Research and Development in Virtual Engineering

Programmable, numerically controlled machine tools are the industry standard in manufacturing but programming multi-axis custom NC machines is frequently extremely time-consuming. For instance, up to 15,000 spot welds must be correctly specified to join roofs or side panels of rolling stock. Errors only come to light on the real system. We created a graphical programming system for a custom machine manufacturer in order to make lengthy, risky testing of new machining programs on programs on real systems superfluous.

The programming system accepts intuitive input of executed actions direct in the virtual model of a workpiece and visualizes the machining understandably. The system plans machining quickly and provides programmers automatic supports to:

• plan sequences of various actions,
• specify measurements and transfer corrections to weld spots and
• program recurring structures.

Once the machining has been fully planned virtually without the custom machines, their control code is generated automatically. The programming system’s offline simulation mode checks the accessibility of weld spots and detects potential collisions. Our VINCENT technology efficiently creates virtual functional models of custom machines from their CAD data, which make it possible to modify the programming system for new custom machines in just minutes.

The programming system has far more functions than commercially available CAM systems. IFF-RESI technology connects virtual functional models of custom machines to any real control system and real operator console (e.g. Siemens Sinumerik 840D or WinCC), thus making it possible to also validate conventionally written programs and to incorporate all NC and PLC cycles specific to a machine into a simulation.

The first system was used to program a spot welder with 32 degrees of freedom and then also delivered with the machine.

If you would like to provide your clients support to program their custom machines or set your own machines apart from the competition through their efficient programming, then take advantage of our custom, integrated control code generation and simulation systems based on our industry-proven framework.