Sheet Metal Bend DFM With Interactive Manufacturability Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional manufacturability analyses for sheet metal parts are time-intensive, labor-intensive, and costly, limiting the accessibility of custom metal fabrication services due to the need for specialized labor and selective engagement with customers.
Innovation Solution
A user-interactable interface that performs automated design for manufacturability (DFM) processes, allowing customers to submit custom parts for virtual bending operations, providing manufacturability indicators, and enabling users to modify part characteristics to achieve manufacturability, with manufacturing simulations to visualize potential errors and facilitate order placement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional manufacturability analyses are performed using specialized labor, then manufacturing precision and reliability are improved, but loss of time and productivity deteriorate due to time-intensive and labor-intensive processes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a digital copy of the physical manufacturing process through virtual bending operations in a software environment. The system replicates press brake machinery behavior, material properties, and manufacturing constraints in a virtual model, allowing multiple analysis iterations without physical prototyping or manual intervention, thus reducing time loss while maintaining analysis accuracy
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical analysis methods with automated computational algorithms. The system uses computer-based simulations to perform bending operations, collision detection, and manufacturability assessments, substituting specialized human labor with automated software that processes designs rapidly and consistently
2Manufacturing precision
If conventional manufacturability analyses are performed with specialized labor, then manufacturing precision is improved, but device complexity and cost increase due to specialized machinery and selective customer engagement
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal manufacturing analysis platform that handles multiple sheet metal operations (bending, cutting, forming) through a single integrated software system. The virtual press brake and associated tools can be configured for different materials, geometries, and manufacturing scenarios, eliminating the need for separate specialized analysis systems for each customer or operation type
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses parameter-based material models that capture the essential mechanical behavior of different sheet metals (steel, aluminum, etc.) through configurable properties like elasticity, plasticity, and thickness. These parameterized models allow the system to adapt to various materials without requiring fundamentally different analysis approaches or specialized equipment for each material type
3Productivity
If iterative design modifications are enabled through user interaction, then productivity and accessibility are improved, but device complexity increases due to the need for user interface and modification capabilities
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables designers to perform their own manufacturability analyses and design iterations directly in the software interface without requiring external expert intervention. The system provides self-contained tools for modifying design parameters, running virtual bending operations, and receiving immediate feedback on manufacturability, allowing users to service their own design needs iteratively
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements real-time feedback mechanisms that immediately inform users whether their design modifications are manufacturable. The system analyzes design changes, performs virtual bending operations, and provides actionable feedback on collisions, material constraints, and process feasibility, enabling rapid iterative improvement without waiting for external review cycles
Data Source
AI summary
A system may be configurable to (i) access an input file submitted by a user and comprising a representation of a sheet metal part; (ii) cause presentation of a user interface that enables user selection or modification of bend radius or bend angle for one or more bends of the sheet metal part; (iii) generate a modified sheet metal part based on user selection or modification of the bend radius or bend angle; (iv) determine manufacturability of the modified sheet metal part; (v) when the modified sheet metal part is manufacturable with particular manufacturing configurations available to one or more manufacturing facilities: (a) automatically determine or update a price of manufacturing the modified sheet metal part based on the particular manufacturing configurations; (b) cause presentation of the price of manufacturing the modified sheet metal part within the user interface; and (c) selectively enable order placement functionality within the user interface.