RESEARCH ON VIRTUAL—PART—BASED CONNECTING ELEMENT MODELING

Based on the inner character analysis of interpart, detail modification and assembly relation of mechanical connecting element, the idea, which extends the feature modeling of part to the interpart feature modeling for assembly purpose, is presented, and virtual-part-based connecting element modeling is proposed. During the assembly modeling, base parts are modified by the Boolean subtraction between the virtual part and the part to be connected. Dynamic matching algorithm, which is based on list database, is designed for dynamic extension and off-line editing of connecting part and virtual part, and design rules of connecting element is encapsulated by the virtual part. A prototyped software module for rapid design of connecting elements is implemented under self-developed CAD/CAM platform-SuperMan.