Research And Development Of CAD System Of Foundry Technology & Tools For Automobile's Castings

Currently, foundry industry is facing dual challenges from both the interior and exterior. To meet the challenge of others and to accelerate their own development, foundry enterprises are widely applying computer technology for the technique innovation and managing ability improvement. Integrated CAD/CAE/CAPP/CAM/PDM/ERP system has been used in advanced foundry enterprises.To improve the efficiency and quality of casting process and tooling equipment design in foundry enterprises and build the foundation of computer integrated application for foundry enterprises, a three-dimensional CAD system of casting process and tooling equipment has been developed based on the UG platform. The functions of the system involve process parameters design, sand core design, riser design, gating system design, pattern plate design, core box design, and creation of two-dimensional drawings and charts. According to the complexity of automobile casting structure and the need of integrated enterprise information systems, parameterization, automation, management of data and graphs have also been explored.Using the combination of UG/Open API and UG/Open++ as development tool with the interactive interface of UG/Open UIStyler, the application program developed has been closely integrated with UG system by UG/Open MenuScript. The opening structure has been designed in the system, which is convenient for users to adjust the system and to get a special casting process and tooling equipment CAD system.The system has been applied in DongFeng Automobile Co. Ltd., with the aim of improving the enterprise's design efficiency and quality, urging it's informatization construction.