Enterprise Digital Mock-Up for Lightweight 3D Product Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
CAD models are large, complex, and siloed, making it difficult for downstream users to access and integrate relevant information across the product lifecycle, and 2D drawings and lightweight 3D formats lack metadata and interactivity.
Innovation Solution
Generate an enterprise digital mock-up (EDMU) model that is a lightweight representation of the CAD model, integrated with metadata from secondary sources, using a simpler data format accessible to non-CAD users.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If CAD models are used to represent product designs, then design precision and engineering capability are improved, but data size and system complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and separates the essential product definition data from the complete CAD model. The EDMU model extracts only the necessary geometric and product structure information needed for downstream processes, leaving the full CAD model intact for design work. This extraction reduces data size while preserving essential design information.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the product data into two distinct components: the complete CAD model for design purposes and the simplified EDMU model for downstream consumption. This segmentation allows each model to be optimized for its specific purpose, with the EDMU containing only the subset of data needed for manufacturing, supply chain, and support functions.
2Loss of information
If complete CAD models are transferred to downstream users, then information completeness is improved, but ease of operation and accessibility deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a simplified copy of the CAD model specifically tailored for downstream users. The EDMU is a copy that contains only the product definition information needed for manufacturing, supply chain, and support, without requiring the full CAD software environment. This copying approach makes the data accessible to non-CAD users while maintaining information completeness for their specific needs.
3Adaptability or versatility
If CAD systems are used for product definition, then engineering capability is improved, but integration with enterprise data sources deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The EDMU model serves as an intermediary between the CAD system and enterprise data sources. It translates product definition information into a format that can be integrated with manufacturing, supply chain, and support systems. This intermediary role reduces system integration complexity by providing a common data structure that bridges the gap between design and enterprise operations.
4Ease of operation
If lightweight 3D formats are used instead of CAD models, then ease of operation is improved, but information completeness and metadata retention worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameters of the data format by creating the EDMU model with specific characteristics optimized for downstream use. The EDMU retains essential product structure and metadata information that would be lost in conventional lightweight formats, while using a simplified data structure that is easier to operate with. The model includes product definition information, product structure, and metadata in a format that balances accessibility with information retention.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for providing an enterprise digital mock-up (EDMU) includes one or more first system elements that perform identifying one or more relevant computer aided design (CAD) features of a CAD digital mock-up (DMU), accessing one or more CAD DMUs that are in a first data format and that have at least a portion of the relevant CAD features, and generating, according to the one or more CAD DMUs, an EDMU model in a second data format. The EDMU model in the second data format has a smaller data footprint than the CAD DMUs and omits at least a portion of data of the one or more CAD DMUs. The system further has one or more second system elements that access the EDMU model, display a representation of at least a portion the EDMU model to a user, and display EDMU metadata to the user.