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An experimental comparison of a feature based design system and a conventional solid modeller

conference contribution
posted on 2014-03-10, 15:11 authored by James Gao, Keith Case, N. Gindy
Computer-Aided Design (CAD) systems are currently widely used in design and manufacturing industries. However, the integration of CAD systems with Computer- Aided Manufacturing (CAM) systems such as process planning, graphical numerical control (NC part programming), assembly and inspection planning requires a featurebased representation of components which is not found in conventional geometry-based CAD systems. To meet this requirement, feature-based CAD systems have been developed in research centres worldwide using feature-oriented user interfaces and feature-based representations of parts. The introduction of new technology (feature-based design in this instance) always raises important questions. For example, are feature-based systems easier to learn and more efficient than conventional geometric modellers?; and does the method generate more complete and accurate models? This paper reports an experiment which was carried out to compare a prototype feature-based design system with a conventional solid modeller, where both systems use an iconic interface. Eight engineering students were selected as subjects and each subject was required to generate six features using both systems. The time taken to generate each feature was recorded and the results were presented as a series of graphs and learning curves. The results of the experiment show that both systems are similar in terms of learning their operation and that the feature's approach has clear efficiency gains over the conventional geometric approach. The conclusions drawn from this experiment may be useful for both end users who are considering upgrading their existing systems and software vendors who are designing next generation of products.

History

School

  • Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering

Citation

GAO, J., CASE, K. and GINDY, N., 1993. An experimental comparison of a feature based design system and a conventional solid modeller. IN: Hassard, J.S. et al (eds). Proceedings of the International Conference on Managing Integrated Manufacturing: Organisation, Strategy and Technology, 22nd-24th September 1993, Keele University, pp. 339 - 351

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Publication date

1993

Notes

This conference paper is closed access.

Language

  • en

Editor(s)

Hassard, J.S.;Forrester, P.L.;Hawksley, C.;Tang, N.K.H.

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