Method of generating CAD data for evaporative pattern having frame structure

• US 8,762,112 B2
• Filed: 01/28/2011
• Issued: 06/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Imakawa, Hiroshi, Kato, Kozue
• Primary Examiner(s): Craig, Dwin M
• Application Number:
  US13/823,836
• Publication Number:
  US 20130297264A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,243 Days
• Field of Search: 703/1, 700/97, 700/182, 706/919
• US Class Current: 703/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2113/24 Sheet material
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/00 Computer-aided design [CAD]

Abstract

A method for generating CAD data appropriate for designing an evaporative pattern having a frame structure is provided. The method includes, allocating, generating joint shape data, and extracting rod body data. Rod data includes rod body data representing a shape of a rod body and terminal data representing a shape of a rod terminal disposed at an end of the rod body. In the allocating, a plurality of the rods is allocated so that the rod terminals overlap each other in a 3-dimensional space in computer. In the generating, the joint shape data is generated by merging the terminal data of the plurality of rod terminals overlapped. In the extracting, the rod body data is extracted from the rod data of the rods allocated in the 3-dimensional space. The joint shape data and the rod body data obtained by such processes correspond to the CAD data of the evaporative pattern.

Claims

1. A method for generating CAD data for an evaporative pattern having a frame structure, the method comprising:

preparing rod data that represents a rod, the rod data including rod body data representing a shape of a rod body and terminal data representing a shape of a rod terminal that is disposed at an end of the rod body;

allocating a plurality of the rods in a virtual 3-dimensional space generated by a computer so as to overlap the rod terminals;

generating joint shape data by merging the terminal data of the overlapped rod terminals in the 3-dimensional space; and

extracting the rod body data from the rod data of the rods allocated in the 3-dimensional space.

2. The method for generating CAD data of claim 1, wherein:

a shape of the rod terminal is a sphere;

the terminal data includes a radius of the sphere and a length of a column extending from the sphere and connected to the rod body; and

in the allocating, the plurality of rods is allocated in the 3-dimensional space so as to overlap centers of the spheres of the rod terminals.

3. The method for generating CAD data of claim 2, wherein the generating of the joint shape data includes adjusting the length of the column included in the terminal data so that the rod bodies do not overlap each other in the 3-dimensional space.