Feature-Based Non-manifold Geometric Modeling System to Provide Integrated Environment for Design and Analysis of Injection Molding Products

사출 성형 제품의 설계 및 해석의 통합 환경을 제공하기 위한 특징 형상 기반 비다양체 모델링 시스템의 개발

In order to reduce the trial-and-errors in design and production of injection molded plastic parts, there has been much research effort not only on CAE systems which simulate the injection molding process, but also on CAD systems which support initial design and re-design of plastic parts and their molds. The CAD systems and CAE systems have been developed independently with being built on different basis. That is, CAD systems manipulate the part shapes and the design features in a complete solid model, while CAE systems work on shell meshes generated on the abstract sheet model or medial surface of the part. Therefore, it is required to support the two types of geometric models and feature information in one environment to integrate CAD and CAE systems for accelerating the design speed. A feature-based non-manifold geometric modeling system has been developed to provide an integrated environment for design and analysis of injection molding products. In this system, the geometric models for CAD and CAE systems are represented by a non-manifold boundary representation and they are merged into a single geometric model. The suitable form of geometric model for any application can be extracted from this model. In addition, the feature deletion and interaction problem of the feature-based design system has been solved clearly by introducing the non-manifold Boolean operation based on 'merge and selection' algorithm. The sheet modeling capabilities were also developed for easy modeling of thin plastic parts.