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ComputerAided_Design_Engineering_amp_Manufactur.pdf

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Product Model Representation for Computer-Aided Measurement<br />

The product design representation for a part must carry enough information and be structured such<br />

that it is amenable for computer interpretation for automated inspection planning. Three levels of<br />

information are required:<br />

• Geometrical information pertaining to shape, volume, and surfaces. Such information is required<br />

for visualization of the part model, extraction of surface data for measurement, accessibility<br />

analysis of contact probes, and path planning for inspection on the CMM.<br />

• Measurement evaluation as defined by the GD&T specifications.<br />

• High-level engineering information pertaining to shape or region on the part. Usually such regions<br />

are linked to specific manufacturing or measurement processes.<br />

It is quite established at this stage that a solid modeling scheme is capable of providing complete and<br />

unambiguous representation for the above purpose. There are many solid representation schemes available<br />

such as constructive solid geometry (CSG) and boundary representation (BREP). In CSG, solids are<br />

represented by a collection of geometric primitives, such as box, cylinder, wedges, etc., associated together<br />

through a binary tree. The nodes of the tree represent Boolean operations such as union, intersection,<br />

difference, and rigid transformation, while the leaves of the tree represent the primitives. CSG models<br />

represent the volume of the objects very well but do not explicitly store the edge information that most<br />

CAD applications require. Representation and evaluation of complex surfaces are the problem areas for<br />

the CSG model. BREP models store information about the surfaces, curves, and points that form the<br />

boundary of the object. Since surface information is well known, direct manipulation of the surfaces<br />

is possible for applications in path planning and digitizing surface points in CMM planning. BREP<br />

models tend to be very difficult to create compared to CSG and their data files tend to be very big.<br />

Hence, it is common to find that many commercial packages have CSG as a means to create the model,<br />

but the actual model is evaluated in terms of BREP.<br />

The second level of information required for CAIPS-CMM is the GD&T specifications. The specifications<br />

will help to determine the CMM evaluation functions to be applied to geometric elements<br />

that are measured. For ex<strong>amp</strong>le, a circularity tolerance specification for a cylinder element will only<br />

require a circle evaluation function, whereas a cylindricity tolerance specification will require a cylinder<br />

evaluation function. Most CAD/CAM systems do not have a consistent approach for linking the GD&T<br />

information to the product model. Some systems allow for the GD&T specifications to be added as<br />

descriptive notes associated with certain geometry, while others allow for the GD&T specifications to<br />

be integral to the CAD model.<br />

A product model that is created based purely on geometrical information has little engineering<br />

significance in terms of engineering analysis and planning for manufacturing and inspection. A<br />

feature-based modeling technique has been developed to provide a more natural interface between<br />

the designer and other engineering applications such as process planning. A feature can essentially<br />

be defined as a frame of information organized such that tasks like planning for manufacture and<br />

inspection can be carried out more easily. From this definition, it can be seen that many different<br />

features can be defined based on the different applications as different shape and engineering<br />

knowledge are required. For ex<strong>amp</strong>le, a machinable feature is mappable to a generic shape that has<br />

engineering significance in terms of machining, while a technological feature contains non-geometric<br />

attributes related to function and performance of an entity in the feature-based model. Features are<br />

likened to the basic building blocks for a product model and it is quite apparent that more than one type<br />

of feature is required. A more extensive review on features for design and manufacture can be found in<br />

Shah. 53 It should be emphasized that feature-based modeling alone is not sufficient for engineering<br />

applications as geometric reasoning and processing still have to be carried out using solid model<br />

information. Hence it is quite important to have a hybrid system that has both solid (usually BREP)<br />

and feature information.<br />

© 2001 by CRC Press LLC

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