Proceedings of the 41st International Conference on Computers & Industrial Engineering

An integrated System for Automatic Computer Aided Fixture Design

Emad Abouel Nasr1, , Abdulrahman Al-Ahmari2, , Ali Kamrani3, Awais Ahmad Khan4
1,2,4
3

Industrial Engineering Department, College of Engineering, King Saud University

Industrial Engineering Department, University of Houston, College of Engineering, Houston, TX, USA
3

eabdelghany@ksu.edu.sa,2alahmari@ksu.edu.sa, akamrani@uh.edu, kawais@ksu.edu.sa

Abstract
The essential factor for the recent manufacturing companies is to develop a variety of products within
short timeframes. Therefore, the flexible manufacturing techniques are rapidly growing to compete the
markets globally. A number of factors contribute in organizational ability to achieve flexibility and one of
which is the use of fixtures to increase the pace of production. A fixture is like a mechanism because it
eliminates individual marking, positioning and frequent checking before starting of actual operation and
to locate and hold the work-piece during the manufacturing operation. Its the need of time to device the
systematic methodologies that integrate design within an automated environment rather than designing
the actual fixture itself. In this paper, a framework comprised of fixture plan, fixture layout and fixture
assembly is proposed for the automatic design of fixtures module. The module will use the knowledge
representation and inference techniques from artificial intelligence and geometric modeling technique for
modular fixture design. The proposed framework has several advantages over the methods proposed in
the literature because at every phase of design, there will be several available solutions that satisfy the
fixture requirements. A case study is also presented in the paper to validate the proposed framework.

Keywords: Fixture, Computer Aided Fixture Design (CAFD), Artificial Intelligence

1. Introduction
Fixtures are important in both, the traditional manufacturing and modern flexible manufacturing systems
(FMS), which directly affect the machining quality, productivity and cost of products. The time spent on
designing and fabricating fixtures significantly contributes to the production cycle in improving current
products and developing new products. Therefore, great attention has been paid to the study of fixturing
in manufacturing. The manual fixture design requires the consideration of a number of factors like
primary requirements of the design, demand to be met, use of automated and semi-automated clamping
devices, safe operation etc. The application of these fundamental principles to an individual fixture design
depends primarily on the designers experience. Collection and representation of this knowledge from the
designers experience is a crucial part in Computer Aided Fixture Design (CAFD) (Rong and Zhu, 1999) .
________________________________________________________________________________________
This work is supported by NPST program by King Saud University Project : Number 10-INF1280-02
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Proceedings of the 41st International Conference on Computers & Industrial Engineering

The following paper presented a framework comprised of fixture plan, fixture layout and fixture assembly
for the automatic design of fixtures module.
2. Literature Review
Various Methods are suggested in the literature for modular fixture design. Some hybrid techniques were
also being used by researchers. The review is categorized in three major classes.
2.1

Fixture Design Methods:

Jeng and Gill (1997) formulated a fixture design problem in hierarchical design structure. Mervyn et al.
(2003) presented an internet-enabled fixture design system by the use of XML file format. Rios et al.
(2005) and Alarcon et al. (2010) developed and presented KBE (knowledge based engineering)
application for, modular fixture design. Hunter et al. (2006) presented a functional design approach in
which the functional requirements and constraints are considered as an input to the fixture design process.
Wang and Rong (2008) and Sun and Chen (2007) presented the case based reasoning method to provide a
computer aided fixture design solution. Perremans (1996) developed an expert system for automatic
fixture design
2.2

Fixture Setup and Planning

Toumi et al. (1989) discussed the planning issues and presented the plans and requirements for
automatic setup and reconfiguration of modular fixtures. Wu et al. (1998) developed the geometric
analysis technique with modular fixture assembly to present the fundamental study of automated fixture
planning. Kang and. Liu and Wang (2007) presented a hybrid approach in which machining precedence is
determined by knowledge based and feature sequencing is through geometric reasoning for fixturing
setup.
2.3

Fixture Verification and Analysis

Zheng and Qian (2008) presented an efficient algorithm for optimal fixel locations to enhance localization
accuracy and immobilization capability of 3-D modular fixtures for complex shapes. Wu et al. (1998)
presented a geometric analysis on fixturing accuracy, clamp planning, fixturing accessibility, and
clamping stability for automatic fixture planning. Song and Rong (2005) presented a methodology to
evaluate the locating scheme and assist fixture designer to analyze and improve the designed scheme.
Kaya (2006) presented a genetic algorithm (GA) for the optimization of locating and clamping positions
for fixture layout design.
3. The Proposed Methodology
The proposed framework for the automatic design of fixtures module consists of three major phases:
fixture plan, fixture layout and fixture assembly. Figure 1 shows the flow diagram of the proposed
methodology. The overall fixture design method will be developed from the highest concept of the
fixture plan to the lowest level which is the physical fixture assembly.

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Proceedings of the 41st International Conference on Computers & Industrial Engineering

Figure 1. The Proposed Automatic Fixture Design Module

3.1

Fixture Plan

In the fixture plan phase, a group of three mutually orthogonal planes are chosen and a reasonable
locating scheme is proposed using these planes as a locating reference together with the geometry of the
designed part as shown in Figure 2. The classification of the designed part is executed, after the selection
of the locating surfaces. The objective of designed part classification is to assign a designed part to a
group having very similar attributes.

Figure2. Orientation of locating surfaces w.r.t workpiece

3.2

Fixture Layout

In the layout phase, the procedure defines gradually each function: positions the designed part, clamps the
designed part or supports the designed part in an accurate arrangement. A group of locating, supporting
and clamping points are placed on the designed part surface based on the locating method developed by
the fixture plan phase.

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Proceedings of the 41st International Conference on Computers & Industrial Engineering

3.3

Fixture Assembly

In the assembly phase, rules will be structured to select the fixture components. The function and
attributes of each fixture component will be identified by the database of the locating scheme and the
fixture layout proposed in the previous phases.
Finally, 3D solid model of the chosen fixture components will be set around the designed part and
demonstrated on the CAD system.
The database employed in the automated fixture design module will consist of:
1.

A feature based database for the extracted features and the overall designed part.

2.

A rule database for reasoning during the fixture design.

3.

A modular fixture database for use in fixture component selection.

4. Case Study
The methodology is used for the analysis of a sample prismatic component as shown in figure below

The case study CAD model is generated using Mechanical Desktop 6 Power Pack or any CAD software
support IGES files. The manufacturing features are extracted and set of rules are formulated to identify
the suitable locating methods.
Parameters
Width
Height

Feature
ID

Feature
Type

Length

Raw material

30

Hole Through

16

Slot Through
Pocket
Through

Step Blind

16

Location
Diameter

16
16

Manufaturing
Process

0,0,0
8

2,0,11

Drilling

15,8,30

Milling

20,10,8

Milling

25,0,10

Milling

A group of locating, supporting and clamping points are placed on the designed part surface
based on the locating method developed by the fixture plan phase. It is supposed that 3-2-1
locating principle can locate effectively all manufacturing parts. On the other hand, in the actual
machining operation due to the variations of products, it will be required to achieve the
orientation and geometry of the designed part. While designing the fixtures, there many

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Proceedings of the 41st International Conference on Computers & Industrial Engineering

objectives that should be achieved like no obstruction between fixture elements, designed part
geometry and cutting tool path, Precise locating and rigidly holding the designed part and
avoidance of the designed part deflection. A set of rules are generated to find out locating,
clamping and supporting points. A weighting factor is also introduced with set of rules to find
out the best alternative points. For example
Rule Block 1------Weighting Factor 0.7
Rule Block2-------Weighting Factor 0.8
Therefore locating, clamping and supporting scheme is selected according to Rule Block2
Feature ID

Feature
Type

Operation
Type

Machine

Cutting
Tool

Tool Approach

Hole_Through

Drilling

Drilling

Twist Drill

[0,0,-1]

Slot_Through

Slotting_Milling

Milling

End Milling Cutter

[1,0,0] or
[-1,0,0]

Pocket_Milling

Milling

Corner Rounding
Milling Cutter

[0,0,-1]

Shoulder_Milling

Milling

Corner Rounding
Milling Cutter

[-1,0,0] or
[0,1,0]

Pocket_Through
Step_Blind

4.1

Fixture Database

Generally, the fixture can be constructed from many elements such as supporting pins, locators and
clamping devices. The fixture element structured database will constitute modular fixturing elements. A
fixture element can be classified into a single basic element or a composite element. Any element can
perform one task such as supporting, locating or clamping.

For functional objectives, fixture elements

can be classified into four types due to their functional specifications. Figure 3 shows the hierarchy the
fixture elements.

Figure 3. Hierarchy of fixture component.

The proposed methodology will expand the project into analysis of rotational and compound features.
5. Conclusion
The fixture design problem developed in a hierarchical design structure. A systematic approach for
selecting the locating and clamping positions on an automatically generated fixture configuration created
for the building of modular fixtures. Modular fixture elements selected by taking into account the

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Proceedings of the 41st International Conference on Computers & Industrial Engineering

necessary function and geometric limitation of the designed part.

The generated fixture layout

represented in the CAD system. By using the proposed framework, the integration problem can be solved
by applying of a decision making approach. In this project, artificial intelligent approach is utilized to
achieve the integration level. Also, a weighting factor approach will be used to arrange the alternative
solutions available. This measure will identify all the possible solutions and allows each of these to be
evaluated before a final selection is made.

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