Development of IT Framework for the Dimensional Inspection of Milling Parts using STEP-NC Compliant Standard ISO 14649

Abstract

In modern manufacturing environment, manufacturing facilities are spread around the world and have equipment’s from different manufacturers. A large amount of product information flow across different facilities of a manufacturing enterprise. A lot of work is being done on integration of product data. For mechanical parts, product information has been standardized by STEP (ISO 10303) in the form of exchangeable files, application programming interfaces and database implementation. STEP has enabled the use of standard data across the entire manufacturing environment. Machining process is one of the most extensively used process across any manufacturing enterprise. There is a need of integration of information at machining level. Most modern CNC machines used ISO 6983 (G&M Codes) as programming language. This program of machine can either be generated manually or by CAM system that uses the information from a CAD system. Programs based on ISO 6983 contains very less information and have limitations. STEP NC (ISO 14649) is a new standard for transfer of data from CAD/CAM systems to CNC machines. In this new standard, product data from STEP (10303) is used for communication between CAD/CAM systems and CNC controllers. It is a two-way communication. The STEP-NC system is based on features. It not only contains information about the tool path but also contains the information about the feature. Measurement and inspection of manufactured parts is one of the most important step in manufacturing enterprises. In this research work, STEP NC compliant framework is used for the dimensional inspection of the parts made on CNC milling machine. This framework uses the information from STEP to generate a feature based inspection plan of prismatic parts. A prototype to check the functionality of this framework is made using php language.