A Cloud Manufacturing Architecture for Complex Parts Machining

• Service provider (SP) know-hows are essential in machining service (MS) encapsulation in the cloud. However, since the acquisition of the know-hows for complex parts machining requires investing considerable manpower and resources in R&D, this kind of machining know-hows is usually considered as one of the core competences of the SP who makes them unshareable. Targeting the problem, this paper presents a new cloud manufacturing (CM) architecture in which MSs are encapsulated within each SP with standardized machining task description strategies (SMTDS). Only the capability information about what the SP can do is provided to the cloud. During service matching, SMTDS is also applied for user request formulation to improve the matching efficiency and quality. For complex parts in large size, high machining requirements, high value, short delivery cycle, and complex structures, e.g., aircraft structural parts, unacceptable machining quality or delivery delay may cause a much greater loss not only in economy. In the proposed CM architecture, to guarantee the feasibility of the MSs for complex structural parts, machining operations for the user preferred services could be generated by mapping the corresponding typical machining plans (TMP) to the part based on the dynamic feature concept to support accurate evaluations of the MSs. The machining of an aircraft structural part is then applied as a test user request to demonstrate how the proposed method works for finding MS for complex parts.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Maskinteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Mechanical Engineering (hsv//eng)

Keyword

cloud manufacturing

complex parts machining

dynamic feature

machining operation

machining service

Aircraft parts and equipment

Architecture

Computer aided manufacturing

Fighter aircraft

Machinery

Machining centers

Manufacture

Memory architecture

Aircraft structural parts

Complex parts

Complex structural parts

Complex structure

Dynamic features

Machining operations

Machining quality

Computer architecture

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)