Feature-based parametric design of a gating system for a die-casting die

Abstract

This paper presents a semi-automated approach for designing the gating system of a die-casting die. This approach combines the P-Q2 technique and feature-based parametric design for achieving the automatic generation of the geometries for the gating system. It also enables users to integrate their expertise in the design at an early stage. User-defined gating features are pre-defined and stored in a gating library, and are then retrieved from the library and applied to the gating part with the desired parameters and locations during the design process. Algorithms based on the P-Q2 technique are proposed for calculating the related parameters of the gating system. A prototype design has been developed using this approach, and the system is able to shorten the time for constructing the 3D geometries of the gating elements such as the gate, runner, overflow, shot sleeve, sprue, etc.