Intelligent process planning methods for the manufacturing of moulds

The layout of temperature control systems for moulds is decisive for the performance and stability of the production process. A design and optimisation approach for temperature control systems is introduced, coping with geometric constraints and complex thermal dependencies and allowing a significant reduction of manufacturing costs. Five-axis milling processes are increasingly used for the production of moulds in order to achieve high surface qualities and low manufacturing times. The CAM-programming required for the milling of free-formed surfaces in this field is complex and error-prone. An approach is shown, which automatically generates five-axis NC-paths from existing error-free three-axis paths.