隨著高階工具機與CAD/CAM技術的蓬勃發展，模具製造的生產效率迅速提升，但模具生產過程中，終究會遇到刀具無法到達的區域，以及精加工後所剩的餘料，通常這些未能加工的地方，或是產品表面有額外精度需求處，將會透過放電加工來完成。本論文將利用3D CAD/CAM套裝軟體NX所提供的應用程式介面，開發出一套「電腦輔助電極設計系統」，該系統是以建立電極為主要核心工作，建立電極的方法包括：以引伸建立電極、以連續面裁剪電極、以不連續面建立電極、以複製/延伸建立電極、合併電極。除此之外，本研究還提出一套如何由欲加工的3D模具零件自動化偵測出凹陷區域，以利使用者在建立電極之前能在模具零件上事先預覽可能需要放電的區域；以及提出一套計算放電面積的方法，此放電面積之計算將有助於決定適當的放電間隙。當建立完成電極之後，還需建立電極座，電極座的建立結合了Top-down design的設計方式，將建立電極座之後的整個電極實體（包含電極本體和電極座）以幾何連結方式導入一個新建立的零件檔中。最後，若想呈現電極的工程視圖，則可使用「電極工程圖建立」的功能，產生電極的2D視圖與放電時的定位資訊。

With the booming development of high-end NC machine tools and CAD/CAM technology, the productivity of mold manufacturing continues to increase rapidly, however the mold production process will eventually evolve to a point where the cutting tool cannot access, and the stock material cannot be removed after finishing operations. Usually, for the areas that cannot be machined, or for additional precision requirements on the product surface, the process will be completed through electrical discharge machining (EDM). This thesis adopts the application programming interface (API) provided by NX, a well-known 3D CAD/CAM software package, to develop a “computer-aided electrode design system”. This system takes the design of the electrode as the main core and the design methods include: electrode design by extruding operations, electrode design using connected surfaces, electrode design using unconnected surfaces, electrode design by copy and extension, and union of electrodes. Moreover, this study develops a set of API functions to automatically detect the concave regions from the to-be-machined 3D mold components, in order to allow the user to preview the possible regions that require EDM operations prior to the establishment of the electrode; as well as proposes a set of methods to calculate the discharge area which contributes to the determination of the appropriate machining clearance for EDM operations. After the establishment of the electrode is completed, it is still necessary to establish the electrode base. The establishment of the electrode base is combined with a “top-down design” approach which imports the solid model of the entire electrode, including the electrode body and the electrode base, to a newly created component file via geometry links. Finally, if the drawing views of the entire electrode are required, the user can use the function of "create engineering drawing for the electrode" to produce 2D drawing views of the electrode and the data for placement of the electrode during discharge.

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