Geometric analysis of parts from a 3‐D solid model for manual assembly times

Presents the development of an AutoCAD development system (ADS) application program for the automatic analysis of parts in mechanical assembly. The primary goal is to provide design engineers with a tool for extracting the part’s characteristics from the 3‐D solid model AutoCAD database. With this information and other non‐geometric information, the time for assembling the part can be determined. Describes the algorithms used to evaluate the rotational symmetries from the solid model database. Twelve 3‐D solid models are designed to evaluate the program capabilities. The overall performance of the program is satisfactory in terms of speed. It also provides a low‐cost PC‐based, fully‐functional alternative to the more expensive workstation‐based analysis program.