Reverse Engineering of Mechanical Parts: A Brief Overview of Existing Approaches and Possible New Strategies

Author(s):  
Francesco Buonamici ◽  
Monica Carfagni

Reverse Engineering (RE), also known as “CAD reconstruction”, aims at the reconstruction of 3D geometric models of objects/mechanical parts, starting from 3D measured data (points/mesh). In recent years, considerable developments in RE were achieved thanks to both academic and industrial research (e.g. RE software packages). The aim of this work is to provide an overview of state of the art techniques and approaches presented in recent years (considering at the same time tools and methods provided by commercial CAD software and RE systems). In particular, this article focuses on the “constrained fitting” approach, which considers geometrical constraints between the generated surfaces, improving the reconstruction result. On the basis of the overview, possible theoretical principles are drafted with the aim of suggest new strategies to make the CAD reconstruction process more effective in order to obtain more ready/usable CAD models. Finally, a new RE framework is briefly outlined: the proposed approach hypothesizes a tool built within the environment of an existing CAD system and considers the fitting of a custom-built archetypal model, defined with all the a-priori known dimensions and constraints, to the scanned data.

Author(s):  
Ghazanfar Ali Shah ◽  
Jean-Philippe Pernot ◽  
Arnaud Polette ◽  
Franca Giannini ◽  
Marina Monti

Abstract This paper introduces a novel reverse engineering technique for the reconstruction of editable CAD models of mechanical parts' assemblies. The input is a point cloud of a mechanical parts' assembly that has been acquired as a whole, i.e. without disassembling it prior to its digitization. The proposed framework allows for the reconstruction of the parametric CAD assembly model through a multi-step reconstruction and fitting approach. It is modular and it supports various exploitation scenarios depending on the available data and starting point. It also handles incomplete datasets. The reconstruction process starts from roughly sketched and parameterized geometries (i.e 2D sketches, 3D parts or assemblies) that are then used as input of a simulated annealing-based fitting algorithm, which minimizes the deviation between the point cloud and the reconstructed geometries. The coherence of the CAD models is maintained by a CAD modeler that performs the updates and satisfies the geometric constraints as the fitting process goes on. The optimization process leverages a two-level filtering technique able to capture and manage the boundaries of the geometries inside the overall point cloud in order to allow for local fitting and interfaces detection. It is a user-driven approach where the user decides what are the most suitable steps and sequence to operate. It has been tested and validated on both real scanned point clouds and as-scanned virtually generated point clouds incorporating several artifacts that would appear with real acquisition devices.


2012 ◽  
Vol 215-216 ◽  
pp. 639-642 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lan Kang ◽  
Ya Li ◽  
Zheng Ming Chen

Reverse engineering is an important tool to generate CAD models. This paper describes an integrated approach for modeling parts from point cloud to surfaces or solids based on features and constraints. The approach allows designers to integrate reverse engineering and feature-based CAD system in the reconstruction of parts. This approach has two advantages over current practice and the reconstructed models produced by this method are feature-based and constraints satisfaction, which provides a higher level description of part geometry rather than the tedious low-level editing of geometric descriptions as in reverse engineering. This method also facilitates modification and innovative design to the reconstructed parts, which would be extremely difficult or impossible to accomplish if current reverse engineering method is applied. In addition, it is a more convenient and practical way for designers. To illustrate the validation of this integrated modeling approach, a more complicated example is illustrated based on the approach.


Author(s):  
Suraj R. Musuvathy ◽  
David E. Johnson ◽  
H. James de St. Germain ◽  
Elaine Cohen ◽  
Chimiao Xu ◽  
...  

Reverse engineering is a time-consuming and technically formidable process that is increasingly becoming an economic imperative due to replacement costs. The Multiple Engineering Resources aGent Environment (MERGE) system, introduced in this paper, is a new approach toward reverse engineering whose architecture and modules are driven specifically by the requirements of legacy engineering. Legacy engineering scenarios presume availability of multiple (possibly incomplete or inconsistent) sources of information, lack of digital descriptions of the parts, constrained time restrictions and need for significant domain knowledge expertise. The reverse engineering process must yield modern CAD models capable of driving state-of-the art CAM processes. The MERGE system aims at making the reverse engineering process more effective, using both intuitive interaction and visualization as key components, by enabling quick identification and resolution of inconsistencies among various resources in a unified environment. The MERGE system also aims at simplifying the reverse engineering process by integrating various computational agents to assist the reverse engineer in processing information and in creating the desired CAD models.


Volume 2 ◽  
2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
So¨ren Larsson ◽  
J. A. P. Kjellander

Reverse Engineering (RE) is concerned with the problem of creating CAD-models of real objects by measuring point data from their surfaces. Current solutions either require manual interaction or expect the nature of the objects to be known. In order to create a fully automatic system for Reverse Engineering of unknown objects the software that creates the CAD-model must be able to control the operation of the measuring system. This paper presents a real implementation of a measuring system suited for that purpose. The experimental setup is based on an industrial robot with a laser scanner mounted at the tool-mounting flange. The key component of the system is a programable CAD-system. The CAD system is used to simulate and control the movement of the robot, as well as collecting the data acquired from both the laser scanner and from the robot’s positional system.


2012 ◽  
Vol 197 ◽  
pp. 332-336
Author(s):  
Qun Zhang Tu ◽  
Jian Xun Zhao ◽  
Ming Pan

The model reconstruction based on the reverse and obverse is a main method in reverse engineering applications at present. A new method is put forward for reverse modeling of mechanical parts, which is based on combining reverse software Geomagic Studio and Imageware with CAD system Pro/E. A detailed scheme is designed and it is put into practice by taking a mechanical part for example. The feasibility and practicability of the method is confirmed for model reconstruction of mechanical parts in reverse engineering.


Author(s):  
Paolo Dulio ◽  
Andrea Frosini ◽  
Simone Rinaldi ◽  
Lama Tarsissi ◽  
Laurent Vuillon

AbstractA remarkable family of discrete sets which has recently attracted the attention of the discrete geometry community is the family of convex polyominoes, that are the discrete counterpart of Euclidean convex sets, and combine the constraints of convexity and connectedness. In this paper we study the problem of their reconstruction from orthogonal projections, relying on the approach defined by Barcucci et al. (Theor Comput Sci 155(2):321–347, 1996). In particular, during the reconstruction process it may be necessary to expand a convex subset of the interior part of the polyomino, say the polyomino kernel, by adding points at specific positions of its contour, without losing its convexity. To reach this goal we consider convexity in terms of certain combinatorial properties of the boundary word encoding the polyomino. So, we first show some conditions that allow us to extend the kernel maintaining the convexity. Then, we provide examples where the addition of one or two points causes a loss of convexity, which can be restored by adding other points, whose number and positions cannot be determined a priori.


Author(s):  
Deepika Saini ◽  
Sanoj Kumar ◽  
Manoj K. Singh ◽  
Musrrat Ali

AbstractThe key job here in the presented work is to investigate the performance of Generalized Ant Colony Optimizer (GACO) model in order to evolve the shape of three dimensional free-form Non Uniform Rational B-Spline (NURBS) curve using stereo (two) views. GACO model is a blend of two well known meta-heuristic optimization algorithms known as Simple Ant Colony and Global Ant Colony Optimization algorithms. Basically, the work talks about the solution of NURBS-fitting based reconstruction process. Therefore, GACO model is used to optimize the NURBS parameters (control points and weights) by minimizing the weighted least-square errors between the data points and the fitted NURBS curve. The algorithm is applied by first assuming some pre-fixed values of NURBS parameters. The experiments clearly show that the optimization procedure is a better option in a case where good initial locations of parameters are selected. A detailed experimental analysis is given in support of our algorithm. The implemented error analysis shows that the proposed methodology perform better as compared to the conventional methods.


Author(s):  
H. James de St. Germain ◽  
David E. Johnson ◽  
Elaine Cohen

Reverse engineering (RE) is the process of defining and instantiating a model based on the measurements taken from an exemplar object. Traditional RE is costly, requiring extensive time from a domain expert using calipers and/or coordinate measurement machines to create new design drawings/CAD models. Increasingly RE is becoming more automated via the use of mechanized sensing devices and general purpose surface fitting software. This work demonstrates the ability to reverse-engineer parts by combining feature-based techniques with freeform surface fitting to produce more accurate and appropriate CAD models than previously possible.


Author(s):  
Mark Snider ◽  
Sudhakar Teegavarapu ◽  
D. Scott Hesser ◽  
Joshua D. Summers

Reverse engineering has gained importance over the past few years due to an intense competitive market aiding in the survivability of a company. This paper examines the reverse engineering process and what, how, and why it can assist in making a better design. Two well known reverse engineering methodologies are explored, the first by Otto and Wood and the second by Ingle. Each methodology is compared and contrasted according to the protocols and tools used. Among some of the reverse engineering tools detailed and illustrated are: Black box, Fishbone, Function Structure, Bill of Material, Exploded CAD models, Morphological Matrix, Subtract and Operate Procedure (SOP), House of Quality matrix, and FMEA. Even though both methodologies have highly valued tools, some of the areas in reverse engineering need additional robust tooling. This paper presents new and expanded tooling to augment the existing methods in hopes of furthering the understanding of the product, and process. Tools like Reverse Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (RFMEA), Connectivity graphs, and inter-relation matrix increase the design efficiency, quality, and the understanding of the reverse engineering process. These tools have been employed in two industry projects and one demonstrative purpose for a Design for Manufacture Class. In both of these scenarios, industry and academic, the users found that the augmented tools were useful in capturing and revealing information not previously realized.


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