Assembly unit partitioning for collaborative assembly planning

As an effective solution strategy of assembly planning of complex products, collaborative assembly planning decomposes the assembly structure of complex products into simple subassembly structures according to the assembly requirement. The optimal or near-optimal assembly subsequences of subassembly structures can be solved by adopting mature assembly planning method, and the whole product assembly sequences can be obtained through the merger of assembly sequences. The first problem to be solved for collaborative assembly planning is the decomposition of assembly planning. Aiming at this problem, the assembly unit planning method is proposed. Firstly, assembly design and assembly process constraints that have influence on assembly unit planning are analyzed from the viewpoint of the assembly ability of products, and the classified partial assembly constraints are quantified. Secondly, assembly unit decision graph is generated on the basis of the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP). Meanwhile, assembly relation interference matrix is established to further verify the candidate assembly units, thus generating the assembly units without mutual interference in the assembly process. A motor assembly is taken as an example to verify the proposed method, and the results show that it is an effective method for solving the decomposition problem of assembly planning structure.