Automated Hierarchical Assembly System Construction in Automobile Body Assembly Planning

Abstract

DFA (design for assembly) is an approach to designing products with ease of assembly in mind. Multilayer assembly system construction and possible assembly sequencing are important information for DFA, especially at the prototype design stage of an automobile. This paper aims to help automobile designers construct a hierarchical assembly system, develop a systematic approach to automated subassembly detection, and assembly sequencing in automobile body assembly planning. Modeling of an automobile assembly is given, based on precedence knowledge among automobile parts. Algorithms to detect possible subassemblies with two-step verification and to generate all available sequences are also developed in this study.