ABSTRACT

Reconfigurable machine tool (RMT) is the core facility of the reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS), which can provide customised flexibility for RMS through reconfiguration. The reconfiguration of RMT is complicated due to unpredictable changes in demand and the flexibility of RMT, where new RMT should be designed to satisfy the new demand. The concept of digital twin of RMT is introduced to solve complex reconfiguration problems by executing reconfiguration experiments on high-fidelity virtual RMT. Considering the design processes of RMT during reconfiguration, three building blocks for digital twin of RMT should be studied thoroughly, including structure design, configuration generation, and configuration evaluation. First, the structure design of RMT for multi-part families is studied, including the design principles, module division, and design method. Second, the configuration generation process of RMT based on the results of the structure design is analysed, where quantitative description of configuration is proposed to facilitate the generation process. Third, configuration evaluation is presented to confirm the performance of each configuration based on kinematics analysis. Finally, a case study is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed three building blocks for digital twin of RMT during reconfiguration to obtain suitable design scheme of RMT.

摘要

可重配置机床（RMT）是可重配置制造系统（RMS）的核心设施，可通过重配置为RMS提供定制的灵活性。由于需求的不可预测的变化和RMT的灵活性，RMT的重新配置非常复杂，因此应设计新的RMT以满足新的需求。引入RMT的数字孪生概念是通过在高保真虚拟RMT上执行重新配置实验来解决复杂的重新配置问题。考虑到RMT在重新配置期间的设计过程，应该彻底研究RMT数字孪生的三个构建块，包括结构设计，配置生成和配置评估。首先，研究用于多部分系列的RMT的结构设计，包括设计原理，模块划分，和设计方法。其次，分析了基于结构设计结果的RMT的配置生成过程，提出了对配置的定量描述以方便生成过程。第三，提出了结构评估，以基于运动学分析来确认每种配置的性能。最后，提供了一个案例研究来证明所提出的三个RMT数字孪生模块在重新配置期间的有效性，以获得合适的RMT设计方案。基于运动学分析，提出了配置评估，以确认每种配置的性能。最后，提供了一个案例研究来证明所提出的三个RMT数字孪生模块在重新配置期间的有效性，以获得合适的RMT设计方案。基于运动学分析，提出了配置评估，以确认每种配置的性能。最后，提供了一个案例研究来证明所提出的三个RMT数字孪生模块在重新配置期间的有效性，以获得合适的RMT设计方案。