US 7,321,364 B2
Automated translation of high order complex geometry from a CAD model into a surface based combinatorial geometry format
Steven J Manson, Tucson, Ariz. (US)
Assigned to Raytheon Company, Waltham, Mass. (US)
Filed on May 04, 2004, as Appl. No. 10/838,411.
Claims priority of provisional application 60/471580, filed on May 19, 2003.
Prior Publication US 2004/0233194 A1, Nov. 25, 2004
Int. Cl. G06T 17/00 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 345—420  [345/419] 30 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer implemented system, comprising:
a CAD system that generates a CAD model for an assembly including at least one mechanical part, said CAD model producing a list of trimmed surfaces for each said part that form a bounded analytic representation of a high order geometry surface in space;
a software tool that discretizes the part to produce a first list of nodes that lie on the part and a second list of nodes that lie in a void space;
a translation program that translates the lists of trimmed surfaces and nodes into a surface-based combinatorial geometry (SBCG) format including a list of analytic surfaces having bounding surfaces and ambiguity surfaces and a well-posed zoning statement and optimizing the well-posed zoning statement to eliminate redundant analytic surfaces and merge zones subject to a constraint that the zoning statement remain well-posed; and
a ray-tracing program that operates on data in the SBCG format for said at least one mechanical part to analyze non-mechanical properties of the assembly.