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This article is presented by:Necdet GEREN,
M. Murat BAYSAL,
ABSTRACT
Expert systems have experienced tremendous growth and popularity since their commercial introduction in the early 1980’s. Today, expert systems are used in business, science, engineering, manufacturing, medical diagnosing, chemical, and many other fields. Mechanical engineers are the major users, expert systems, are finding rapid application in industry for such tasks as analysis of quality control data, assisting manufacturing personnel to safely operate machinery and accurately tune instruments. The design of gearbox requires good design decisions and design calculations, which are often interrelated with the various parameters. By using an expert system, which has various advantages, gearbox design will take less time and be easier. It will provide an important advantage in today’s competition conditions since it decreases human power and workday waste as well as cost. Hence an expert system has been developed for gearbox design in this study.
INTRODUCTION
Design is a major activity of engineering. Engineering design problems (especially gearbox design) are often too large and complex for application of conventional software methods, but are suitable to application of certain expert system methods. Mechanical Engineering design decisions require not only a knowledge of engineering principles and understanding of design specifications, but also, experience with similar design activities. Expert systems provide a method for storage and organization of expert(s) expertise and experience. Expert systems have experienced tremendous growth and popularity since their commercial introduction in the early 1980’s. Today, expert systems are used in many fields from business to medical diagnosis [Akoumianakis and Stephanedis, 1997]. This is due to the attractive features of expert systems, which provide increased availability, fast response, reduced cost and reliability of expertise. In addition to these, permanency and steadiness of expertise, intelligent tutor and database features are obtained when expert systems used [Schur, 1988]. Expert systems for mechanical engineering design are finding applications in industry. As reported by Ulmann [1997], unfortunately the direct application of expert systems to the design process is proceeding more slowly. Gearbox design depends on some parameters (i.e.; shaft axis, size, standards, material, manufacturability, efficiency, constraints of gear, speed ratio, cost etc.). Aforementioned parameters also affect the choice of gear system and gear train arrangement. Hence the design of gearbox requires good design decisions and design calculations, which are often interrelated with the various parameters. Therefore, the expert systems are suitable tools for gearbox development. Much gear software has been written by experts in certain areas of gear design and manufacturing. Many of these experts have available software to perform very specialized tasks. Several software providers have packages that are useful for determining the best gear for a given application. These packages analyze load distribution, bending strength, pitting resistance, thermal capacity, tribology or other factors affecting the potential life of individual gears or gear sets. Often, they are very specific and limited in scope. The aim of this study is to develop an expert system to design a gearbox. There are several types and variations of gearboxes based on the gear trains used, and choices to select a suitable one depends on several factors such as, transmitting power capacity, velocity ratio, speeds, noise and direction of the input-output axis. As it is known, each type of gear requires different set of formulas, calculations, procedures and constraints. At the same time, other components like; shaft, bearings, casing etc. in gearbox have to be designed or selected with respect to gear design, simultaneously. Briefly, the design of gearbox includes considering all types of gears and their related components. Therefore the expert system is designed as a main frame of a complete expert system for gearbox design. The current system is only capable of designing spur gears. In addition to that it has material selection unit, message dialogs, which are applicable to all types of gears. As the units are developed for helical, bevel and worm gears, they are going to be added to the system in near future.
This article is presented by:Necdet GEREN,
M. Murat BAYSAL,
EXPERT SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT FOR SPUR GEAR DESIGN
ABSTRACT
Expert systems have experienced tremendous growth and popularity since their commercial introduction in the early 1980’s. Today, expert systems are used in business, science, engineering, manufacturing, medical diagnosing, chemical, and many other fields. Mechanical engineers are the major users, expert systems, are finding rapid application in industry for such tasks as analysis of quality control data, assisting manufacturing personnel to safely operate machinery and accurately tune instruments. The design of gearbox requires good design decisions and design calculations, which are often interrelated with the various parameters. By using an expert system, which has various advantages, gearbox design will take less time and be easier. It will provide an important advantage in today’s competition conditions since it decreases human power and workday waste as well as cost. Hence an expert system has been developed for gearbox design in this study.
INTRODUCTION
Design is a major activity of engineering. Engineering design problems (especially gearbox design) are often too large and complex for application of conventional software methods, but are suitable to application of certain expert system methods. Mechanical Engineering design decisions require not only a knowledge of engineering principles and understanding of design specifications, but also, experience with similar design activities. Expert systems provide a method for storage and organization of expert(s) expertise and experience. Expert systems have experienced tremendous growth and popularity since their commercial introduction in the early 1980’s. Today, expert systems are used in many fields from business to medical diagnosis [Akoumianakis and Stephanedis, 1997]. This is due to the attractive features of expert systems, which provide increased availability, fast response, reduced cost and reliability of expertise. In addition to these, permanency and steadiness of expertise, intelligent tutor and database features are obtained when expert systems used [Schur, 1988]. Expert systems for mechanical engineering design are finding applications in industry. As reported by Ulmann [1997], unfortunately the direct application of expert systems to the design process is proceeding more slowly. Gearbox design depends on some parameters (i.e.; shaft axis, size, standards, material, manufacturability, efficiency, constraints of gear, speed ratio, cost etc.). Aforementioned parameters also affect the choice of gear system and gear train arrangement. Hence the design of gearbox requires good design decisions and design calculations, which are often interrelated with the various parameters. Therefore, the expert systems are suitable tools for gearbox development. Much gear software has been written by experts in certain areas of gear design and manufacturing. Many of these experts have available software to perform very specialized tasks. Several software providers have packages that are useful for determining the best gear for a given application. These packages analyze load distribution, bending strength, pitting resistance, thermal capacity, tribology or other factors affecting the potential life of individual gears or gear sets. Often, they are very specific and limited in scope. The aim of this study is to develop an expert system to design a gearbox. There are several types and variations of gearboxes based on the gear trains used, and choices to select a suitable one depends on several factors such as, transmitting power capacity, velocity ratio, speeds, noise and direction of the input-output axis. As it is known, each type of gear requires different set of formulas, calculations, procedures and constraints. At the same time, other components like; shaft, bearings, casing etc. in gearbox have to be designed or selected with respect to gear design, simultaneously. Briefly, the design of gearbox includes considering all types of gears and their related components. Therefore the expert system is designed as a main frame of a complete expert system for gearbox design. The current system is only capable of designing spur gears. In addition to that it has material selection unit, message dialogs, which are applicable to all types of gears. As the units are developed for helical, bevel and worm gears, they are going to be added to the system in near future.
