An automated design system for compound washer dies

The designing of stamping dies is a complex process influenced by numerous design parameters, which can be classified into independent and dependent parameters. Before starting the design process a designer must identify, analyze, and calculate these parameters needing a wide range of knowledge. The design task is then accomplished on the basis of these parameter values that must be incorporated into the die design’s elements, in order to achieve workable and quality designs. Since most of the 3D CADs provide insufficient help in this regard, an automated system has been developed in CATIA V5 for the automatic designing of compound dies intended for production of various washer configurations. This system operates on the basis of an integrated design knowledge embedded inside washer, strip, and die-parts’ generative models using user parameters and a programmatically established relations between them. The use of this system significantly shortens the design time, and denotes design quality.