Physics-based Modeling and Simulation for Motional Cable Harness Design

The design work of motional cable in products is vital due to the difficulty in estimating the potential issues in current researches.In this paper,a physics-based modeling and simulation method for the motional cable harness design is presented.The model,based on continuum mechanics,is established by analyzing the force of microelement in equilibrium.During the analysis procedure,three coordinate systems：inertial,Frenet and main-axis coordinate systems are used.By variable substitution and dimensionless processing,the equation set is discretized by differential quadrature method and subsequently becomes an overdetermined nonlinear equation set with boundary conditions solved by Levenberg-Marquardt method.With the profile of motional cable harness obtained from the integral of arithmetic solution,a motion simulation system based on＂path＂and＂profile＂as well as the experimental equipments is built.Using the same parameters as input for the simulation and the real cable harness correspondingly,the issue in designing,such as collision,can be easily found by the simulation system.This research obtains a better result which has no potential collisions by redesign,and the proposed method can be used as an accurate and efficient way in motional cable harness design work.

Dynamic Simulation and Disturbance Torque Analyzing of Motional Cable Harness Based on Kirchhoff Rod Model

The motional payloads on stabilized platform must be linked by some cable harnesses with other immobile apparatus.During the operation of stabilized platform,these cable harnesses can create spring disturbance torque which is exerted on the stabilized platform and then reduce the stabilizing precision.None of current studies can deal with the spring disturbance torque problem.To analyze the spring disturbance toque,a dynamic thin rod model is presented for simulating the motional cable harness which is based on the Kirchhoff rod theorem and can consider the geometrically non-linear effects.The internal bending and torsion restoring torques are simulated and then a predictive analysis of the disturbance torque can be performed in motional cable routing design.This model is solved with differential quadrature method（DQM）.By using zeros of the Chebyshev polynomial as the grid points,the arc-coordinate is discretized to obtain a set of ordinary differential equations in time domain which is solved by implied method to obtain the profile and internal force of cable harness.The accuracy of this model is validated by comparing the simulation results and the experiment results（both the spring force and the deformed profile of the motional cable harness）.In the experiment,a special optical measuring instrument based on binocular vision is developed.The comparison of experimental and simulated results shows that the simulation model can represent the real motional cable harness well,and the spring disturbance force simulation results are precise enough for spring disturbance torque analysis.This study will be helpful to obtain an optimized motional cable harness layout design with small spring disturbance torque.

Multi-Branch Cable Harness Layout Design Based on Genetic Algorithm with Probabilistic Roadmap Method

Current studies on cable harness layouts have mainly focused on cable harness route planning.However,the topological structure of a cable harness is also extremely complex,and the branch structure of the cable harness can affect the route of the cable harness layout.The topological structure design of the cable harness is a key to such a layout.In this paper,a novel multi-branch cable harness layout design method is presented,which unites the probabilistic roadmap method(PRM)and the genetic algorithm.First,the engineering constraints of the cable harness layout are presented.An obstacle-based PRM used to construct non-interference and near to the surface roadmap is then described.In addition,a new genetic algorithm is proposed,and the algorithm structure of which is redesigned.In addition,the operation probability formula related to fitness is proposed to promote the efficiency of the branch structure design of the cable harness.A prototype system of a cable harness layout design was developed based on the method described in this study,and the method is applied to two scenarios to verify that a quality cable harness layout can be efficiently obtained using the proposed method.In summary,the cable harness layout design method described in this study can be used to quickly design a reasonable topological structure of a cable harness and to search for the corresponding routes of such a harness.

Integrated Virtual Assembly Process Planning System

Assembly process planning（APP） for complicated products is a time-consuming and difficult work with conventional method. Virtual assembly process planning（VAPP） provides engineers a new and efficiency way. Previous studies in VAPP are almost isolated and dispersive, and have not established a whole understanding and discussed key realization techniques of VAPP from a systemic and integrated view. The integrated virtual assembly process planning（IVAPP） system is a new virtual reality based engineering application, which offers engineers an efficient, intuitive, immersive and integrated method for assembly process planning in a virtual environment. Based on analysis the information integration requirement of VAPP, the architecture of IVAPP is proposed. Through the integrated structure, IVAPP system can realize information integration and workflow controlling. In order to mode/the assembly process in IVAPP, a hierarchical assembly task list（HATL） is presented, in which different assembly tasks for assembling different components are organized into a hierarchical list. A process-oriented automatic geometrical constraint recognition algorithm（AGCR） is proposed, so that geometrical constraints between components can be automatically recognized during the process of interactive assembling. At the same time, a progressive hierarchical reasoning（PHR） model is discussed. AGCR and PHR will greatly reduce the interactive workload. A discrete control node model（DCNM） for cable harness assembly planning in IVAPP is detailed. DCNM converts a cable harness into continuous flexed line segments connected by a series of section center points, and designs can realize cable harness planning through controlling those control nodes. Mechanical assemblies （such as transmission case and engine of automobile） are used to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed method and algorithms. The application of IVAPP system reveals advantages over the traditional assembly process planning method in shortening the time-consumed in assembly planning and in minimizing the handling difficulty, excessive reorientation and dissimilarity of assembly operations.