Heuristic Feature Recognition from a CAD Model

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Ling, Zhi-Kui^{; *} | Narayan, Shaym

Affiliations: Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI 49931

Correspondence: [*] Author to whom all correspondence should be addressed.

Abstract: It has been recognized that feature-based modeling can provide the means to bridge the gap between engineering design and manufacturing. Features provide an avenue to relate some higher level entities of a design directly to its design functionality and manufacturing characteristics such as surface finish, manufacturability, fits, tolerances, etc. In this study, a system is established to facilitate the design and manufacturing integration process. Specifically, a design model in its IGES format is translated to a design representation scheme in the form of hash tables. A graph structure representing the topology of the design is then constructed from these hash tables. The aforementioned graph representation is used to recognize features in the design. This is accomplished with two steps: subgraph construction and subgraph to feature identification. The first step is carried out with a set of heuristic rules. The second step matches a set of geometric and topological characteristics of the subgraph with that of a template feature. A feature is recognized if a match is found. The object-oriented approach is used throughout the implementation of this proposed system.

DOI: 10.3233/ICA-1996-3305

Journal: Integrated Computer-Aided Engineering, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 212-224, 1996