Reverse Engineering Part Families Across CAD Systems
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Different CAD systems utilize varying data formats for representing 3-D pipe and mechanical systems, leading to duplication of effort in creating and managing part families across different platforms.
Innovation Solution
A reverse engineering system that exports existing part families from one CAD system to create compatible part families for other CAD systems, allowing for the representation of parts as fixed solids or parametric families, enabling dynamic resizing and reuse of existing pipe catalogs and specifications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If part families are created separately for each CAD system, then each CAD system has its own optimized part library, but this leads to duplication of effort and increased management complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a master part family definition that can be copied or exported to multiple CAD systems. Instead of manually creating separate part libraries for each CAD platform, the system defines parts once in a master format and automatically generates corresponding part families in target CAD systems, eliminating redundant creation efforts while maintaining system-specific optimizations
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a universal part family definition format that can serve multiple CAD systems simultaneously. The master part family structure is designed to be system-agnostic, allowing the same part definition to be utilized across different CAD platforms through automated export and import processes, thereby achieving multi-functionality without requiring separate specialized libraries for each system
2Adaptability or versatility
If part families are created separately for each CAD system, then each system can be optimized for its specific requirements, but this results in duplication of effort and time consumption
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary action by establishing a master part family definition that encapsulates all essential part characteristics and parameters. This master definition serves as a pre-prepared template that can be rapidly deployed to multiple CAD systems, eliminating the need to recreate part families from scratch for each system and significantly improving creation efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically copies the master part family definition to target CAD systems through structured export and import processes. This copying mechanism preserves system-specific optimizations while eliminating manual recreation efforts, allowing users to leverage existing part libraries across different CAD platforms without duplicating creation work
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for identifying a plurality of part families, where each part family comprises a plurality of parts; and for each part in each part family: obtaining connection port geometry information for a physical part in a part family; positioning each of the port vectors in a three-dimensional space at a respective location specified by the port vector; generating a respective port alignment line for each of the port vectors; generating one or more base curves each positioned to align with a plurality of the port alignment lines; generating one or more port solids from the connection port geometry information; and constructing body geometry between each of the one or more port solids by sweeping along a respective base curve, wherein the constructing is based at least on the connection port geometry information.