• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.84-93
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• 1996

This paper describes the development of new feature positioning method which embedded into the top-down assembly modeling system supporting conceptual design. In this work, the user provides the geometric constraints representing the position and size of features, then the system calculates their proper solution. The use of geometric constraints which are easy to understand intuitively enables the user to represent his design intents about geometric shapes, and enables the system to propagate the changes automatically when some editing occurs. To find the proper solution of given constraints, the Selective Solving Method in which the redundant or conflict equations are detected and discarded is devised. The validity of feature shapes satisfying the constraints can be maintained by this technique, and under or over constrained user-defined constraints can also be estimated. The problems such as getting the initial guess, controlling the multiple solutions, and dealing with objects of rotational symmetry are also resolved. Through this work, the feature based modeling system can support more general and convenient modeling method, and keeps the model being valid during modifying models.