SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MODELING PARTS WITH GRID STRUCTURES

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure is directed, in general, to computer-aided design, visualization, and manufacturing systems ("CAD" systems), product lifecycle management ("PLM") systems, and similar systems, that manage data for products and other items (collectively, "Product Data Management" systems or PDM systems).BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

[0002] PDM systems manage PLM and other data. Improved systems are desirable. WO 2015 / 106020 relates to a method for creating three dimensional lattice structure in computer-aided design models for additive manufacturing. DEstreaming, "A quick look at Autodesk Within", Youtube, (20150828), page 1, URL: https: / / www.youtube.com / watch?v=stPbmGpvCuw, (20190405), XP054979276, relates to a video showing how to create lattice on Autodesk. Biranchi Narayan Panda, "Design and Development of Cellular Structures for Additive Manufacturing", (20150731) relates to additive manufacturing (AM) processes capabilities by providing a methodology to design parts.SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

[0003] The object of the present invention is to provide a method for modelling parts with lattice structure, a data processing system and a non-transitory computer-readable medium thereof. This object is solved by the attached independent claims and further embodiments and improvements of the invention are listed in the attached dependent claims. Hereinafter, up to the "brief description of the drawings", expressions like "...aspect according to the invention", "according to the invention", or "the present invention", relate to technical teaching of the broadest embodiment as claimed with the independent claims. Expressions like "implementation", "design", "optionally", "preferably", "scenario", "aspect" or similar relate to further embodiments as claimed, and expressions like "example", "...aspect according to an example", "the disclosure describes", or "the disclosure" describe technical teaching which relates to the understanding of the invention or its embodiments, which, however, is not claimed as such. Various disclosed embodiments include systems and methods for modeling of parts with lattice structures and corresponding systems and computer-readable mediums.

[0004] The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present disclosure so that those skilled in the art may better understand the detailed description that follows. Additional features and advantages of the disclosure will be described hereinafter that form the subject of the claims.

[0005] Before undertaking the DETAILED DESCRIPTION below, it may be advantageous to set forth definitions of certain words or phrases used throughout this patent document: the terms "include" and "comprise," as well as derivatives thereof, mean inclusion without limitation; the term "or" is inclusive, meaning and / or; the phrases "associated with" and "associated therewith," as well as derivatives thereof, may mean to include, be included within, interconnect with, contain, be contained within, connect to or with, couple to or with, be communicable with, cooperate with, interleave, juxtapose, be proximate to, be bound to or with, have, have a property of, or the like; and the term "controller" means any device, system or part thereof that controls at least one operation, whether such a device is implemented in hardware, firmware, software or some combination of at least two of the same. It should be noted that the functionality associated with any particular controller may be centralized or distributed, whether locally or remotely. Definitions for certain words and phrases are provided throughout this patent document, and those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that such definitions apply in many, if not most, instances to prior as well as future uses of such defined words and phrases. While some terms may include a wide variety of embodiments, the appended claims may expressly limit these terms to specific embodiments.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0006] For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure, and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like numbers designate like objects, and in which: Figure 1 illustrates a block diagram of a data processing system in which an embodiment can be implemented; Figure 2 illustrates a flowchart of a process in accordance with disclosed embodiments; and Figures 3A-3E illustrate the steps used in creating a part with a lattice, in accordance with disclosed embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0007] FIGURES 1 through 3E, discussed below, and the various embodiments used to describe the principles of the present disclosure in this patent document are by way of illustration only and should not be construed in any way to limit the scope of the disclosure. Those skilled in the art will understand that the principles of the present disclosure may be implemented in any suitably arranged device. The numerous innovative teachings of the present application will be described with reference to exemplary non-limiting embodiments.

[0008] Additive manufacturing enables making products with internal lattice structures, which are repeated arrangements of shapes in a grid-like pattern that replace a solid volume. Products with lattices demonstrate advantages in high structural strength with lower mass, enhanced cooling, vibration / acoustic / shock energy damping, orthopedic implant bio-integration, and are therefore highly desirable in several applications spanning aerospace, automotive, power generation, industrial machinery and healthcare.

[0009] Before manufacturing parts containing lattices, it can be important to create computer-aided design (CAD) models of such products to visualize them, evaluate their physical properties such as weight, or analyze structural characteristics using finite element analysis (FEA) or related computer-aided engineering (CAE) analysis techniques. Then, once the part has been designed to meet functional and other design requirements, computer aided manufacturing systems must be able to directly compute layer slices and toolpaths on the CAD models.

[0010] Commercial CAD systems lack sufficient support for creating lattice structures in a solid CAD model.

[0011] Disclosed embodiments include new shape data representations and methods required to create lattice structures, and perform modeling, simulation and manufacturing functions in a computationally efficient manner. Disclosed embodiments include a scalable lazy evaluation method for computer-aided design of parts with lattice structures.

[0012] Figure 1 illustrates a block diagram of a data processing system in which an embodiment can be implemented, for example as a PDM system particularly configured by software or otherwise to perform the processes as described herein, and in particular as each one of a plurality of interconnected and communicating systems as described herein. The data processing system depicted includes a processor 102 connected to a level two cache / bridge 104, which is connected in turn to a local system bus 106. Local system bus 106 may be, for example, a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) architecture bus. Also connected to local system bus in the depicted example are a main memory 108 and a graphics adapter 110. The graphics adapter 110 may be connected to display 111.

[0013] Other peripherals, such as local area network (LAN) / Wide Area Network / Wireless (e.g. WiFi) adapter 112, may also be connected to local system bus 106. Expansion bus interface 114 connects local system bus 106 to input / output (I / O) bus 116. I / O bus 116 is connected to keyboard / mouse adapter 118, disk controller 120, and I / O adapter 122. Disk controller 120 can be connected to a storage 126, which can be any suitable machine usable or machine readable storage medium, including but not limited to nonvolatile, hard-coded type mediums such as read only memories (ROMs) or erasable, electrically programmable read only memories (EEPROMs), magnetic tape storage, and user-recordable type mediums such as floppy disks, hard disk drives and compact disk read only memories (CD-ROMs) or digital versatile disks (DVDs), and other known optical, electrical, or magnetic storage devices.

[0014] Also connected to I / O bus 116 in the example shown is audio adapter 124, to which speakers (not shown) may be connected for playing sounds. Keyboard / mouse adapter 118 provides a connection for a pointing device (not shown), such as a mouse, trackball, trackpointer, touchscreen, etc.

[0015] Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the hardware depicted in Figure 1 may vary for particular implementations. For example, other peripheral devices, such as an optical disk drive and the like, also may be used in addition or in place of the hardware depicted. The depicted example is provided for the purpose of explanation only and is not meant to imply architectural limitations with respect to the present disclosure.

[0016] A data processing system in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure includes an operating system employing a graphical user interface. The operating system permits multiple display windows to be presented in the graphical user interface simultaneously, with each display window providing an interface to a different application or to a different instance of the same application. A cursor in the graphical user interface may be manipulated by a user through the pointing device. The position of the cursor may be changed and / or an event, such as clicking a mouse button, generated to actuate a desired response.

[0017] One of various commercial operating systems, such as a version of Microsoft Windows ™< , a product of Microsoft Corporation located in Redmond, Wash, may be employed if suitably modified. The operating system is modified or created in accordance with the present disclosure as described.

[0018] LAN / WAN / Wireless adapter 112 can be connected to a network 130 (not a part of data processing system 100), which can be any public or private data processing system network or combination of networks, as known to those of skill in the art, including the Internet. Data processing system 100 can communicate over network 130 with server system 140, which is also not part of data processing system 100, but can be implemented, for example, as a separate data processing system 100.

[0019] Lattice modeling in commercial CAD systems has been typically done using native boundary representation (BRep) CAD functionality. Such methods suffer from numerous disadvantages, including but not limited to being computationally demanding and laborious. Independent commercial applications for lattice modeling exist but also suffer from numerous disadvantages, including but not limited to not being integrated with CAD systems which thereby limits their use in typical design processes. Polygonal based modeling, implicit surface based modeling, and procedural modeling techniques have been presented in the academic literature but also suffer numerous drawbacks. For example, these techniques do not consider all the typical modeling functions that are required to create parts with lattices, and focus only on specific aspects. None of these techniques address high density lattices, containing millions of lattice struts or elements, and are therefore not scalable.

[0020] Disclosed embodiments consider the rod lattice representation as defined by an arrangement of generalized cylindrical rods with optional spherical balls at the rod junctions. The shapes and cross-section sizes of the rods can be constant, defined by a user, defined by some function, or otherwise. The rod arrangements, in some embodiments, can be aligned according to a coordinate system that can be axis-aligned, cylindrical, spherical, and even warped.

[0021] Using techniques as disclosed herein, end users can create very high density lattices consisting of millions of rods. Fully instantiated representations of high density lattices would present significant challenges to a design system.

[0022] Disclosed embodiments include a system and method for designing parts with lattice structures wherein lattice geometry is instantiated only where needed (local instantiation) and when needed ("lazy" evaluation). The lattice itself is defined with a small set of parameters such as rod density (number of rods in a given direction), rod layout co-ordinate system (axis-aligned, cylindrical, etc.), and rod thicknesses.

[0023] The surfaces of all lattice rods are typically not instantiated at the same time. Either the surfaces of only a small set of rods are instantiated, or an equivalent reduced order representation (e.g., lines for visualization, beam elements for FEA) for the rods are used in the computations.

[0024] The lattice is trimmed so that only the rods within the void region are considered for design and manufacturing.

[0025] In addition to trimming the lattices to desired sub-regions of a model, disclosed embodiments also include techniques for representative and modeling operations required for designing parts with lattices using the lazy evaluation approach, such as visualizing the trimmed lattices, computing mass properties such as weight, performing FEA, and performing computer-aided manufacturing operations such as slicing.

[0026] Figure 2 illustrates a flowchart of a process in accordance with disclosed embodiments. Figures 3A-3E illustrate the steps used in creating a part with a lattice, in accordance with disclosed embodiments, and are used to illustrate the process of Fig. 2.

[0027] The process of Fig. 2 may be performed, for example, by a CAD, PDM, or other data processing system as described herein, referred to generically below as the "system." This process uses "lazy" evaluation techniques, as described herein, in one or more of the modeling functions.

[0028] The system receives a model of an object to be manufactured (205). In most cases, the object is to be manufactured using additive manufacturing techniques. Receiving, as used herein, can include loading from storage, receiving from another device or process, receiving via and interaction with a user, or otherwise.

[0029] The system receives a user specification within the model to create a lattice, as well as specifying other lattice parameters (210). This typically is done by hollowing out a region within the model. This hollow region, termed the "void", will contain the lattice. Fig. 3A shows a part 300 with the lattice to be created inside the entire internal region with an axis aligned layout. The figure indicates that some of the lattice rods 301 lie inside the void, some rods 302 intersect the void surfaces and lie partially inside, and some rods 303 lie completely outside. The rods 303 lying outside are not relevant to the design while the others are. Classifying which of the rods lie completely inside, and finding the intersection points with the void surfaces for those lying partially inside, is a computationally demanding problem that one of the embodiments solves. The system can create the lattice as a rod lattice representation defined by an arrangement of generalized cylindrical rods with optional spherical balls at the rod junctions.

[0030] The system performs a trimming operation (215). Trimming is a fundamental operation used in lattice modeling functions, and therefore its performance is preferred especially for high density lattices.

[0031] The system tessellates the void surfaces to create a temporary triangle mesh representation. Additionally, the system creates an oct-tree representation of the triangle mesh to speed up trimming operation.

[0032] Then, instead of treating each rod segment independently, the system groups together an entire row of connected rods along a particular direction and treats them as a single entity. Among other advantages, this approach dramatically reduces computation time as well as memory consumption. An oct-tree based ray-mesh intersection algorithm is used to determine which segments of the rods lie within the void. If necessary, the system can store the points of intersection between the lattice rods and the void surfaces. This would be used for instance in finite element analysis (FEA), to create suitable finite elements to connect with other finite elements belonging to the rest of the part.

[0033] The output of the lazy-evaluation based trimming operation is either a suitable geometry representation or information that can be used to perform core design and manufacturing operations on-the-fly without generating a complete geometric representation of the entire trimmed lattice. For example, the trimming operation can be used in core design functions including but not limited to visualization, mass property evaluation, finite element analysis, and manufacturing.

[0034] For example, the system renders the model (220). Rendering the lattice gives a designer key visual insight into the form of the part. Once trimming has performed, each segment of rods along a row lying in a void can be displayed as a single line segment. Furthermore, a subset of the lines within a given viewing volume can be shown to further improve visualization performance. Fig. 3B illustrates a rendering of a trimmed lattice 310. The figure shows the result of applying the computationally efficient algorithm to determine the rods 301 lying inside the void, and those 302 that lie partially inside, as they are relevant to the design. The figure also shows trimmed rods for those that lie partially inside, indicating computation of the intersection points of those rods with the void surfaces. For visualization, the trimmed rods are rendered as line segments.

[0035] In another embodiment, the system analyzes mass properties of the model or lattice (225). As part of this step, the system can perform mass property calculations. Mass properties such as volume and weight are important features of a part that should be inspected especially when a lattice feature is being used to reduce part weight.

[0036] As presented in the trimming operation, the system can tessellate the void's surfaces to create temporary triangle mesh representation. Additionally, the system can create an oct-tree representation of the triangle mesh to speed up trimming operation. The system can use the oct-tree based ray-mesh intersection algorithm on a row of rods to determine the relevant segments.

[0037] Then, volume / weight calculation can be interleaved with trimming as follow: (a) For each segment, the system can compute the volume of the rod. When the rod has a constant radius, the volume is computed using the formula for a cylinder (V = π *r 2< * L), where r is the radius of the rod and L is the length of the segment. When the rod has a variable cross-section, then the volume is computed by numerically executing the integral ∫A(l) dL where A(l) is the cross section at position l and 0<=l<=L, L is the length of the rod segment. This approach also allows for a cross section with a hole. Weight can be calculated as V*d*g, where V is the volume of the segment, d is the density of the material, and g is the gravitational constant. (b) The system can repeat step (a) for each row of rods in the three co-ordinate directions. The system can then sum up the volume and weight to determine the properties of the entire lattice. In this approach, in various embodiments, the geometry of the lattice surfaces are never instantiated, and the trim end points of the rod segments are not stored, and therefore saves memory consumption for high density lattices.

[0038] In a different embodiment, the system performs a finite element analysis (FEA) on the model or lattice (230). FEA is used to analyze the behavior of the part under physical conditions. For example, structural analysis can be key in determining whether a part can withstand expected loads during operation. FEA in combination with weight calculation enables a designer to analyze strength-to-weight ratios when creating lightweight parts with lattices. FEA based topology optimization also facilitates the minimization of the lattice density.

[0039] The system can trim the lattice as abovementioned. The system can store all the trim end points of the rod segments lying inside the void region. Then, a reduced order FEM of the part with the lattice is created as follows: (a) For each rod segment, the system can create 1-D beam elements with nodes at the individual rod ends as well as at the trim points on the part surfaces. (b) The system can create a 3D tetrahedral (or equivalent) mesh of the surrounding void region (for e.g., a shell) such that the nodes from the trim end points in the 1-D model are included as nodes of some of the tetrahedral elements. This can be performed, for example, using a commercial software package such as the NX CAE software of Siemens Product Management Lifecycle Software Inc. (Plano, Texas). This creates a conformal finite element model (FEM) of both the part and the lattice. (c) The system can then perform FEA on the conformal FEM using standard CAE functions. Fig. 3C illustrates a finite element representation 320 of the lattice which is also conformally connected with the rest of the part. In one of the embodiment of the present invention, the trimmed lattice rods computed are then converted into beam finite elements to perform FEA. Fig. 3D shows the result 330 of performing FEA on the part with lattice.

[0040] The system produces a manufacturing model and instructions corresponding to the model and lattice (235). In order to fabricate the part with the lattice, the first step is to compute intersections with slice planes, with each slice representing a layer of material to be deposited.

[0041] As abovementioned, the system tessellates part surfaces to create temporary triangle mesh representation. Additionally, the system creates an oct-tree representation of the triangle mesh. The system uses the oct-tree based ray-mesh intersection algorithm on a row of rods to determine the relevant segments. Then, the lazy evaluation approach for computing a single slice is as follows: (a) For each segment, the system determines if the end points lie on opposite sides of the slice plane. If they do, then instantiate a triangle mesh representation of the rod to represent the relevant rod segment and compute the intersection curve of the rod with the plane. If the two end points lie on the same side of the plane, check if any of the end points are at a distance close to the radius of the rod. If this condition is satisfied, then instantiate the rod and compute the intersection curve. (b) The system repeats step (a) for each row of rods in the three co-ordinate directions and store the intersection curves. (c) Perform 2D Boolean unions of all the intersection curves on the slicing plane. This can be done either by direct geometric operations, or by rasterizing the slice into a binary image and extracting the edge curves. (d) Compute tool paths on the slice and create G-code.

[0042] Fig. 3E illustrates creating layer slices 340 and generating manufacturing instructions. The figure shows the result of performing manufacturing processing operations on the part with the trimmed lattice. The trimmed rods are not stored, and rather the slicing is performed on the rods and the results of the slicing are used for generating manufacturing instructions.

[0043] Of course, those of skill in the art will recognize that, unless specifically indicated or required by the sequence of operations, certain steps in the processes described above may be omitted, performed concurrently or sequentially, or performed in a different order.

[0044] Those skilled in the art will recognize that, for simplicity and clarity, the full structure and operation of all data processing systems suitable for use with the present disclosure is not being depicted or described herein. Instead, only so much of a data processing system as is unique to the present disclosure or necessary for an understanding of the present disclosure is depicted and described. The remainder of the construction and operation of data processing system 100 may conform to any of the various current implementations and practices known in the art.

[0045] It is important to note that while the disclosure includes a description in the context of a fully functional system, those skilled in the art will appreciate that at least portions of the mechanism of the present disclosure are capable of being distributed in the form of instructions contained within a machine-usable, computer-usable, or computer-readable medium in any of a variety of forms, and that the present disclosure applies equally regardless of the particular type of instruction or signal bearing medium or storage medium utilized to actually carry out the distribution. Examples of machine usable / readable or computer usable / readable mediums include: nonvolatile, hard-coded type mediums such as read only memories (ROMs) or erasable, electrically programmable read only memories (EEPROMs), and user-recordable type mediums such as floppy disks, hard disk drives and compact disk read only memories (CD-ROMs) or digital versatile disks (DVDs).

[0046] Although an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure has been described in detail, those skilled in the art will understand that various changes, substitutions, variations, and improvements disclosed herein may be made without departing from the scope of the disclosure in its broadest form.

[0047] None of the description in the present application should be read as implying that any particular element, step, or function is an essential element which must be included in the claim scope: the scope of patented subject matter is defined only by the allowed claims. The use of terms such as (but not limited to) "mechanism," "module," "device," "unit," "component," "element," "member," "apparatus," "machine," "system," "processor," or "controller," within a claim is understood and intended to refer to structures known to those skilled in the relevant art, as further modified or enhanced by the features of the claims themselves.

Claims

1. A method for modeling of parts with lattice structures, the method performed by a data processing system (102, 104, 108, 110, 111, 112, 114, 116, 124, 118, 120, 122, 126) and comprising: receiving (205) a model of an object to be manufactured using additive manufacturing techniques: receiving (210) a user specification and, based on the user specification, hollowing out a region (300) within the model to create a void region within the model, and creating a rod lattice (301, 302, 303) to fill the void region (300), the rod lattice (301, 302, 303) including rods (301) that lie inside the void region (300) and rods (302) that intersect and partially lie inside void region surfaces; and performing (215) a trimming operation to create a trimmed lattice (310) by: tessellating surfaces of the void region to create a triangle mesh representation, creating an oct-tree representation of the triangle mesh representation, grouping together at least one row of connected rods along a particular direction, and using an oct-tree based ray-mesh intersection algorithm on the grouped row of rods to determine relevant segments, wherein the relevant segments are the segments of the rods which lie within the void region; wherein the data processing system produces (235) a manufacturing model and instructions corresponding to the model and the trimmed lattice, wherein the data processing system computes intersections with slice planes, with each slice representing a layer of material to be deposited and wherein a lazy evaluation approach is used for computing the slices as follows: (a) for each relevant segment, the data processing system determines if end points lie on opposite sides of the slice plane, if they do, then instantiating a triangle mesh representation of the rod to represent the relevant rod segment and computing the intersection curve of the rod with the slice plane, if the two end points lie on the same side of the slice plane, checking if any of the end points are at a predetermined distance from the slice plane smaller or substantially equal to a radius of the rod, and if this condition is satisfied, then instantiating the rod and computing an intersection curve; (b) the data processing system repeating step (a) for each row of rods in the three co-ordinate directions and storing the intersection curves; (c) performing 2D Boolean unions of all the intersection curves on the slice plane, by either direct geometric operations or by rasterizing the slice into a binary image and extracting the edge curves; and (d) computing tool paths on the slice and creating G-code.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data processing system renders (220) the trimmed lattice.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the data processing system also analyzes (225) mass properties of the model or lattice.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the data processing system calculates the volume and weight of each of a plurality of rods of the lattice.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the data processing system analyzes (225) mass properties of the lattice without creating instances of surfaces of the lattice.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the data processing system performs (230) a finite element analysis (FEA) on the model or lattice.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the data processing system creates (230) a conformal finite element model of the part and the lattice.

8. A data processing system (102, 104, 108, 110, 111, 112, 114, 116, 124, 118, 120, 122, 126) comprising: a processor (102); and an accessible memory (108, 126), the data processing system particularly configured to receive (205) a model of an object to be manufactured using additive manufacturing techniques; receive (210) a user specification and, based on the user specification, hollowing out a region (300) within the model to create a void region within the model, and creating a rod lattice (301, 302, 303) to fill the void region (300), the rod lattice (301, 302, 303) including rods (301) that lie inside the void region (300) and rods (302) that intersect and partially lie inside void region surfaces; and perform (215) a trimming operation to create a trimmed lattice (310) by : tessellating surfaces of the void region to create a triangle mesh representation, creating an oct-tree representation of the triangle mesh representation, group together at least one row of connected rods along a particular direction, and using an oct-tree based ray-mesh intersection algorithm on the grouped row of rods to determine relevant segments, wherein the relevant segments are the segments of the rods which lie within the void region; wherein the data processing system produces (215) a manufacturing model and instructions corresponding to the model and the trimmed lattice, wherein the data processing system computes intersections with slice planes, with each slice representing a layer of material to be deposited and wherein a lazy evaluation approach is used for computing the slices as follows: (a) for each relevant segment, the data processing system determines if end points lie on opposite sides of the slice plane, if they do, then instantiating a triangle mesh representation of the rod to represent the relevant rod segment and computing the intersection curve of the rod with the slice plane, if the two end points lie on the same side of the slice plane, checking if any of the end points are at a predetermined distance from the slice plane smaller or substantially equal to a radius of the rod, and if this condition is satisfied, then instantiating the rod and computing an intersection curve; (b) the data processing system repeating step (a) for each row of rods in the three co-ordinate directions and storing the intersection curves; (c) performing 2D Boolean unions of all the intersection curves on the slice plane; by direct geometric operations, or by rasterizing the slice into a binary image and extracting the edge curves; and (d) computing tool paths on the slice and creating G-code.

9. The data processing system of claim 8, wherein the data processing system is configured also to render (220) the trimmed lattice or to analyze (225) mass properties of the model or lattice.

10. The data processing system of claim 9, wherein the data processing system is configured to calculate the volume and weight of each of a plurality of rods of the lattice, or wherein the data processing system is configured to analyze (225) mass properties of the lattice without instantiating surfaces of the lattice.

11. The data processing system of claim 8, wherein the data processing system is configured to perform (230) a finite element analysis (FEA) on the model or lattice, wherein the system is in particular configured to create a conformal finite element model of the part and the lattice.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more data processing systems to carry out one or more of the method steps of the method claims 1-7.