COMPUTER AIDED FEATURE RECOGNITION AND SET-UP PLANNING OF PRISMATIC PARTS

Abstract

Present, work aims at Automation of Process Planning of Prismatic Parts. It deals with the Feature Recognition and Setup Planning functions of CAPP. Most of the research being done on feature extraction is for turned parts and the few which deal with prismatic parts use solid models for part modelling. Solid modelling cannot be done on a PC. So a Personal Computer based automatic feature extractor has been developed which uses 3 D wire frame model of a part. The part is modelled in AutoCAD and the system uses DXF file data for the purpose of feature extraction. The system extracts features such as slots, holes, steps, pockets, etc., of different shapes and gives the position of the feature with respect to the boundary surface. This data can be used 'by other modules of CAPP system by making this information a globally accessible data in the process planning system. A Setup Planning module is developed which takes the feature data from above and uses it for sequencing of operations and setup generation. The module gives recommendations for optimum setup.