Manufacturability evaluation of injection molded plastic models using a cad based dfx evaluation system

Abstract

A method of automatic manufacturability evaluation of plastic models comprises generation of a likely pulling direction, recognition of common features on plastic parts, and then applying manufacturability rules The manufacturability rules can be specified and customized through user specified rule parameters and depend upon the geometric parameters of the recognized features. A system comprises a user interface for selection and customization of DFX (Design for ‘X’) rules for evaluation of a design. The system includes a user interface integrated with a CAD system for receiving the CAD data and displaying the results to the user. Geometry analysis engines are integrated into the system, for extracting the various features and corresponding parameters required as input to the manufacturability rules. The system further involves extensible interfaces for rules and analysis engines which allows users to write their own customized rules and engines and integrate these into the CAD based DFX evaluation system.

1 . A computer aided DFX evaluation system for manufacturability analysis of computer-aided-design (CAD) models comprising:
 a program module for receiving input regarding rules for evaluation of a design;   a human readable rule file for storing the input regarding the rules;   another program module integrated with a computer aided design system for receiving three dimensional design data, applying the rules on the three dimensional design data, and displaying results;   user-extensible interfaces for programming rules and analysis engines which allows creation of customized rules and engines and integration of the customized rules;   program interfaces (APIs) for 2D/3D report generation for offline viewing of the results; and   a means for performing DFX evaluation.   
     
     
         2 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the program module for receiving input regarding rules for evaluation of a design further comprises:
 a means for registering external pre-programmed rules and corresponding analysis engines and displaying the external pre-programmed rules for selection; and   a means for programming new rules using a programming environment.   
     
     
         3 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the human readable rule file further comprises a format including:
 a name of a rule;   rule parameters;   a rule module containing rule logic;   a severity of rule/failure instance; and   a category of rule/failure instance.   
     
     
         4 . A method for DFX evaluation comprising:
 transforming a CAD model into a manufacturability feature based model;   generating an in-memory model based on a set of rules specified in a rule file;   executing engines required for generating data required by the set of rules;   executing rule checks on the CAD model using the data generated by the engines; and   displaying results.