Data processing: structural design – modeling – simulation – and em – Structural design
Reexamination Certificate
1998-03-04
2001-07-03
Teska, Kevin J. (Department: 2123)
Data processing: structural design, modeling, simulation, and em
Structural design
C700S182000, C707S793000, C345S960000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06256595
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computer aided design (CAD) systems and computerized drafting tools for designing and modeling parts, such as sheet metal parts. More particularly, the invention relates to an apparatus and method for selecting, displaying and repositioning dimensions of a CAD part model on a display screen.
2. Background Information
Traditionally, the production of bent sheet metal components at, for example, a progressive sheet metal manufacturing facility, involves a series of production and manufacturing stages. The first stage is a design stage during which a sheet metal part design is developed based on a customer's specifications. The customer will typically place an order for a particular sheet metal component to be produced at the facility. The customer's order will usually include the necessary product and design information so that the factory may manufacture the component. This information may include, for example, the geometric dimensions of the part, the material required for the part (e.g., steel, stainless steel or aluminum), special forming information, the batch size, the delivery date, etc. The sheet metal part requested by the customer may be designed and produced for a wide variety of applications. For example, the produced component may ultimately be used as an outer casing for a computer, an electrical switchboard, an arm rest in an airplane, or a part of a door panel for a car.
During the design stage, the design office of the manufacturing facility may develop a sheet metal part design using an appropriate Computer Aided Design (CAD) system. Based on the customer's specifications, the CAD system may be utilized to develop a two-dimensional (2-D) model of the sheet metal part. Typically, the customer will provide a blueprint containing one or more drawings of the component and the critical geometric dimensions of the part. The dimensions are used to quantitatively describe the part geometry. The blueprint may also indicate any special formings or markings to be included in the part, such as the location of holes or other types of openings on the surface(s) of the sheet metal part. A CAD system operator will often use this blueprint to develop a 2-D model on the CAD system. The 2-D model may include a view of the flat sheet metal part that will be folded into the finished 3-D part, and one or more other orthographic views of the sheet metal part displaying bend line and/or dimensional information.
In recent years, the use and development of 2-D and three-dimensional (3-D) modeling in commercially available CAD/Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) systems have facilitated the process of modeling bent sheet metal components. The CAD system operator and part designer can now utilize both the 2-D and 3-D representations to better understand the geometry of the part and more efficiently develop a part design. In particular, the relationships between certain locations of the part that are significant (for example, because the part must fit into a defined location or space according to a specified, orientation) may now be modeled and analyzed. Thus, the use of 2-D and 3-D modeling has reduced the time and effort required to analyze a part and determine whether the dimensions of the part will permit the part to fit into defined locations or environments. Prior to computer modeling, the part was physically measured after bending and then rebent if the part did not meet the specifications, resulting in a time consuming trial and error process for obtaining an optimal design.
Until now, modeling programs had limited capabilities because they only displayed predetermined dimensions of a part. In other words, the distances between certain predetermined entities (i.e., bend lines, faces, arcs and lines (edges) of the part) were automatically displayed. However, these automatic dimensions may not be the critical dimensions of the part or may not have even existed before the part was folded. Moreover, automatically displaying dimensions, typically causes too many dimensions to be displayed on the screen, causing a cluttered screen. Clutter occurs because automatic dimensions are an all or nothing proposition, i.e., either all of the dimensions are displayed or none are displayed. Thus, there is a need for tools which allow the user to decide which dimensions of a part are important, and select those dimensions for calculating and displaying. An additional need exists for allowing a user to prioritize the important dimensions for display and/or reposition the dimensions so that the screen does not appear cluttered. It follows, that when a user selects and prioritizes dimensions to display, time and effort goes into the selection. Consequently, a need exists for saving these dimensions in association with the part to capture the user's knowledge about the part.
A further need exists for selecting desired entities of a part from which to measure the dimension, without requiring tedious mouse manipulation. Typically, most of the prior systems use 2-D models or 3-D paper models, i.e., models without thickness. However, in the real world, parts have thickness. Consequently, when a part is bent, the thickness comes into play and affects dimensions. Thus, a need exists for selecting which side of the metal thickness, (i.e., the far or close side), the dimension is to be measured from. Furthermore, a need also exists to permit easily selecting a desired entity, especially when a multitude of entities exist.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a dimensioning system for a computer generated geometric model having at least one entity. The entity may be a bend line, face or forming. The dimensioning system includes a selector which selects two entities of the model and a dimension defining system which defines each dimension associated with the selected entities of the model. An indicator may be provided which indicates to a user candidate entities of the model that may be selected. Consequently, each entity is selected based on an indicated candidate entity. The candidate entities are indicated in response to user events, preferably mouse movement events. The dimensioning system may also include a model display which displays a representation of the model on a display screen, and a dimension display which displays dimension information on the display screen based on the defined dimension. The geometric model may be a sheet metal part model or a 3-D sheet metal part model.
The selector may include an attachment point selector which selects an attachment point corresponding to each selected entity. The dimension defining system includes a cuboid generator which generates a cuboid defined by the selected attachment points as opposite diagonal corners of the cuboid. The dimension between the attachment points is defined as either a straight line connecting the attachment points or as three adjacent edges of the cuboid. The three adjacent edges connect the attachment points. Alternatively, a rectangle generator may be used, in which case the dimension is defined as the two adjacent edges between the attachment points.
When the dimension between the selected entities is an angle measured between two lines, the selector may also include a line calculator which calculates the two lines, one for each selected entity. Each line represents one of the two selected entities. The dimension display includes a cylinder generator which generates a cylinder based upon the two lines. A dimension information component is displayed on a portion of a perimeter of the cylinder. Alternatively, the dimension information component may be an arc connecting the two selected entities, alleviating the need for a cylinder generator.
Also provided is a picking order system which assigns priorities to the model's entities and predefined dimension of the model. Based upon the assigned priorities, the picking order system picks either one of the model's entities or the predefined dimension as a target for
Hazama Kensuke
Leshchiner Dmitry
Pashenkova Elena
Schwalb Edward
Amada Company Limited
Greenblum & Bernstein P.L.C.
Knox Lonnie A.
Teska Kevin J.
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