6926475811

0

SPECIAL FEATURE:

CAD, CAM,    CAE and CIM

■ the basie concepts

Most people in electronics will have become aware by now    °ⁿe seems to have actualiy achieyed

that computers are being used morę and morę as tools for    ¹oo^hbifTtoo*)¹''⁶ ~ ^{perhaps that s a}

designing, drafting and manufacturing. At the same time many    ^g oettińgback to Cad, the basie con-

people are understandably a bit hazy about how it's all done,    cept is realiy quite simpie. Designing

what the advantages are and the exact meaning ot terms like    many of today’s hi-tecii products can be

CAD, CAM, CAE and CIM, which are often used rather    ^a. ^maj^iSlve job, and if done using tradi-

ambiguously. Hor© S an 3tt©ITlpt to clarity th© basie C0nc©pts. than _modern industry can afford. Time

is moncy, after all — particularly when

by JIM ROWE    ^{the time is bcin}g ^sP^{ent b}y ^{a hi}8^hly

⁷    trained design engineer. So when com

puters came along, it was logical to try

To start with, it would no doubt be a That's the approach we*ll be taking in and take advantage of these as design good idea to tackle those acronyms, and the current EA article and feature, any- tools, to speed things up. have a go at clarifying their meaning. way.    Generally the idea is that with suit-

First of all, there’s CAD, which origi- Another term you*ll come across able software, the Computer can take nally stood for compuier-aided design, morę and morę in this area is CAM, • over a lot of the tedious repetitive cal-In other words, the use of a Computer which stands for computer-aided mann- culations which form much of engincer-with suitable software as a tool for the facturing. In other words, the use of ing design. And it can often be ar-engincering design of any desired prod- computer-controlled machinę tools and ranged to display the results of those uct or system. The problem is that in other production equipment. There*s calculations in easy to appreciate the last few years, this term has also also CNC, short for Computer numerical graphical form, again using suitable come to mean computer-aided drafting    eon troi, which is largely used to de-    software.

— a rather morę narrow application,    scribe machinę tools designed to accept    From this basie concept, many fancy

where the Computer is used mainly to programs from, or prepared using, a developments and elaborations have replaće a drawing board and drafting Computer'. Often CNC is sliortened to grown. In some cascs the CAD software machinę for the efficient production of simply NC, for numerical control.    packages have grown into virtually "ex-

plans and drawings.    And finally there*s the term CIM, pert Systems”, encapsulating the knowl-

Because of this ambiguity, some peo- short for Computer integrated manufac- edge of an experienced design engineer ple have started to use the acronym turing. This is a morę recent concept, so that even an inexperienced tyro can-CAE instead of CAD, where the where all of a company^łs process eon- turn out coinplete products without broader design meaning is intended trollers, numerically controlled machinę realiy knowing how it’s done. rather than simply drafting. Here CAE tools and computers are integrated into In other cases, the CAD package pro-stands for computer-aided engineering. a complete system to allow total eon- vides all sorts of extra features and fa-But this can introduce a further prób- troi. So the design for a product can bc eilities, to allow the experienced dc-lem, because many software packages prepared on the engineering department signer to do things formerly not possi-which turn a Computer into a true de- Computer, which then gets the purchas- ble. Things like simulating the operation sign tool also make it into a drafting ing department’s Computer to order the of the finał product even before it’s tool, as part of the overall package. So    parts and Schedule production. When    built, and allow ing you to measure its

the two tend to be linked, almost inex-    the parts arrive, the production control    performance — then allowing you to

tricably. All one can say is that many computers and NC machines are sup- change the design, and see the effect of “design” CAD packages also provide plied with the machining programs, so those changes. And so on . . . drafting capabilities (often integrated that they “know how to make them”. Now before we end this introduction, with the rest of the package), while    Then when the products are shipped out    we should iook briefly at the kind of

some “drafting” CAD packages provide    of the door, the production Computer    hardware and software that are needed

not a great deal morę than that.    and the despatch department Computer    for virtua!ly any kind of CAD.

In view' of this linkage, it s probably send all of the details to the accounts Obviously you need a Computer and stiU ^{best t0} use the term CAD as the department Computer, which prepares one of the CAD software packages de-genenc labcl for all of these packages,    the invoices and sends a report to the    signed to run on it, for a start. When

and to regard the drafting-only packages    management Computer. And so on. (It    CAD first came on the scene, you

as a limited capability sub-group. all sounds. wonderful in theory, but no-- needed a mainframe Computer, or at

94 ELECTRONICS Australia, September 1987