Structured Requirements in 3D CAD for Design Synchronization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Designing and analyzing engineering parts efficiently while seamlessly integrating numerous system requirements is challenging due to their distributed and overlapping nature, leading to difficulties in correlating optimization methods and ensuring compliance with thousands of criteria.
Innovation Solution
A structured objects system in 3D space is used to associate criteria with volumes, allowing for volumetric intersection analysis and efficient assignment of requirements, enabling a systematic approach to product development through Model Based Engineering (MBE) practices and machine learning interpretation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If designers use traditional text-based requirement documents and separate CAD modeling processes, then design flexibility and creativity are maintained, but the time and communication required to synchronize requirements with design models increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges requirement management and CAD modeling into a unified system where requirements are embedded directly into the 3D model structure. This integration eliminates the need for separate text documents and manual synchronization processes, allowing designers to work with requirements that are inherently linked to the geometric model through the modeling software's native data structures.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary layer of requirement objects that act as mediators between the design intent and the geometric model. These requirement objects can be attached to specific geometric entities (vertices, edges, faces, volumes) and serve as structured intermediaries that automatically propagate requirements through the design hierarchy, reducing manual communication overhead.
2Reliability
If designers manually track and correlate thousands of distributed system requirements across multiple systems, then comprehensive requirement coverage is achieved, but the complexity of managing overlapping and interacting requirements increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the monolithic requirement management process into hierarchical levels (system level, subsystem level, component level) that mirror the geometric hierarchy of the CAD model. Requirements are distributed across this hierarchy and can be selectively activated or deactivated based on the current design context, making management of thousands of requirements tractable through progressive refinement.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds a new dimensional layer to requirement management by embedding requirements within the three-dimensional geometric space of the model. Instead of managing requirements as flat text documents, the system associates requirements with spatial entities (volumes, surfaces, edges, vertices), creating a fourth dimension of organization that naturally handles overlaps and interactions through spatial relationships.
3Ease of operation
If designers decompose high-level requirements into detailed sub-requirements for different systems, then specific design guidance is provided, but the difficulty of correlating optimization methods across systems increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms that automatically propagate design changes and optimization results across the hierarchical requirement structure. When optimizations are performed at any level (system, subsystem, or component), the effects are automatically communicated upward and downward through the hierarchy, allowing designers to see the impact of local optimizations on global requirements and adjust accordingly.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented method and system provide the ability to design a part to be physically produced. Structured requirements objects for a component are created and each object is a mandatory functional or logical characteristic of the component. Logical system volumes are created in a component system using a computer-aided design (CAD) program. Each of the logical system volumes is an abstract geometric three-dimensional volume in a virtual context of the part to be physically produced. The structured requirements objects are linked to each of the logical system volumes. A part shape is built in the component system using the same virtual context of the part to be physically produced. Volume intersections are determined as the logical system volumes that the part shape intersects with. The structured requirements objects that are linked to the volume intersections are collected. The part is designed based upon the collected structured requirements objects.