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Introduction
Design automation simplifies repetitive tasks, allowing engineers to save time, reduce errors, and ensure consistency. By leveraging tools like equations, configurations, and design tables, SOLIDWORKS enables users to create rule-based systems for seamless customization and optimization. This approach not only enhances efficiency but also empowers engineers to tackle complex projects with precision and adaptability. In this article, we’ll explore how SOLIDWORKS design automation unlocks new possibilities, fostering innovation and streamlining engineering workflows.
Key Tips for Design Automation
A. Fully Defined Sketches
To create robust and reliable designs, ensure all sketches are fully defined by using precise dimensions and appropriate geometric relations. This practice prevents unintended alterations during the automation process and ensures design stability.
- Sketch Dimensions: Assign accurate measurements to all sketch entities, such as lines, circles, arcs, and polygons. These measurements control the size and position of each feature, making the design predictable and consistent. Menu Path: Sketch Tab > Smart Dimension.
- Geometric Relations: Establish meaningful constraints, such as parallelism, tangency, or perpendicularity, between sketch entities. These relations maintain the geometric integrity of the sketch and ensure consistency across design updates. Menu Path: Sketch Tab > Display/Delete Relations.
For example, here this sketch showcases a fully defined 2D bracket with precise geometric relationships:
- Tangency: The arc is tangent to both adjacent vertical lines.
- Concentricity: The arc and inner circle have the same center.
- Collinearity: The lower horizontal lines are aligned along the same axis.
- Coincidence: Points are coincident with the respective lines or sketch entities.
- Equality: All circles in the sketch have identical diameters.
- Symmetry: The two lower circles are symmetric about the vertical centerline.
- Midpoint Alignment: The centerline intersects the midpoint of the horizontal line.
B. Planning Design Intent
Defining your design intent is essential to create a flexible and efficient automated model. Thoughtful planning ensures that the model behaves as intended under various conditions and minimizes the need for extensive rework. For example:
- Identify Key Changes: Determine which dimensions or features are likely to vary frequently, such as height, width, or specific geometric parameters. By anticipating these changes, you can prepare your design to accommodate modifications without compromising its structure or functionality.
- Define Component Dependencies: Establish relationships between components, such as shared references or linked dimensions, to maintain consistency and prevent conflicts as the design evolves.
The Foundations of Design Automation
Design automation in SOLIDWORKS involves creating rules and parameters to drive the design process. This approach ensures that changes to one feature automatically propagate throughout the model, maintaining consistency and accuracy.
Key components of design automation include:
A. Equations, Global Variables, and Dimensions
One of the most powerful features in SOLIDWORKS for design automation is the use of Equations, Global Variables, and Dimensions. These tools allow users to create intelligent, rule-based designs by establishing mathematical relationships between dimensions and features.
How to Use:
- Navigate to Tools > Equations.
- Define global variables or equations as needed.
Purpose: Automates updates and ensures design consistency.
- Global Variables: These are user-defined variables that can be used in equations. For instance, defining a global variable “Height” allows it to be reused across multiple equations, ensuring consistency throughout the model.
- Equations: Equations enable users to define relationships between dimensions using mathematical expressions. For example, if the width of a plate is always twice its height, an equation like
“Width = 2 * Height”ensures that any change to the height automatically updates the width.
Additionally, SOLIDWORKS provides advanced functionality within equations, such as the If function, which introduces conditional logic. For example:
Width@Sketch1 = IIF("Length" <= 130, "Height1", "Height2")
This logic dynamically assigns the width of a sketch to Height1 if the Length is 130 mm or less; otherwise, it assigns it to Height2. Such flexibility simplifies the management of complex models with varying design requirements.
- Features: Features in SOLIDWORKS represent the fundamental building blocks of a part or assembly, such as extrusions, cuts, holes, and fillets. By using equations and global variables, the behavior of these features can be dynamically controlled. The image demonstrates how a feature like “Fillet” can be suppressed or unsuppressed based on a conditional equation. For example, using the equation:
Fillet2 = IIF("Length" <= 130, "suppressed", "unsuppressed")
This ensures that the fillet feature is suppressed when the length is 130 mm or less and unsuppressed otherwise. This conditional control ensures adaptability and automates design adjustments, saving time and reducing errors.
B. Configurations
Configurations in SOLIDWORKS allow designers to create multiple variations of a part or assembly within a single file. By changing parameters like dimensions, suppressing features, or altering materials, users can quickly generate design alternatives. For example, a bolt can have configurations for different lengths and thread types, all managed within the same file.
How to Use:
- Open the ConfigurationManager
- Right-click and select “Add Configuration.”
- Define specific parameters and suppression states.
Purpose: Simplifies managing multiple design variations.
Imagine designing a cutting-edge phone for a client, and now they want to visualize how adding camera lenses and flashlights will alter its look. Your task is to create several variations, experimenting with different shapes and features. This is where your expertise in configurations truly shines.
To get started, head to ConfigurationManager, right-click on the part or assembly name, and select “Add Configuration”. In the PropertyManager, you can easily define a name and description for your new configuration.
Below is the phone model showcasing the different configurations:
C. Design Table
Design Tables provide an Excel-like interface within SOLIDWORKS, enabling users to manage configurations and parameters efficiently. By linking dimensions, features, and equations to a table, designers can quickly create and update multiple configurations. Complex designs with numerous configurations can be created and updated easily, reducing the manual effort required.
How to Use:
- Go to Insert > Tables > Design Table.
- Choose “Auto-create,” “From a file,” or “Blank.”
- Populate the table with relevant parameters.
Purpose: Streamlines bulk modifications and manages complex designs.
One advanced use of Design Tables is leveraging Excel formulas to introduce additional automation and logic into configurations. For instance:
- Conditional Parameter Changes: Use Excel formulas to implement rules like
=IF(A1>50,"Suppressed","Unsuppressed")to dynamically adjust feature suppression states based on parameter values. - Linking with External Data: Design Tables can be linked to external data sources, such as inventory systems or pricing models. For example, a Design Table could automatically update configurations based on material availability or cost data, enabling real-time design optimization.
- Bulk Configuration Updates: When dealing with hundreds of configurations, Design Tables make it easy to apply global changes by simply editing the spreadsheet and regenerating the model.
D. DriveWorksXpress
DriveWorksXpress is a built-in design automation tool available in SOLIDWORKS that simplifies the creation of product configurations based on rules and logic. It is particularly useful for automating repetitive design tasks and generating multiple variations of a model without creating separate files. It enhances design automation by linking assemblies, parts, and drawings to an intuitive, form-based interface.
How to Use:
- Navigate to Tools > Xpress Products > DriveWorksXpress.
- Set up a project by defining input forms and rules.
- Generate automated outputs based on user inputs.
The purpose of using DriveWorksXpress in SOLIDWORKS is to automate the creation of customized product configurations. It enables users to define rules and parameters that drive variations in design, dimensions, and features, saving time and ensuring consistency in repetitive or parameter-driven tasks, such as generating product families or tailored designs. For example,
- Automating Sales Quotations: DriveWorksXpress can create custom models and drawings based on user input, which can then be used for generating quick and accurate sales quotes.
- Parametric Product Customization: For manufacturers offering custom products, DriveWorksXpress allows customers or engineers to input specifications and instantly generate tailored models, drawings, and BOMs.
Benefits of Design Automation
The benefits of design automation with SOLIDWORKS include:
- Reduced Design Time: Focus on innovation, not repetitive tasks.
- Consistency & Accuracy: Rule-based designs minimize errors.
- Scalability: Easily create part families with configurations and tables.
- Improved Collaboration: Simplified designs enhance teamwork.
Best Practices for Design Automation in SOLIDWORKS
- Define Clear Design Intent: Set rules to reduce errors by identifying key dimensions and features.
- Leverage Equations & Variables: Use equations for consistent, parametric designs.
- Utilize Configurations: Efficiently manage product families and variations in one file.
- Master Design Tables: Link dimensions to Excel for easy updates and adjustments.
- Incorporate Macros: Automate repetitive tasks to save time and ensure consistency.
- Use DriveWorksXpress: Automate product configurations with captured parameters and rules.
- Maintain a Modular Approach: Create reusable, parameter-driven modules for scalable designs.
- Document Automation Rules: Keep clear records of equations and macros for easier collaboration.
- Stay Updated: Regularly explore new SOLIDWORKS features to refine automation techniques.
- Plan for Collaboration: Use clear names and descriptions to improve flexibility and teamwork.
Conlusion
Design automation in SOLIDWORKS streamlines workflows, reduces errors, and enhances efficiency. By leveraging tools like configurations, design tables, and DriveWorksXpress, Engineers can focus on innovation while meeting industry demands for faster, smarter solutions.
Jarin Akber is a student of Industrial and Production Engineering at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. She has passion for 3D design, sustainable manufacturing, and process optimization. With expertise and experience in research and teamwork, she is dedicated to creating impactful contributions in her field. She is aiming to apply her technical expertise and problem-solving skills to contribute to innovative and impactful projects.
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