Symbolic Data with same ease. It will
be a 4D (3D +time) modelling tool for better planning and scheduling. It will allow
designers to exploit the best advantages of each CAD Technology 2D -> 3D -> 4D,
to progressively refine the design until fully satisfying the customers' needs. It will
be efficient to store, locate, visualize, and re-use data for integration of proven
designs, and standard parts and equipment. It will enhance simultaneous
(collaborative and concurrent) and distributed engineering eliminating all barriers
that constrain communications. It will share one "data factory" that creates data
needed by all disciplines.

References
INTERNET
http://www.as.go.dlr.de/~helmut/h162www/H162V.pdf
http://www.ngrain.com/news/images/geospatial_solutions.pdf
http://ucclermont.edu/Programs/CAD.pdf
http://www.lv-soft.com/software/schnittstellen/cad-e.pdf
http://news.thomasnet.com/IMT/archives/2005/01/the_future_of_c.html
http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=13505477

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