Haptic-enabled virtual reality-aided design for assembly

Design for assembly (DFA) is a common engineering technique aiming to reduce assembly costs, increase productivity, and reduce parts cost and material flow. Traditional DFA methods are based on CAD modelling and analysis using specific algorithms comprising the DFA rules. However, such traditional approaches lack of practicality and capability to consider the assembly know-how of designers and manufacturers. In order to overcome some of the limitations of current DFA methods, in this paper a new DFA system based on a haptic-enabled virtual reality approach is proposed. The proposed system, named haptic-enabled VR design for assembly (HVR-DFA), is able not only to simulate the product assembly and collisions among parts, but also to evaluate the product design and assemblability, and to automatically generate assembly planning data from the virtual assembly task execution. Consequently, the user can interactively assess DFA rules and part interferences during the virtual assembly execution. To evaluate the feasibility of the system, a case study corresponding to the assembly of a mechanical component is presented and analysed. The results have demonstrated that the proposed system is an effective DFA tool and more practical than the traditional methods. Moreover, it benefits from the know-how of the assembly experts.