Title: Extraction of simple and concatenated features from a wire frame model using IGES data

Authors: V. Dhanalakshmi, K. Sankaranarayanasamy, Subramaniam Arunachalam, S.C. Lenny Koh

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai – 625 015, India. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Regional Engineering College Tiruchirappalli – 620 015, India. ' School of Computing and Technology, University of East London Longbridge Road, Dagenham, Essex RM8 2AS, UK. ' Management School, University of Sheffield, 9 Mappin Street, Sheffield, S1 4DT, UK

Abstract: The manufacturing information for a part is required for automated process planning, the link between CAD and CAM. Extraction of manufacturing features for a part from its CAD model is the first step in automated process planning. Most of the CAD models are transferred from one system to another through the neutral file format IGES. The software developed in C++ extracts both simple and concatenated features for prismatic parts from IGES files. The final results obtained are a set of manufacturing features along with their dimensions and positions, which can be used directly for downstream applications such as process planning, NC part programming and cutter path generation. The working of the system and algorithms used for feature extraction are explained with examples.

Keywords: computer-aided process planning; CAPP; feature extraction; prismatic parts; manufacturing features; simple features; concatenated features; IGES; wire frame models.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMTM.2006.010062

International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management, 2006 Vol.9 No.3/4, pp.350 - 371

Published online: 14 Jun 2006 *

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