Donald Welbourn

Last updated

Donald B Welbourn
Born1916 (1916)
England
Died3 March 2009 (aged 9293)
OccupationEngineer, academic

Donald Welbourn FREng was an English engineer, and a pioneer of computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) research and development in the United Kingdom. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Early life

Welbourn was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge (BA 1937), and became a University Lecturer in 1952. [4]

CAD/CAM

Welbourn was a key pioneer of CADCAM research and development in the UK. [5]

Personal life

Welbourn was married to Esther, [6] Fellow of New Hall, Cambridge, predeceased him in 2001. He leaves a daughter, Ann, and a son, Hugh.

Related Research Articles

Computer-aided design Constructing a product by means of computer

Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. CAD software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve communications through documentation, and to create a database for manufacturing. Designs made through CAD software are helpful in protecting products and inventions when used in patent applications. CAD output is often in the form of electronic files for print, machining, or other manufacturing operations. The term CADD is also used.

CATIA

CATIA is a multi-platform software suite for computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), computer-aided engineering (CAE), PLM and 3D, developed by the French company Dassault Systèmes.

Sketchpad 1963 computer program written by Ivan Sutherland

Sketchpad was a computer program written by Ivan Sutherland in 1963 in the course of his PhD thesis, for which he received the Turing Award in 1988, and the Kyoto Prize in 2012. It pioneered the way for human–computer interaction (HCI). Sketchpad is considered to be the ancestor of modern computer-aided design (CAD) programs as well as a major breakthrough in the development of computer graphics in general. For example, the graphical user interface (GUI) was derived from Sketchpad as well as modern object-oriented programming. Ivan Sutherland demonstrated with it that computer graphics could be used for both artistic and technical purposes in addition to showing a novel method of human–computer interaction.

Dassault Systèmes SE is a French software corporation. It is among Fortune 50 list of the largest software companies that develops software for 3D product design, simulation, manufacturing and more.

Computer-aided manufacturing Application of computer

Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) also known as Computer-aided Modeling or Computer-aided Machining is the use of software to control machine tools and related ones in the manufacturing of work pieces. This is not the only definition for CAM, but it is the most common; CAM may also refer to the use of a computer to assist in all operations of a manufacturing plant, including planning, management, transportation and storage. Its primary purpose is to create a faster production process and components and tooling with more precise dimensions and material consistency, which in some cases, uses only the required amount of raw material, while simultaneously reducing energy consumption. CAM is now a system used in schools and lower educational purposes. CAM is a subsequent computer-aided process after computer-aided design (CAD) and sometimes computer-aided engineering (CAE), as the model generated in CAD and verified in CAE can be input into CAM software, which then controls the machine tool. CAM is used in many schools alongside Computer-Aided Design (CAD) to create objects.

Autodesk, Inc. is an American multinational software corporation that makes software products and services for the architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media, education, and entertainment industries. Autodesk is headquartered in San Rafael, California, and features a gallery of its customers' work in its San Francisco building. The company has offices worldwide. Its U.S. locations are in the states/commonwealths of California, Oregon, Colorado, Texas, Michigan, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Its Canada offices are located in the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, and Alberta.

Computervision Early company in Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing

Computervision, Inc. (CV) was an early pioneer in Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing (CAD/CAM). Computervision was founded in 1969 by Marty Allen and Philippe Villers, and headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts, United States. Its early products were built on a Data General Nova platform. Starting around 1975, Computervision built its own "CGP" Nova-compatible 16-bit computers with added instructions optimized for graphics applications and using its own operating system known as Computervision Graphic Operating System (CGOS). In the 1980s, Computervision rewrote their code to operate on Unix-based platforms.

CAD/CAM Computer-Aided Design/Computer-Aided Manufacturing

CAD/CAM refers to the integration of Computer-aided design (CAD) and Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM). Both of these require powerful computers. CAD software helps designers and draftsmen; CAM "reduces manpower costs" in the manufacturing process.

Parasolid is a geometric modeling kernel originally developed by Shape Data Limited, now owned and developed by Siemens Digital Industries Software, which can be licensed by other companies for use in their 3D computer graphics software products.

APT is a high-level computer programming language most commonly used to generate instructions for numerically controlled machine tools. Douglas T. Ross is considered by many to be the father of APT: as head of the newly created Computer Applications Group of the Servomechanisms Laboratory at MIT in 1956, he led its technical effort. APT is a language and system that alleviates the tedious mathematics of writing toolpaths for numerically controlled equipment. This early language was used widely through the 1970s and is still a standard internationally. Derivatives of APT were later developed.

Delcam is a supplier of advanced CAD/CAM software for the manufacturing industry. The company has grown steadily since being founded formally in 1977, after initial development work at Cambridge University, UK. It is now a global developer of product design and manufacturing software, with subsidiaries and joint ventures in North America, South America, Europe and Asia with a total staff of over 800 people and local support provided from over 300 re-seller offices worldwide. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until 6 February 2014, when it was acquired by Autodesk. It now operates as a wholly owned, independently operated subsidiary of Autodesk.

Rapid prototyping Group of techniques to quickly construct physical objects

Rapid prototyping is a group of techniques used to quickly fabricate a scale model of a physical part or assembly using three-dimensional computer aided design (CAD) data. Construction of the part or assembly is usually done using 3D printing or "additive layer manufacturing" technology.

Sanjay Govind Dhande is an Indian Mechanical engineer and educationist. He is alumnus of College of engineering Pune. He was Director of the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and was in temporary charge of the Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management Gwalior. From the year 2016, Professor Dhande is the Chairman, Board of Governors of National Institute of Industrial Engineering, NITIE, Mumbai, an Institute established by the Government of India in the year 1963. He was also Chairman, Board of Governors of National Institute of Technology Delhi . Professor Dhande was the founder director of Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing, Jabalpur. He served as a part-time member of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Also, he was a member of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India.

University of Pittsburgh Applied Research Center

The University of Pittsburgh Applied Research Center (U-PARC) is a one-million-square foot, high-security research park campus of the University of Pittsburgh. Comprising 53 buildings situated on over 85 acres (0.34 km2), U-PARC is located 14 miles (23 km) from Downtown Pittsburgh in Harmar Township, Pennsylvania adjacent to the Route 28 expressway and Interstate 76, the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Siemens NX

NX, formerly known as "unigraphics", is an advanced high-end CAD/CAM/CAE, which has been owned since 2007 by Siemens PLM Software. In 2000, Unigraphics purchased SDRC I-DEAS and began an effort to integrate aspects of both software packages into a single product which became Unigraphics NX or NX.

PowerMILL is a 3D CAM solution that runs on Microsoft Windows for the programming of tool paths for 2 to 5 axis CNC Milling machines developed by Autodesk Inc. The software is used in a range of different engineering industries to determine optimal tool paths to reduce time and manufacturing costs as well as reduce tool loads and produce smooth surface finishes. More than 15,000 organisations use PowerMILL worldwide for 2,3 and 5-axis machining.

Patrick J. Hanratty was an American computer scientist and businessperson, known as the "Father of CAD/CAM"—computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing. Up to 2013, he was President and CEO of Manufacturing and Consulting Services (MCS) of Scottsdale, Arizona, a company he founded. According to the University of California in 2012, industry analysts think that "70 percent of all 3-D mechanical CAD/CAM systems available today trace their roots back to Hanratty’s original code".

Shape Data Limited is a computer software company in Cambridge, England that specialises in developing programs for engineering and manufacturing professionals.

Designers have used computers for calculations since their invention. Digital computers were used in power system analysis or optimization as early as proto-"Whirlwind" in 1949. Circuit design theory or power network methodology was algebraic, symbolic, and often vector-based.

cadwork informatik AG is a multinational software company headquartered in Basel, Switzerland. It develops and markets software products primarily for the construction industry. These products include timber industry products in computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) as well as products in building information model (BIM) and virtual design and construction (VDC). These products are suitable for designers, structural engineers, construction engineers, civil engineering draftspeople, building contractors, and in the case of BIMTeam VDC, the construction crews.

References

  1. "CAD/CAM Pioneer Donald Welbourn". Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
  2. "The Development of Computer Aided Design and Manufacture - CADCAM". Archived from the original on 1 July 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
  3. "Arbeitsberichte des Institut fuer mathematische Maschinen und Datenverarbeitung (Informatik)". Cambridge University. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  4. "D. B. Welbourn". Cambridge University. Archived from the original on 16 May 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  5. "CADCAM pioneer Donald Welbourn dies". Delcam plc. Archived from the original on 15 March 2009. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  6. "New Hall Archives" . Retrieved 14 January 2014.

Additional sources