Computer aided design in mechanical engineering Essay

Computer aided design in mechanical engineering - Essay Example This lowered the cost of production per unit and enabled the production of goods that were cheap and could be bought by the general population. Ever since, the manufacturing process has undergone tremendous improvements, which has led to improved efficiency and lowered the cost of production further. The improvements in the electronics and computer design have led to the development of computer-controlled control systems. These systems are advantageous over previously used systems as they can be easily manipulated to change the output. Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) refers to the use of Numerical Control (NC) software applications to create G-code, which are the instructions fed to numerical control machines to produce the required output. The use of CAM has led to the production of high quality products. CAM can also be defined as the process of producing a manufacturing plan for the design of tools and models, and coordinating the machines, and simulation. The plan is then carried out on the production line. For machines to operate, they require a form of control. There are various types of control mechanism available including manual control, automatic control and computer control. Machines used for mass production are often expected to produce to repeat similar operations precisely and fast. They should repeat these processes repeatedly. This requires automation to improve the speed of these processes. Common techniques that are used in the control systems of machines include electrical systems, pneumatic systems, and mechanical systems. For such systems, if a change is required, the procedures necessary to effect the change are long, tedious, and expensive. Advances in computer and electronic technologies have been employed to design systems that are more flexible. The use of these technologies leads to an increase in the efficiency of machinery produced. The products produced are of better quality and are cheaper (Elanchezhan, Sunder &