A Method for configuration design of Reconfigurable Machine Tool

Reconfigurable Machine Tool (RMT) has been recognized as effective equipment for dealing with the dynamic manufacturing requirements. For the problem how to decide RMT optimal configuration for requirement, we propose a method including both the function model and the decision-making stages. At first, Living System Theory is used to establish the function model, in which the integration of basic modules is archived as the elements to describe the RMT configuration. And Degree of Freedom is used to express the relative motion among the modules as the constraint for selection of feasible configurations. Then a decision model for configuration is constructed, while the economic cost and reconfigurability are used as the indexes. According to the decision model, the configuration with appropriate trade-off among indexes is decided from the feasible configurations, which is RMT optimal configuration for the requirement. The efficacy of this method is illustrated through a RMT configuration design example.