Data processing: generic control systems or specific application – Specific application – apparatus or process – Product assembly or manufacturing
Reexamination Certificate
1997-12-03
2003-07-01
Follansbee, John (Department: 2121)
Data processing: generic control systems or specific application
Specific application, apparatus or process
Product assembly or manufacturing
Reexamination Certificate
active
06587746
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND—FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention described herein generally relates to a process and apparatus for facilitating the easy and automatic production of drawings. More particularly it relates to the automation of drawings using a Computer Aided Design (CAD) system by persons having a very low level of computer programming skills.
BACKGROUND—DISCUSSION OF PRIOR ART
Automation of the production of engineering drawings is a goal which is sought by many companies. This is specifically true of companies which are involved in the design and production of customized process equipment. In such cases, it is very difficult to create a set of standard drawings which can be easily modified for issue for fabrication. Currently, the only way for a company to automate its drawings is through the creation of customized computer programs written by skilled computer programmers. However, most manufacturing companies, especially small ones which make up a significant portion of the national economy, lack the programming expertise to create these programs in-house. These programs are generally very tedious and time consuming to write. Use of outside computer programming consultants for this purpose is expensive. These outside programmers may also not fully understand the business of the company to create a customized computer program which adequately meets the needs of the company. Thus mistakes in the computer program may be made which may prove costly to the company in terms of improper design of the equipment and consequent re-work and customer dis-satisfaction. The evolving nature of business and competition also engenders almost continuous changes in the design of the equipment. These changes in equipment design are also difficult to incorporate into the customized computer program which often times may need very extensive, expensive, and time consuming modifications to incorporate the changes made in the design of the equipment into the computer program. In most cases, it is also very difficult for the average user to integrate such customized programs into the company's equipment design program which is generally developed in-house through much trial and error.
A typical example would be a company which is involved in the design and manufacture of air-scrubbers. Such companies are typically small. They generally have an equipment sizing program which is based upon mass-transfer principles. This program would give the diameter and height of the scrubber tower to be used to meet a given scrubbing application. These parameters now have to be transformed into a mechanical design which has then to be made into fabrication drawings for the manufacture of the scrubber. The mechanical design may be carried out by hand or by another or the same computer program to give more details of the thickness of the shell and dimensions of other appurtenances which make up the complete scrubber system. These details then have to be drawn up using a CAD system to create the fabrication drawings for the manufacture of the scrubber. Generally this is done by manually modifying a drawing of a previous application with the new dimensions. A great increase in productivity could be achieved for such a company if the process design, the mechanical design, and the CAD programs could all be integrated so that a user could not only do the process design but at the same time, generate all the mechanical details and create a CAD drawing for the application. This would also enable the engineer to more accurately estimate the cost of the equipment for sales-proposal and budgetary purposes. Therefore it would be advantageous to have a means for the average small manufacturing company's engineers and draftsmen to be able to create, maintain, and modify their own customized computer program for the automatic generation of drawings.
Currently many CAD packages offer several methods to automate drawings. One of the best known is the AutoLISP (R) language which is a part of the popular AutoCAD (R) program sold by Autodesk, Inc. of Sausalito, Calif. However, the disadvantage of the AutoLISP (R) language is that it is complicated for the average user to learn and use because it has its own specialized syntax which is unlike the regular English language. Programs written in the AutoLISP (R) language also work totally within the AutoCAD (R) environment. It is also difficult for the average user to combine the AutoLISP (R) code with code written in other languages like BASIC(R), QuickBASIC(R), VisualBASIC(R), C++ (R), FORTRAN (R), etc. Such a combination requires programming skills which are beyond the capability of the average user. Because of these considerations, programmers who are expert in the AutoLISP (R) language are also too expensive to be hired by the average small manufacturing company.
Another popular CAD program is the MicroStation (R) program sold by Bentley Systems, Inc. of Huntsville, Ala. This program uses a version of the popular BASIC (R) language to automate drawings. While not as complicated as the AutoLISP (R) language, it is still a distinct dialect of the BASIC (R) language. Therefore, it still has the disadvantage that it needs to be learnt to be used and then used on a regular basis for a person to be familiar with it. It also runs totally within the MicroStation environment and cannot be easily integrated, by the average user, with other engineering design programs.
Another way for a user to automate drawings within the AutoCAD(R) environment is to use the AutoCAD(R) script system which is provided as a means for creating slide shows of AutoCAD(R) drawings. The AutoCAD(R) script system is very easy for the average user to comprehend and use because it uses English-like commands to generate drawing entities. However, the disadvantage of the AutoCAD(R) script system is that there is no flexibility in varying the dimensions of the drawing entity automatically; once a drawing is defined using the AutoCAD(R) script system, the relationships between the dimensions remain fixed as shown in the drawing. All coordinate-points in the AutoCAD script commands are defined as numbers; they cannot be defined as user-defined and run-time variables as is possible in the AutoLISP (R) and MicroStation (R) environments. Since there is no way to provide variables or mathematical and boolean relationships between the coordinates of the points on the drawing, a change in one point does not automatically make a corresponding change in the other dimensions. Thus the AutoCAD(R) script system cannot be used to create a general mathematical model of the equipment which can be easily modified to depict a specific embodiment of the equipment. Such modifications would involve extensive and time consuming changes to the AutoCAD(R) script command file and are therefore not practical. The AutoCAD(R) script system also works totally within the AutoCAD (R) environment and cannot be easily integrated with the user's design programs.
Other third party programs have been commercialized to make the automation of drawings easier. An example is the AutoBASIC (R) system sold by BitWise Solutions Inc. of Indianapolis, Ind. The AutoBASIC (R) programming language is a hybrid language modeled after QBASIC (R) and combined with the functions and commands familiar to AutoCAD (R) Development System and AutoLISP programmers. However, it too suffers from the disadvantage that it has to be learned and used on a regular basis for the user to become familiar with it. It also works totally from within the AutoCAD environment and cannot be easily integrated into other engineering design programs.
Another example of a drawing automation system is the CADRA-III FLEXDESIGN (R) system sold as part of the CADRA (R) package by ADRA Inc. of Lowell, Mass. The CADRA-III FLEXDESIGN (R) system is described as a graphical spreadsheet and is easy to use because it does not need any programming skills as required in the AutoLISP (R) system. It is also more flexible than the AutoCAD (R) script system because the user can change one of the di
D'Souza Melanius
Follansbee John
LandOfFree
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