A System for Extracting Product Features from CAD Models – A STEP Approach

Extraction of Product features finds a major application in industries practicing CAM techniques. The Product development time & Product features are greatly dependent on the accuracy of Product data extracted. This is quite a complex & challenging task, as a mix of geometric & technological features are involved into it. Consistency of Product data across all the modules of its lifecycle is important, in order to make an automated product realization system possible. Present work attempts to address this concept by using STEP for automatically extracting Product features from a CAD Product model using programming, database and modeling tools. An effort has been made to develop software for feature recognition to determine the product attributes like cost, technical specifications etc with an emphasis on manufacturing attributes, thereby determining the sequence of operations to be performed for product realization. In order to prove the concept, STEP file based AP203 has been used. An attempt is made to simulate AP238 effect by querying the users interactively, for manufacturing attributes. However, it is possible to extend the application of AP203 to AP238, hence dealing not only with the product details but also understanding the manufacturing information for the feature.