Title
Automatic detection of the optimal ejecting direction based on a discrete Gauss map
Abstract
In this paper, the authors propose a system for assisting mold designers of plastic parts. With a CAD model of a part, the system automatically determines the optimal ejecting direction of the part with minimum undercuts. Since plastic parts are generally very thin, many rib features are placed on the inner side of the part to give sufficient structural strength. Our system extracts the rib features from the CAD model of the part, and determines the possible ejecting directions based on the geometric properties of the features. The system then selects the optimal direction with minimum undercuts. Possible ejecting directions are represented as discrete points on a Gauss map. Our new point distribution method for the Gauss map is based on the concept of the architectural geodesic dome. A hierarchical structure is also introduced in the point distribution, with a higher level “rough” Gauss map with rather sparse point distribution and another lower level “fine” Gauss map with much denser point distribution. A system is implemented and computational experiments are performed. Our system requires less than 10 seconds to determine the optimal ejecting direction of a CAD model with more than 1 million polygons.
Year
DOI
Venue
2014
10.7315/JCDE.2014.005
Journal of Computational Design and Engineering
Keywords
Field
DocType
Ejecting direction,Undercut detection,Injection molding,Feature recognition,Concurrent engineering,CAD
Size effect on structural strength,Point distribution model,Geodesic dome,Artificial intelligence,Geometry,CAD,Computer vision,Polygon,Discrete points,Feature recognition,Algorithm,Engineering,Gauss map
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
1
1
2288-4300
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
2
0.38
7
Authors
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Masatomo Inui1408.20
Hidekazu Kamei220.38
Nobuyuki Umezu320.72