Representation of sheet metal part models

• US 20060079989A1
• Filed: 10/07/2004
• Published: 04/13/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amada Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Amada Company Limited
• Inventors: Sakai, Satoshi, Periasamy, Thanapandi, Ishii, Masanobu
• Granted Patent: US 7,398,129 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/182
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31001 CIM, total factory control
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31215 Upon modification of data in one database, automatic update of mirror databases
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/35005 Sheet metal cad
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2113/24 Sheet material
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/00 Computer-aided design [CAD]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 706/919 Designing, planning, programming, CAD, CASE

Abstract

Data for a 3D sheet metal part model is stored in a file. The stored data includes features of the part and manufacturing information. When different manufacturing processes are used, different geometry can be created. The file can store multiple processes for manufacturing the part and the geometry associated with each process. Thus, when manufacturing the part, the user can view information for multiple stored processes because all of the information is stored together. In addition, both 2D and 3D data is stored for the part.

Claims

1. A computer readable medium storing data associated with a 3D sheet metal part shape, comprising:

feature data based upon user input; and

manufacturing data, wherein the feature data and the manufacturing data enable creation of a flat layout design.

2. A computer readable medium storing data associated with models of a 3D sheet metal part shape, comprising:

part data comprising geometry data of each model, and attributes specific to each model;

attribute data shared among a plurality of the models, the attributes comprising attribute types defining processes associated with the 3D sheet metal part shape; and

attribute parameters shared among the plurality of the models, the attribute parameters providing data specific to each attribute type,

wherein the attributes comprise manufacturing attributes and geometrical entities belonging to the 3D sheet metal part shape.

3. The medium of claim 2, in which the part data for a selected one of the models further comprises:

face data describing each face of the selected model;

bend line data describing each bend line of the selected model; and

feature data comprising sheet metal model edit features associated with the selected model, the features modifying the geometry data of the part.

4. The medium of claim 3, in which the part data further comprises attributes specific to the selected model, the attributes comprising attribute types defining processes associated with the selected model.

5. The medium of claim 2, in which the attribute data further comprises data associating each attribute with at least one of the models.

6. The medium of claim 2, further comprising an assembly file system, the assembly file system comprising assembly data indicating how a plurality of 3D sheet metal part components are assembled, and feature data indicating how the plurality of 3D sheet metal part components are edited and/or matched at an assembly level.

7. The medium of claim 6, in which the assembly file system indicates how a plurality of 3D sheet metal part shapes and at least one non-sheet metal shape are assembled.

8. The medium of claim 2, in which the part data comprises 2D geometry data and 3D geometry data.

9. A system for constructing a 3D sheet metal part data file, comprising:

a template selector that selects a template based upon a manufacturing process selected by a user when reviewing specification data;

a manufacturing database that stores templates that can be selected by the template selector, the templates enumerating parameters for a plurality of manufacturing processes;

a semantic (feature) generator that calculates template parameters and receives template parameters from the user;

a memory that stores the geometric feature data of the 3D sheet metal part and manufacturing data of the 3D part, the data being based upon the input parameters, calculated parameters, and specification data,

wherein different manufacturing data creates different geometric data.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising a semantic (feature) engine that creates geometry and topology information based upon the stored geometric feature data and manufacturing data, the geometry and topology data enabling display of a final model representing a flat layout design necessary to manufacture the part described by the specification data.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising a manufacturing semantic (feature) archiver that processes user data reflecting a new feature added by a CAM user, the processing comprising storing feature data, based upon the user data, in the memory to update the geometric feature data and the manufacturing data.

12. The system of claim 9, further comprising a CAM document object model (DOM) generator that converts the geometric feature data and manufacturing data to a format for use with a CAM system in response to a CAM system requesting the feature data and manufacturing data.

13. A method for storing data associated with models of a 3D sheet metal part shape, comprising:

storing part data comprising geometry data of each model, and attributes specific to each model;

storing attribute data shared among a plurality of the models, the attributes comprising attribute types defining processes associated with the 3D sheet metal part shape; and

storing attribute parameters shared among the plurality of the models, the attribute parameters providing data specific to each attribute type,

wherein the attributes comprise manufacturing attributes and geometrical entities belonging to the 3D sheet metal part shape.

14. The method of claim 13, in which the storing part data for a selected one of the models further comprises:

storing face data describing each face of the selected model;

storing bend line data describing each bend line of the selected model; and

storing feature data comprising sheet metal model edit features associated with the selected model, the features modifying the geometry data of the part.

15. The method of claim 14, in which the storing part data further comprises storing attributes specific to the selected model, the attributes comprising attribute types defining processes associated with the selected model.

16. The method of claim 13, in which the attribute data further comprises data associating each attribute with at least one of the models.

17. The method of claim 13, in which the part data comprises 2D geometry data and 3D geometry data.

18. The method of claim 14, in which the storing part data further comprises storing a history of features.

19. The method of claim 18, in which the storing part data further comprises storing a history of features in a hierarchical model.

20. The method of claim 19, in which the storing part data further comprises storing a plurality of histories of features in the hierarchical model.

21. A method for collaborating between a plurality of networked work stations while designing and manufacturing a 3D sheet metal part, comprising:

copying geometric feature data and manufacturing data to each work station;

providing a same version of a semantic (feature) engine at each work station, the semantic (feature) engine generating geometry and topology data at each work station based upon the geometric feature data and the manufacturing data stored at the work station so that a model of the 3D sheet metal part is displayed;

modifying the geometric feature data and/or manufacturing data at one of the work stations; and

in response to the modification, copying the modified data to each other work station so that new geometry and/or topology data is generated and an updated model of the 3D sheet metal part is displayed.

22. A system for collaborating while designing and manufacturing a 3D sheet metal part, comprising:

a plurality of work stations interconnected by a network, each work station storing geometric feature data and manufacturing data, each work station comprising a same version of a semantic (feature) engine, the semantic (feature) engine generating geometry and topology data based upon the stored geometric feature data and the manufacturing data so that a model of the 3D sheet metal part is displayed at each work station;

wherein modifying the geometric feature data and/or manufacturing data at one of the work stations causes copying of the modified data to each other work station so that new geometry and/or topology data is generated and an updated model of the 3D sheet metal part is displayed.