AUTOMATIC FORM FEATURE RECOGNITION AND 3D PART RECONSTRUCTION FROM 2D CAD DATA

Abstract

In this paper, a method which can recognize form features and reconstruct 3D part from 2D CAD data automatically is proposed. First, we use the divide-and-conquer strategy to extract the vertex-edge data from each 2D engineering drawing of IGES format. Then, a set of production rules are developed to facilitate the form feature matching process. A new structure of form feature adjacency graph (FFAG) is devised to record the related attributes of each form feature. Finally, to avoid the combinatorial subparts-composition problem, a sweeping operation and volumetric intersection approach is used to rapidly reconstruct the remaining 3D object. The last reconstructed 3D object is used as the base of the FFAG. All the recognized form features in the FFAG can be classified as depression or protrusion features on the 3D part base. The FFAG structure can be easily transformed into CSG/DSG structure, which is readily integrated with the downstream CAPP/CAM systems. A detailed example is provided to illustrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed system.