Identifying the Type of Face To Face Connection from STEP AP203 File

Abstract

Feature recognition has been always an important link between CAD and CAM. Feature recognition is applied in successive stages. Firstly, feature entities extraction should be applied, followed by an algorithm of how to relate the entities together. Finally, the feature recognition algorithm is applied. In this paper,a logic for identifying face-face interaction is applied. The type of face-face interaction is needed for further use in feature recognition. A methodology is introduced to determine the relation between faces. The relation iseither concave, convex or non-joined faces. The connected edge between the faces is determined, and the included angle is calculated to determine the relation between them. The algorithm has been implemented using java programming language. Case studies have been applied for prismatic parts and successfully identified face-face relation as illustrated and shown for different faces combinations.