RoboticsandComputer-IntegratedManufactCityenterprises.developmentofinjectionmouldscanberealizedbydevelopinganInternet-basedmoulddesignsystemasoneofthemodulesofacollaborativeproductdevelopmentsystem.ThispaperpresentsaprototypeInternet-basedintelligentdesignsystemforinjectionmoulds.Duetoitsabilitytoproducecomplex-shapeplasticpartswithgooddimensionalaccuracyandveryshortcycletimes,andInternettechnology,CAD/CAE/CAMintegrationtechnology,concurrentengineering,artificialintelligence,mostcases,qualityofmouldisresponsiblefortheeconomicsoftheentireprocess.Injectionmoulddesignmeters.Unfortunately,itispresentlyimpossibletocoverthegrowingdemandforsuchexperienceddesigners.Therefore,intelligentCADtoolsthatcanassistintheARTICLEINPRESSvarioustasksofthemoulddesignprocessareveryimportanttotheproductivityofthemould-makingindustry.0736-5845/$-seefrontmatterr2006ElsevierLtd.Allrightsreserved.doi:10.1016/j.rcim.2006.05.003C3Correspondingauthor.Fax:+85227888423.E-mailaddress:.hk(C.K.Mok).injectionmouldinghasbecomethemostimportantprocessformanufacturingplasticpartsintheplasticindustrytoday.However,thecurrentplasticsindustryisundergreatpressure,duetotheglobalizationofthemarket,theshortlifecycleofproductdevelopment,increasingproductdiversity,highdemandofproductquality.Tomeetsuchrequirements,itisveryimportantforthistradetoadoptvariousadvancedtechnologieswhichincludeinformationinvolvesextensiveempiricalknowledge(heuristicknowl-edge)aboutthestructureandfunctionsofthecomponentsofthemould.Nowadays,moulddesignfaceswithincreasingdeadlinepressuresandthedesignitselfispredominantlybaseduponexperienceofthemoulddesigner.Moulddesignersarerequiredtopossessthoroughandbroadexperience,becausedetaileddecisionsrequiretheknowledgeoftheinteractionamongvariouspara-solutiontogetherwithartificialintelligencetechniquesisemployedtodevelopsuchanetworkedinteractiveCADsystem.Inthissystem,thecomputationalmodule,theknowledgebasemoduleandthegraphicmoduleforgeneratingmouldfeaturesareintegratedwithinaninteractiveCAD-basedframework.Theknowledgebaseofthesystemwouldbeaccessedbymoulddesignersthroughinteractiveprogramssothattheirownintelligenceandexperiencecouldalsobeincorporatedwiththetotalmoulddesign.Theapproachadoptedbothspeedsupthedesignprocessandfacilitatesdesignstandardizationwhichinturnincreasesthespeedofmouldmanufacture.ApracticalcasestudyispresentedtoillustratetheoperationsoftheInternet-basedmoulddesignsystem.r2006ElsevierLtd.Allrightsreserved.Keywords:Internet；Knowledge-basedexpertsystems；Injectionmoulddesign；Collaboration1.IntroductionPlastic,whichisoneofthemostversatileinthemodernage,iswidelyusedinmanyproductsthroughouttheworld.andsoon,toeffectivelyaidthedevelopmentofinjection-mouldedproduct.Ininjectionmoulding,thedesignofamouldisofcriticalimportanceforproductqualityandefficientprocessing.InThearchitectureofthesystemconsistsofaninteractiveKBmoulddesignsystemembeddedinanInternetenvironment.AJava-enabledAnInternet-basedintelligentdesignC.K.Moka,C3,K.S.ChinaDepartmentofManufacturingEngineeringandEngineeringManagement,bSchoolofMechanicalEngineering,ShandongReceived18October2005；receivedinrevisedAbstractTherapidgrowthofInternetandinformationtechnologiesinrecentproductdevelopmentsamongdifferentgeographicallydistributeduring24(2008)115systemforinjectionmouldsa,HongboLana,bUniversityofHongKong,TatCheeAvenue,Kowloon,HongKongUniversity,Jinan250061,Chinaform24April2006；accepted5May2006yearsprovidesasolutiontosupportandfacilitatecollaborativeA/locate/rcimARTICLEINPRESSThegrowingtrendinglobalmanufacturingistoalargeextentsupportedbyInternet,informationtechnologiesandglobalmarketing.Nowadays,itiscommontoseethatdesign,manufacturingandfinalassemblyofaproductaremadeincompanieslocatedindifferentpartsoftheworld.Thevariouspartiesconcernedwouldneedtosharetheirexpertiseandexperiencesduringtheproductdevelopmentprocess.ThecurrentprogressofInternetandinformationtechnologiescanprovideasolutiontosupportandfacilitatecollaborativeproductdevelopmentsamongdif-ferentgeographicallydistributedenterprises.DevelopinganInternet-basedintelligentmoulddesignsystemasoneofthemoduleofacollaborativeproductdevelop-mentsystemcanprovideaneffectiveandfeasibletooltoaidthecollaborativedevelopmentofinjectionmouldsinthesmall-andmedium-sizedenterprisestosatisfythestringentrequirementsofnowadayscompetitiveglobalmarket.ThispaperpresentsanInternet-basedintelligentmoulddesignsystemusingInternettechnologyandknowledge-basedapproach.Thesystemcanshortenthedesigncycleofinjectionmouldandcaneffectivelyaidthedesignanddevelopmentworksofinjectionmouldsinthesmall-andmedium-sizedenterprisestomeettheincreasingpressureofthecurrentcompetitiveworldmarket.Therestofthepaperisorganizedasfollows.Section2givesabriefintroductionofinjectionmoulddesign.Section3introducesearlierresearchworksonmoulddesignandrelatedfields.ThearchitectureoftheInternet-basedmoulddesignsystemispresentedinsection4.Theknowledge-basedpartofthemoulddesignsystemisdescribedinsection5.Section6discussesthedevelopmentofthesystem.Apracticaldesigncaseisdemonstratedinsection7.Conclusionismadeinsection8.2.InjectionmoulddesignThebasicfeaturesofaninjectionmouldconsistofcavitynumberandlayout,feedsystem,coolingsystem,ejectionsystemandmouldconstruction.Fig.1showsthegeneralprocedureofmoulddesign1.Itcanbeseenthathowinterrelatedtheconditionsareandwhichboundaryandsecondaryconditionshavetobemetbythemainfunctions.Amoulddesignprojectnormallystartswitheconomicconsiderations,namelythequestionofhowmanypartscanandshouldbeproducedinonemouldinoneshotinordertomeetthedeliverydateandotherrequirements.Thisisfollowedbyconsiderationofthearrangementsofthecavitiesinthemouldframe,whichmightdirectlyincludethoughtsontheeaseofejectionandsubsequently,theconnectionbetweenmouldingsandrunnersandpartquality(number,positionandshapeofgates).Thefeedsystemaccommodatesthemoltenplasticmaterialcomingfromtheinjectionnozzleofthemouldingmachineanddistributesitintoeachcavity.ToremovetheheatfromtheC.K.Moketal./RoboticsandComputer-In2moulding,itisnecessarytoprovidethemouldwithacoolingsystem.Afterthemouldinghassolidifiedandcooleddown,ithastoberemovedfromthemouldbytheejectionsystem.Mouldisnormallyconstructedbystackingseveralmetalplatestoformarigidbody.Ithastohousevariousmouldcomponentsincorrectpositionsfortheproperfunctioningofthemould.Mouldconstructionnormallyinvolvestheselectionofmouldbasesandstandardmouldparts.Forcomplicatedplasticparts,someothermechanismssuchasslides,unscrewingdevice,etc.,mightalsobeinvolvedinthewholemouldstructure.3.RelatedresearchAnumberofresearchactivitieshavebeencarriedoutonmoulddesignanditsrelatedfieldovertheyearsusingcomputer-aidedtechniques.Theseresearchactivitiesrangefromstudyingspecificareasofmoulddesigntoinvestigat-ingmoulddesignasawholeintegratedsystem.Theycanbroadlybeclassifiedintothreeareas:thefunctionalandinitialmoulddesigns；thealgorithmstoautomatemouldgeneration；andsystemdevelopmentofmoulddesign.HuiandTan2presentedaheuristicsearchapproachbasedonsweepoperationstodevelopautomatedmoulddesignsystemsfordeterminingpartingdirection,partingline,sidecore,etc.Huangetal.3usedsolidmodellingtechniquestobuildmouldplatesandlibraryofstandardmouldcomponents.ChenandLiu4havedevelopedacostmodel,whichdepictstherelationshipsbetweencostfactorsandproductdevelopmentactivitiesaswellastheirrelationshipswithproductgeometry,forcost-effectivenessdesignforinjectionmoulding.Fuetal.5proposedanefficientmethodologywhichsystematicallypresentstheundercutfeaturedefinition,classification,undercutfeatureparameters,andtherecognitioncriteriaofalltypesofundercutfeaturesforundercutfeaturerecognitioninaninjectionmoulddesignsystem.Chenetal.6presentedamethodfordeterminationofpartingdirectionbasedondexelmodelandfuzzydecision-making.LiJC7presentedaneuralnetworkapproachformodellingandoptimizationofinjectionmouldgateparameters.LiCL8usedafeature-basedapproachtodesignthecoolingsystemofinjectionmoulds.ChungandLee9proposedaframe-workofcollaborativedesignenvironmentforinjectionmouldinginwhichgeographicallydistributed,multi-disciplinarydesignerscancollaboratewithoneanother.Maetal.10describedthedevelopmentofastandardcomponentlibraryforplasticinjectionmoulddesignusinganobject-orientedapproach.LowandLee11introducedamethodologyofprovidingtheinitialdesignin3Dsolidmodelinsteadof2Ddrawingsusingthestandardizationmethod.Ashaabetal.12describedasupportingplasticengineeringdevelopmentsystemtofacilitatethesharingofinjectionmouldinginformationandknowledgebetweeninterestedpartiesviatheInternetforthecollaborativedesignofinjectionmould.Lietal.13usedgraph-basedtechniqueanddevelopedaheuristicsearchalgorithmtotegratedManufacturing24(2008)115automatethelayoutdesignofplasticinjectionmouldcoolingsystem.ARTICLEINPRESSC.K.Moketal./RoboticsandComputer-InResearchershavestartedtoadoptaknowledge-basedapproachtosolvetheinjectionmouldingandmoulddesignproblemsinrecentyears.DTMOULD-114isaKBSforofinjectionmouldscostestimation.EIMPPLAN-115incorporatedmouldabilityconsiderationsintopartdesignsandaddressedtheconceptualdesigndevelopmentofinjection-mouldedparts.CADFEED16wasdevelopedforinjectionmoulddesign.Theyare,however,limitedtospecificdesignareasorsimpleparts,andarenotmatureandpracticalenoughtocovergeneralmoulddesign.Fig.1.ThegeneralproceduretegratedManufacturing24(2008)1153BozdanaandEyercioglu17developedanexpertsystemforthedeterminationofinjectionmouldingparametersofthermoplasticmaterials.Chanetal.18presentedthebasicstructureofaCADknowledge-basedassistedinjectionmoulddesignsystemwhichcoversboththemoulddesignprocessandmouldknowledgemanagement.Fromtheabovereviewitcanbeseenthatmostofthepreviousworkconsideronlycertainaspectsofthetotaldesignandsomeofthemaretootheoreticaltobeappliedforpracticalmoulddesignwhichinvolvesasubstantialofmoulddesign1.practicalknowledgecomponentaboutfunctionsandstructureofamould,humanheuristicknowledgeandempiricaltypeofknowledge.TheKBsystemhasdemon-stratedgreatpotentialtoassistthedesignertointeractwithaCADsystemforconceptualizeddesignaswellasthefinalengineeringdesignofamouldbyusingengineeringrulesofthumbwithextensiveanalyticalmeans.Inaddition,thereisstillrelativelyfewresearchworksonInternet-basedintelligentsystemforinjectionmoulddesign.4.ArchitectureoftheInternet-basedmoulddesignsystem4.1.OverviewAtthepresenttime,mostCADsystemsprovideonlythegeometricmodellingfunctionswhichfacilitatethedraftingoperationsofmoulddesign,anddonotprovidemoulddesignerswithnecessaryknowledgetodevelopgoodmoulddesigns.Conventionalcomputer-aidedengineeringpackagesareusuallygoodatdataprocessingforinforma-tion-intensiveproblemsoratnumbermanipulationforformulation-intensiveproblems.Theformercomprehendsthecomputer-aideddraftingandgraphics,anddatareductionandtransformation；whilethelatterinvolvesformulation-intensiveknowledge.Therefore,conventionalcomputer-aideddesigntechnologyisunsuitableforproces-singheuristicandempiricaltypeofknowledgewhichiscriticalinthemoulddesignproblems.Ingeneral,themajoradvantageoftheKBsystemformoulddesignoverconventionalcomputer-aideddesignsystemsistheexplicitrepresentationandmanipulationofabodyofknowledge,representingthehumanexpertise.AnInternet-basedmoulddesignsystemusingInternettechnologyandknowledge-basedapproachcanprovideaneffectiveandfeasibletooltoaidthecollaborativedevelop-mentofinjectionmouldsinthesmall-andmedium-sizedenterprisestosatisfythestringentrequirementsofnowadayscompetitiveglobalmarket.Moreover,thereisaconsistentneedtocheckandupdatetheinformationtoensurethatthedataisaccurateandupdatedasmouldmanufacturers