Evolution Of CAD/CAM

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, USA) is

credited with pioneering the development in both CAD and
CAM.
The need to meet the design and manufacturing requirements
of aerospace industries after the Second World War
necessitated the development these technologies.
The manufacturing technology available during late 40s and
early 50s could not meet the design and manufacturing
challenges arising out of the need to develop sophisticated
aircraft and satellite launch vehicles.
This prompted the US Air Force to approach MIT to develop
suitable control systems, drives and programming techniques
for machine tools using electronic control.
 Evolution Of CAD/CAM (Contd.)
Evolution of Computer Aided Design (CAD), was to cater to
the geometric modeling needs of automobile and aeronautical
industries.
The developments in computers, design workstations, graphic
cards, display devices and graphic input and output devices
during the last ten years have been phenomenal.
This coupled with the development of operating system with
graphic user interfaces and powerful interactive (user
friendly) software packages for modeling, drafting, analysis
and optimization provides the necessary tools to automate the
design process.
 Evolution Of CAD/CAM (Contd.)
CAD in fact owes its development to the APT language
project at MIT in early 50s.
Several clones of APT were introduced in 80s to
automatically develop NC codes from the geometric model of
the component.
Now, one can model, draft, analyze, simulate, modify,
optimize and create the NC code to manufacture a component
and simulate the machining operation sitting at a computer
workstation
 Evolution Of CAD/CAM (Contd.)
The first major innovation in machine control is the
Numerical Control (NC), demonstrated at MIT in 1952.
Early Numerical Control Systems were all basically
hardwired systems, since these were built with discrete
systems or with later first generation integrated chips.
Early NC machines used paper tape as an input medium.
Every NC machine was fitted with a tape reader to read
paper tape and transfer the program to the memory of the
machine tool block by block.
Mainframe computers were used to control a group of NC
machines by mid 60s.
 Evolution Of CAD/CAM (Contd.)
This arrangement was then called Direct Numerical Control
(DNC) as the computer bypassed the tape reader to transfer
the program data to the machine controller.
By late 60s mini computers were being commonly used to
control NC machines.
At this stage NC became truly soft wired with the facilities of
mass program storage, offline editing and software logic
control and processing.
This development is called Computer Numerical Control
(CNC).
Since 70s, numerical controllers are being designed around
microprocessors, resulting in compact CNC systems.
 Evolution Of CAD/CAM (Contd.)
A further development to this technology is the distributed
numerical control (also called DNC) in which processing of
NC program is carried out in different computers operating at
different hierarchical levels - typically from mainframe host
computers to plant computers to the machine controller
By late 60s mini computers were being commonly used to
control NC machines.
At this stage NC became truly soft wired with the facilities of
mass program storage, offline editing and software logic
control and processing.
This development is called Computer Numerical Control
(CNC).
 Evolution Of CAD/CAM (Contd.)
Since 70s, numerical controllers are being designed around
microprocessors, resulting in compact CNC systems.
A further development to this technology is the distributed
numerical control (also called DNC) in which processing of
NC program is carried out in different computers operating at
different hierarchical levels - typically from mainframe host
computers to plant computers to the machine controller.
Today the CNC systems are built around powerful 32 bit and
64 bit microprocessors. PC based systems are also becoming
increasingly popular
 Evolution Of CAD/CAM (Contd.)
Manufacturing engineers also started using computers for such
tasks like inventory control, demand forecasting, production
planning and control etc.
CNC technology was adapted in the development of co-
ordinate measuring machines (CMMs) which automated
inspection.
Robots were introduced to automate several tasks like machine
loading, materials handling, welding, painting and assembly.
All these developments led to the evolution of flexible
manufacturing cells and flexible manufacturing systems in late
70s
 Importance of CAD/CAM

CAD/CAM has been utilized in engineering practice in many

ways including drafting, design, simulation, analysis, and
manufacturing.
CAD/CAM systems are commonly used in daily engineering
tasks.
Engineering companies large and small acquire CAD/CAM
systems and train their engineer, either in house or on a
vendors site, on how to use them.
Experience and wisdom have it that CAD/CAM users become
very inefficient in using CAD/CAM systems unless they the
fundamental concepts on which these systems are built.
Scope of CAD/CAM
 Scope of CAD/CAM (Contd.)

The product cycle shown in fig serves as the basis upon

which to define the scope of CAD/CAM.
The CAD process is subset of the design process and the
CAM process is a subset of the manufacturing process.
Engineers involved in the design process are usually
themselves the CAD designers who execute the CAD
process. Similarly, manufacturing engineers execute the
CAM process.
At the core of CAD and CAM processes is a geometric model
of product under design.
 Scope of CAD/CAM (Contd.)

Activities of the CAD process include mass properties, finite

element analysis, tolerancing, assembly modeling,
generating shaded images, and documentation and drafting.
Activities of the CAM process include CAPP (computer
aided process planning), NC ( numerical control)
programming, design of injection molds, CMM ( coordinate
measuring machine) verifications, inspections, assembly via
robots, and packaging.
The CAD process and its tools utilize three disciplines:
geometric modeling, computer graphics, and design.
The CAM process utilizes the disciplines of CAD itself,
manufacturing, and automation.
 Advantages of CAD/CAM systems
Greater flexibility. Better product design.
Reduced lead times. Greater manufacturing
Reduced inventories. control.
Increased Productivity. Supported integration.
Improved customer Reduced costs.
service. Increased utilization.
Improved quality. Reduction of machine
Improved communications tools.
with suppliers. Less floor space.

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 Advantages of CAD/CAM systems
Quick & Easy to use Cuts down labour costs
Designs can be saved 24 Hour Manufacture
Designs can be easily Duplicates the same
altered piece exactly each time
You can view the item in Quicker than hand
3D before it is made made
The design can be sent to
others via E-Mail

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Advantages of CAD/CAM systems
Process planning and scheduling.
Programming for numerical control and
industrial robots.
Design of dies and molds for casting.
Die for metal working operations.
Design of tooling and fixtures and EDM
electrodes.
Quality control and inspection.
Plant layout

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Advantages of CAD/CAM systems
Computer-Aided Process Planning is concerned
with the preparation of a route sheet for the
engineering drawing of the work part which must be
interpreted in terms of manufacturing process to be
used.
The route sheet is a listing of the sequence of
operations.
Closely related to process planning are the functions
of determining appropriate cutting conditions for the
machining operations and setting the time standards
for the operations which are aided by computers.

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 Advantages of CAD/CAM systems
Material-requirements planning and manufacturing resource
planning (MRP)
MRP keep complete records of inventories of
Materials,
Supplies,
parts in various stages of production,
Orders,
Purchasing, and
Scheduling.
 Disadvantages of CAD/CAM
CAD:
Programs can be expensive to buy
Constant upgrades new learning / expense
High cost of hardware (computers) and software (programmes)
Training needed to use it effectively.
CAM:
Very high set up cost.
Expensive to buy.
Can cause workers to lose their jobs.
Requires specialist training.
Expensive to initially set up
Machines need to be serviced
 History of Computer Systems

Mainframe Computer and Graphics Terminals

In these early years, it was common practice to wait in
line to use a dedicated CAD terminal that sat in a cold,
dark climate-controlled room.
1980s and early 1990s open hardware architecture and
standard operating system; general-purpose hardware
suppliers
Workstations & High-End Personal Computers
Solve the memory, speed and storage problems
Supporting network
Graphics capability
Low costs
 Basic Architecture of a CAD System

Mainframe-based systems
Minicomputer-based
systems
Workstation-based systems
Microcomputer-based
systems
Mainframe-/Minicomputer-based systems