Introduction
China put forward the strategic policy of “Made in China 2025” in the government work report in 2015, which accelerated China’s transformation from a manufacturing power to a manufacturing power. The 13th Five-Year Plan of Shandong Province proposes to promote the penetration of information technology into all aspects of the manufacturing industry and build Shandong Province into an important national advanced manufacturing base.
UGNX software is a product lifecycle management software developed by Siemens UGSPLM software, integrating CAD/CAE/CAM, which is one of the most advanced computer-aided design, analysis and manufacturing software today.
The School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering of Texas College was awarded the comprehensive reform project of industry-university cooperation of Siemens by the Ministry of Education in 2014, and Siemens granted our school the right to use NX software.
The UGNX software course has now been offered to the students of the 2014 mechanical undergraduate class after they finish the mechanical drawing course, and corresponding software training has been conducted in other grades, organically integrating the UGNX system into and through the four-year undergraduate teaching system of mechanical design and manufacturing and its automation.
Application of UGNX software in theoretical teaching of mechanical majors
1、Application in the teaching of mechanical drawing
The mechanical drawing course is offered in the first semester of the first year of university, and students have not yet started the practical teaching such as mechanical awareness practice. Also affected by the ability of spatial geometric imagination, it is difficult to accept the machining process and internal structure of complex mechanical parts in mechanical drawing.
The 3D modeling function in UGNX software allows students to model from creating the basic body, step by step according to the machining process of the part, so that students have a clear understanding of the structure of mechanical parts, and on this basis, use the learned method of selecting the main view, select the projection direction, first draw three views by themselves, and then use the software’s engineering drawing creation function to directly generate three views for comparison. This can improve the students’ analysis ability and stimulate their interest in further learning UGNX software.
When explaining assembly drawing, the hidden parts function of UGNX software can be used to enable students to clearly see the internal structure of the assembly, and then use the dynamic demonstration function of the software to demonstrate the assembly process of each part of the assembly, so that students can visualize the relative installation position and assembly relationship between each part, and make preparations for drawing assembly drawings.
2、Application in mechanical principles and mechanical design courses
Mechanical principles and mechanical design courses mainly cultivate the design of common machinery, motion and dynamics analysis; general mechanical parts design principles, methods, with the ability to design general simple machinery; both are to train students learning ability, analysis and design ability, innovation ability and other comprehensive ability.
The current mechanical principles and mechanical design textbooks in the mechanical structure analysis, motion analysis, common machinery and general parts and general devices are introduced more theoretical, the main working principle part of most of the two-dimensional graphics display, students learn to accept the more difficult. Before teaching these two courses, students have just learned UGNX software, and they are more proficient in the basic operation of UGNX software.
Therefore, the teacher interspersed with the application of UGNX software when teaching these two courses. For example, when explaining the structure of connecting rod, gear structure and cam structure, some parameters are given before the class and students are asked to draw a 3D solid model, then on the basis of this, the teacher uses UGNX software to analyze the motion simulation, velocity and acceleration of the structure to be explained during the class, so that students can grasp that in addition to the graphical method of motion analysis in the textbook, it is more accurate and convenient to use the software for structure The students will learn how to use the software to analyze the structure more accurately and conveniently.
Then, the students will be given relevant topics to simulate and analyze the motion of some common mechanical devices, so that they can easily grasp the theoretical knowledge in the textbook and further deepen the application of the UGNX software they have learned, as well as stimulate their enthusiasm for learning.
When explaining the structure and working principle of standard parts such as keys, bolts, studs, rolling bearings, etc. in mechanical design, UGNX software can be used to quickly establish the 3D solid model of the required standard parts, so that students can more intuitively grasp the structure of common and standard parts and improve their ability to analyze and solve problems using 3D solid software.
When teaching the design of gear transmission, students can first explain the design theory, design steps and methods, and the strength check of gears has many formulas and large calculation volume.
Application of UGNX software in the practical teaching of mechanical profession
1、Application in mechanical design course design
The mechanical design course of our school originally used the traditional design mode, that is, manual drawing or using CAD drawing. In the process of practical teaching, it was found that the students’ design calculation accuracy was not high and the drawing level was poor, which eventually led to the poor quality of the students’ overall design results. At the same time, the traditional course design topic is mainly the design of the secondary reducer, which cannot meet the requirements of the training of applied and innovative talents and is not conducive to the cultivation of students’ engineering practice ability. Therefore, we advocate comprehensive design in the course design of the 2013 mechanical undergraduate class; we guide students to design independently, and students choose the design topics of treadmill design and noodle cutting machine design.
The instructor mainly grasps the feasibility of the topic and monitors the design process. The students first designed several mechanical transmission solutions and analyzed different solutions to determine the best design solution, which improved the students’ learning initiative and engineering practice ability. Students are then required to apply the UGNX software to design calculations and solid modeling in the mechanical design course.
Using UGNX software, all parts were modeled in the software, the overall assembly was carried out, and if structural problems appeared, the calculation was modified in time, after which the solid modeling of the whole device was completed and the 2D engineering drawings were finally generated after there were no problems. Finally, a course design defense was arranged to evaluate the course design by way of design defense. This can enhance the students’ ability to use 3D software, and also improve the design efficiency and design quality.
2、Application in the graduation design
Our school trained the students of the 2012 mechanical undergraduate class on UGNX software, and in their graduation design students identified graduation design topics related to UGNX software such as “Development of 3D printer based on UGNX”, “Design of UG-based screwing machine trolley” and “Design of UG-based straw forming machine”.
Students are required to use UGNX to complete the 3D model design and motion simulation and motion analysis of mechanical devices when doing the projects, and to draw 2D parts diagrams and 2D overall assembly diagrams of major parts in compliance with national standards.
Students who have the ability can also perform finite element analysis of the main force parts. In the graduation design defense to the defense teacher for the main parts and the overall machinery of the three-dimensional solid modeling and motion simulation of the demonstration operation, and can answer the defense teacher’s relevant questions.
By combining the theoretical knowledge of mechanical courses with UGNX software, the graduation design not only improves the quality of students’ graduation design, but also integrates the design, analysis and manufacturing of UGNX software, which improves the comprehensive professional theoretical quality of students.
Conclusion
Through the teaching practice in the past two years, it has been proved that applying UGNX software throughout the teaching system of mechanical majors has improved students’ ability to use UGNX system software comprehensively and to solve practical engineering problems with the theoretical knowledge they have learned about mechanical majors.
Students can also take the UGNX application engineer exam of Siemens Industry Software Ltd. and obtain the certification of Siemens Industry Software Ltd. which lays a good foundation for employment and improves the employment quality of mechanical students and meets the needs of social and economic development.