Machining Planning for Tolerance Synthesis

The present paper deals with the preliminary study and the prototypical implementation of an expert system to quickly define an high level manufacturing sequence able to produce the assigned part tolerances. To do so, the expert system simulates the human reasoning process by applying specific knowledge and inferences. An assembly that is widely used to test the performances of different design methods represents the case study. This module belongs to a flexible and integrated environment that aims to automatically define both the tolerance specifications and the related process plan. Its aim is to support the designer during the definition of a functional project.