Int J Adv Manuf Technol (1997) 13:611-617
© 1997 Springer-Verlag London Limited
A Reconfigurable Modular Fixturing System for Thin-Walled
Flexible Objects
M. N. Sela*, O. Gaudryt, E. Dombret and B. Benhabib*
*Computer Integrated Manufacturing Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto,
Ontario, Canada, and tLaboratoire d'Informatique, de Robotique et de Microdlectronique de Montpellier, MontpelIier, France
This paper presents a novel reconfigurable modular system for
the fixturing of thin-walled, flexible objects subject to a discrete
number of point forces. The paper comprises two parts:
description of the conceptual design of our new reconfgurable
fixture, and a brief review of our earlier work on the optimal
reconfiguration of the object-support locations.
During the mechanical design phase of the .fixture, a con-
scientious effort was made to develop a robust and low-cost
system. The primary components of the fxture are: a baseplate,
support locators and clamps. A novel tiltable support-surface
design, through which the height of the surface can be main-
ruined constant, is used for the locators and the clamps. A
fixture reconfiguration method is proposed to place these
locators, underneath the object, as an optimal support wall.
Potential surface deflections due to external forces are mini-
mbsed during the optimisation process.
Keywords: Fixtures; Modular; Reconfigurable; Thin-walled
flexible objects
1. Introduction
Traditionally, fixtures have been dedicated to specific work-
pieces to be machined or assembled. Although this approach
would be economical for large-scale mass manufacturing, the
necessary production flexibility for small-scale manufacturing
environments can only be achieved via reconfigurable fixtures.
The concept of reconfigurable fixtures was developed in the
1960s for the machine-tool manufacturing industry. These fix-
tures consisted of kits of standard modular components such
as locators, V-blocks and clamps assembled on a baseplate [1].
In the past decade, research efforts in this area have concen-
trated both on hardware design [2] and on the development
of analytical tools for fixture reconfiguration [3]. Most recon-
figurable fixtures, however, have been designed for thick-wailed
Correspondence and offprint requests to: Professor B. Benhabib,
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Toronto, 5
King's College Road, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3G8, Canada.
~J~e International Jouma] of
Rdvanced
manufacturing
Technologg
objects [4], with only a few exceptions dedicated to thin-
walled objects [5,6].
In this section, we will first briefly discuss earlier reconfigu-
rable fixture designs, both for thin- and thick-walled objects,
as a prelude to the presentation of our proposed fixture design
in Section 2. Subsequently, we will present an overview of
previous fixture-reconfiguration methods for thin-walled objects
as a prelude to our fixture synthesis/analysis technique
presented in Section 3.
1.1 Reconfigurable Fixture Designs
Reconfigurable fixture designs reported in the literature can be
broadly classified into two groups: conformable and modular
fixtures. A number of modular-type fixtures have also incorpor-
ated built-in sensors and processors for increased "intelligence".
The conformable clamping system developed in [7] was
designed primarily for fixtufing turbine blades. The system
comprises two-section clamps, where the lower half of each
clamp employs pneumatic plungers. The plungers conform to
the shape of the blades. A similar system was developed in
[8], where multipoint contact with the workpiece is achieved
via lockable spring-loaded plungers. This ensures local con-
formability to the workpiece geometry.
There has also been research in the area of using the phase-
changing properties of certain materials in order to achieve
conformabitity to odd shaped workpieces [9]. The phase
changes can be temperature or electrically induced.
In the context of intelligent modular fixtures, the system
developed in [10] was designed for the machining of prismatic
workpieces. The fixture includes a baseplate and various tool-
point units and clamps (with built-in microswitches). Other
intelligent reconfigurable fixturing systems were reported in
[11] and [12]. These comprise modular, horizontal and vertical
locators, V-blocks and horizontal and vertical clamps. The
various components can be reconfigured on a hole-type base-
plate.
For thin-walled flexible objects, the reconfigurable fixture
developed in [5], for example, was specifically designed for
the drilling of sheet-metal parts. The fixture includes a T-slot
612 M. N. Sela el a/
baseplate, vertical supports and locating pins. Each support can
be located in the horizontal plane by sliding it along a T-slot
and rotating it about an eccentric vertical pivot. The height of
the support can be adjusted discretely via various length inserts.
The top surface of each support is rounded, which yields a
single contact point with the sheet metal. This may cause high
local stresses.
Another reconfigurable system for fixturing large sheet-metal
parts was reported in [13]. This fixture is of a "bed-of-nails"
type, with up to several hundred variable-height support shafts.
Such a system would inevitably be costly owing to the large
number of supports, many of which may not be required for
most applications.
1.2 Fixture Reconfiguration
The literature on locating thick-walled rigid objects is suf-
ficiently rich and will not be expanded upon in this paper [14-
16]. Herein, we will only refer to research on the reconflgur-
ation of thin-walled flexible objects [5,17-19].
In [5,17-19], fixture reconfiguration was achieved by
optimising the number and position of locators, placed under-
neath the thin-walled objects. Also, all the papers reported use
of finite-element modelling and analysis in the evaluation of a
deflection- or stress-based objective function. With the excep-
tion of the work in [19], the proposed methodologies have
used either the 3-2-1 or N-2-1 principal in the placement of
the locators. On the other hand, the method reported in [l 9],
and briefly described in this paper for completeness, uses an
optimisation process which is simplified by assuming the place-
ment of a curved vertical support wall under the object. The
optimisation process determines tile optimal 3D shape and
placement of the vertical wall, as well as the necessary
(discrete) number of vertical locators used to approximate the
(continuous) curve.
In Section 2, the proposed fixture design is first described
in detail, followed by a brief description of the optimal recon-
figuration process presented in Section 3.
2. Conceptual Design of the
Reconfigurable Fixture
2.1 Design Requirements
The conceptual design of a novel reconfigurable fixture, which
can support flexible thin-walled workpieces, is presented herein.
The design requirements considered for the fixture were as fol-
lows:
1. The fixture shall consist of modular components: a baseptate,
and (continuous) height-adjustable locators and clamps.
2. The fixture shall be manually reconfigurable, in the order
of 1-2 minutes for each component. Low cost and rug-
gedness are also important factors.
3. The locators and clamps shall be movable to any point on
the baseplate. This will enable reconfiguration of the fxture
in accordance with an optimal solution found by a syn-
thesis method.
4. The top surface of each component, to be in contact with
the underneath of the flexible object, shall be tiltable. Such
a surface will minimise local contact stresses, by providing a
surface contact which is locally tangential to the workpiece.
(a) The components' surfaces shall be passively self
adjusting for tilt.
(b) The centre of each locamr's surface shall not move
laterally or vertically while tilting.
5. There shall be adjustable hybrid locatoffclamps on the per-
imeter of the workpiece, for holding the workpiece in place.
2.2 Proposed Reconfigurable Fixture
2.2. I General Description
A general view of the fixturing system is presented in Fig. I.
The baseplate is of a T-slot type. Cross-blocks, which are
themselves also T-slot types, are used to hold multiple locators
or clamps. The combination of the baseplate and the cross-
blocks allows the continuous placement of locators or clamps
anywhere on the baseplate. The heights of these components
can be adjusted, thus yielding continuous 3D placement.
There are two types of support components: the locater and
the hybrid locater/clamp. The former is intended for placement
under the workpiece at optimal locations as determined by a
synthesis method. The latter incorporates a tockable locater-
support surface and a clamping device. This component is
intended for placement on the perimeter of the workpiece.
No special measuring instruments are necessary for lateral
or vertical adjustments of the components. These are performed
using dimensional markings on the baseplate, cross-blocks and
support components themselves.
2.2.2 The Baseplate
The baseplate is of a T-slot type. Each T-slot is uniquely
labelled in a manner that enables effective manual placement
of the locators. Dimensional scales are engraved in the base-
plate. These scales enable the accurate positioning of the cross-
blocks in the T-slots.
2.3.3 The Cross-Blocks
Positioning the locators and clamps across the baseplate is
accomplished by using cross-blocks (Fig. 2). This approach
was preferred over an eccentrically rotating element because:
1. The placement of the support components is unique and no
overlapping exists.
2. Two components can co-exist in each cross-block, thus
increasing the density of the supports.
Each cross-block has a bottom-side protrusion that fits into the
T-slot of the baseplate, thus providing an accurate positioning
of the cross-block in the T-slot. The cross-block is secured by
two bolts and a locking plate. Dimensional scales are engraved
oil the side and top of the cross-block (Fig. 2).
 A Reconfigurable Modular Fixturing System 613

Locators ~ Calmps

Fig. 1. General view.

• Support
Surface

Fig. 2. The cross-block and support base.

2,2.4 The SupportBase ~ ~ ~ < ~ i

Locators and clamps can be placed in a support base in an
offset position (Fig. 2). The support base, in turn, can fit into
the cross-block in either direction, thus enabling the support
components to reach either end of the cross-block, providing
full and continuous coverage of the baseplate.
Fig. 3. The locator.
2,2.5 The Locator
height of the supporting surface does not vary as it tilts. Thus,
Two views of the locator are presented in Fig. 3. The height
the height adjustment of the locator does not have to take into
of the locator is adjustable via a tubular shell, which slides
account the local slope of the workpiece. Alternatively, a more
over a post, using a rack-and-pinion mechanism. It is locked
standard ball-and-socket mechanism can be used. However, in
in place by a simple knob. The height is indicated by the scale
this case, the height of the locator must be adjusted according
markings on the post and the tube, as in conventional callipers.
to the local slope of the workpiece.
A cross-section view of the locator is given in Fig. 4. The
supporting surface is part of a ball-and-socket mechanism. The
long bolt holds the spherical part in the socket with a sliding
2.2.6 The Clamp
clearance, and enables accurate tilting of the supporting surface. The hybrid locator/clamp is basically a regular locator with a
In the present arrangement, the geometric centre of the sphere clamping mechanism attached to the supporting surface and a
lies in the plane of the supporting surface. Consequently, the simple device for locking the tilt angle of the surface (Fig. 5).
614 M. N. Sela et al

Fig. 6.The Vernier markings on the locator.

ings can be spaced 1 mm apart, with a resolution of 0.1 mm
(Fig. 6). The accuracy is expected to be slightly lower than
the resolution (estimated at 0.24).3 mm), owing to sliding
Fig. 4. A cross-section of the locator. clearances and potential temperature changes.

~ ClampingMec,~anism 3. Synthesis of Fixture Configuration

The fixture reconfiguration methodology presented in this sec-
tion is based on the use of curved, vertical support walls located
underneath the workpiece. Each support wall is discretised by
a limited number of locators, as described in Section 2. Fig.
7 illustrates the principle of using a 3D-support curve for
locating a flexible thin-walled object. Each locator is a variable-
height, single contact point. A set of clamps is used to maintain
the part secured.
Given the geometry and desired location of the workpiece
in 3D Cartesian space, the problem at hand is to find the
optimal shape and location of the support wall relative to the
workpiece. The objective function minimised in our work is
\ /-- LockingLever the expected deflection of the surface due to external forces.

3.1 Geometric Modelling

The thin-walled workpieces are modelled herein by 3D surfaces

Fig. 5. A cross-section of the clamp. in parametric form S(u,v):

The long bolt, which holds the spherical part in the socket, is
screwed into a cross-bar. In the unlocked position, the spherical
part is held in the socket with a sliding clearance, as in the
regular locator. In the locked position, the locking lever forces
the cross-bar slightly down, thus pulling the spherical part
against the socket and locking it in position. Locators
2.3 The Positioning Accuracy of the Fixture
x
/ Cal mps
The positions of the locators and clamps are determined by
the dimensional markings on the various elements. These mark- Fig. 7. The principle of the 3D-support curve.
 A Reconfigurable Modular Fixturing System 615

mu my
3.2 Analysis Module
S(u,v) = ~ ~'~ PO u i ¢ (1)
i-o j-o The analysis process is initialised by meshing the thin-walled
where ( u , v ) • [0,1] are the parameters, P i j • R 3 are vectors trans- object, subject to the constraints of locators placed under
forming (u,v) to the (x,y,z) space, and m u and m v are the it [20]. A finite-element-analysis program then computes the
polynomial orders of the surface in the u and v parameter deflections of the surface.
domains, respectively. The objective function considered in our work is defined
The 3D-support curves are described in the 2D parametric as follows:
space of the surface by a Bdzier polynomial: N

mw Min Z = ~ HD,,t] (5)

C(w) = ~2 Q~Bk(w); B~(w) row! w k ( l - w ) ...... k n=l

k-~O
(row - k) ! k!
where N is the total number of nodes, at which the deflection
(2)
vector D is computed. One can naturally evaluate different
where Bk(w) is the Berustein polynomial, Q~ is the kth control objective functions, if desired, based on the deflection vectors,
point of the Bdzier curve and m w is the order of the support such as:
curve in the parameter domain.
The individual support points on the discretised curve, L~,
Min Z = Max 1Io2 (6)
n

are uniformly distributed in the w domain. The dth point, d =

{ 1, ..., Kd}, is given by:
3,30ptimisation

ud = QkBk(we) (3) In our work, the flexible-tolerance method [21] was used to
La= Vd k=0
search for the optimal set of independent variables, as defined
where Qk = [uk, v~]T are the coordinates of the control points in Section 3.1. The following constraints were considered:
in the parametric domain. The corresponding point in the 3D The surface geometry of the object.
Cartesian domain is given by:
The locations of the external forces (e.g. drilling points).
The fixture geometry (e.g. minimum distance between locators).
Ya = ~_~~ Pu (ud) i ( v j (4)
Zd
i=0 j=O 3.4 A Numerical Example

The independent variables of the optimisation problem, to be
discussed in Section 3.2, are the coordinates of the control
points, Qk, defined above. The dimension of the variable vertex
is only a function of the degree of the curvature of the support
wall. It is independent of the discretisation of the 3D-support
curve. However, for a given curve, one can choose to have
an additional one degree-of-freedom search in order to deter-
mine the minimum number of locators needed to satisfy a
maximum-allowed-deformation criterion.
The fixture reconfiguration method was run on the C A T I A
C A D / C A M system on an IBM R6000 workstation. The surface
deflections were evaluated using the finite-element-analysis
package of C A T I A (FEI module). The parameters for the
example are given in Table 1.
The outcome of the optimisation is illustrated in Fig. 8. It
can be seen that two of the locators do not maintain contact
with the surface when the external forces are applied. The
optimisation procedure required 446 evaluations of the objec-

Table 1. Parameter values for the example.

Surface characteristics
431 x 233 evaluation nodes, 800 triangular elements
Dimensions (x,y,z): 2000 × 1000 x 100 mm 3
Degree of the parameters u and v: mu = 1, mv = 2
The Pu coefficients of the surface:
Poo = [0, 0, 0]7-; Pox = [0, 1000, 400]r; Po2 = [0, 0, -400]r; Plo = [2000, 0, 0]r; Pl~ = [0, 0, 0]r; PI2 = [0, 0, 0] r

Parameters o f the support curve

Degree of the curve: mw = 3; Number of Iocators: K~ = 7

Position o f clamping elements [x, y, z] r

5 clamps: [1000, 0, 0]r; [1000, 1000, 0It; [0, 500, 100It; [2000, 0, 0]7'; [2000, t000, 0] 7-

External forces: magnitude, normalized orientation [0, a, t] r, point o f application Ix, y, z] r

1st force: 2000 N, [0, 0, -1] r, [200, 500, I00] r
2nd force: I300 N, [0, 0.2696, -0.9630] r, [1750, 150, 51] r
3rd force: 1000 N, [0, -0.1961, 0.9806] r, [1750, 750, 75] r
616
1
IY<
M. N. Sela et al
$
0 s
• external force application node
# clamping node
Q support point - initial guess
support point maintaining contact
qr support point no,maintaining contact
Fig. 8. Top view of the surface and the 3D-support walls: initial guess
and optimal.
Table 2. Coordinates of final support points.
1st point: [1700, 141.4, 48.6] r
2nd point: [1078.7, 283.3, 81.2] r
3rd point: [558.5, 395.4, 95.6] r
4th point [250, 489.2, 99.9] r
5th point [263.7, 575.8, 97.7] r
6th point [710.2, 666.6, 88.9] r
7th point: [1700, 772.9, 70.2] r
rive function for the initially guessed fixture configuration
shown in Fig. 8. The m a x i m u m deflection calculated for the
optimal fixture configuration shown in Fig. 8 and given in
Table 2 was 6.82 mm. Figure 9 shows the surface deflections,
which are amplified for visualisation purposes.
4. Conclusions
A novel reconfigurable modular system has been presented.
The system is targeted at fixturing of thin-walled, flexible
objects, subject to a discrete n u m b e r of point forces. Two
aspects of the problem were addressed: the conceptual design
of a new reconfigurable fixture, and a brief review of our earlier
work on the optimal synthesis of the fixture-support locations.
During the mechanical design of the fixture, a conscientious
effort was made to design a robust and low-cost system. The
Fig. 9. Deflections of the optimal configuration.
primary components of the fixture are: baseplate, cross-blocks,
support bases, locators and clamps.
The fixture synthesis e n v i r o n m e n t places these locators along
an optimal support wall to be configured underneath the object.
Potential surface deflections due to external forces are mini-
x raised during the optimisation process. It must be noted, how-
2OOO
It ever, that various other reconfiguration methods can be used
for the synthesis of the proposed modular fixturing system.
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