JP2010117739A - Cad and design assistance association system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a CAD and design assistance association system for certainly preventing a designer from advancing an incomplete job that the designer intentionally or mistakenly considers as a completed one. <P>SOLUTION: A design assisting system 10 assists a worker who carries out a design work on a three-dimensional CAD system 20 in accordance with the flow of design items constructed in advance or master data made on the CAD system 20. In addition, the design assisting system 10 includes a function to deliver data related to products on the design assisting system or shapes of components to the CAD system and also a function to feed back design changes to the design assisting system for different products to be made in the future when shapes and the like are changed for the current product by using the past data on the CAD system. Further, the CAD system is in association with the design assisting system 10 so that a job for checking whether a designer has worked properly on the CAD system 20 is automatically fed back to the design assisting system 10. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a CAD / design support linkage system in which a CAD system and a design support system that supports a designer's work for designing on the CAD system are linked.

  When a worker performs a product design work using a CAD system, the designer is instructed what to do next and what value to select, and the designer must follow the instruction. There has been proposed a design support system that allows the design to be advanced by the above. By using this design support system, even a designer who has relatively little design experience can perform a design at a certain level or higher. Note that “design” here means design related to the shape of the product. Therefore, the CAD used is also intended for three-dimensional CAD.

  In this design support system, all work necessary for designing one product is divided into a large number of “design items”. The work on each design item is relatively simple. The design support system instructs the designer about necessary work for work to be performed by the designer in each design item. Furthermore, it manages whether or not the work for one design item has been completed. When one design item is completed, the operator is instructed on the design item to be executed next. What kind of design items each design work is divided into, and what kind of work is specifically required for each design item, and what conditions are necessary to meet the required performance and specifications With regard to this, process designers including skilled designers and the like build a process on a design support system in advance based on their own experience and know-how (Patent Document 1).

  When such a design support system is used, a designer not only receives support from the design support system for work that must be performed on each design item, but also a design item to be performed next after one design item is completed. Can help with information about what is. Therefore, even if it is actually a complex design work with hundreds to thousands of design items, even if it is an inexperienced designer, if the work proceeds with the support of this design support system Design work can be completed.

  Further, in Patent Document 1, such a design support system and a CAD system are linked, and shape data of products and parts on the design support system is transferred to the CAD system, and further, past data is used on the CAD system. A technique is disclosed in which when a shape change or the like is performed for the current product, this is fed back to a design support system for another future product (Patent Document 2).

JP 2001-067380 A JP 2006-018461 A

  In addition to the role of supporting the designer who performs the design work, the design support system is also responsible for managing whether the designer is appropriately performing the design work. However, the design support system so far has, for example, a method in which the designer himself / herself checks the work item check column to declare that the work has been completed. The result of the design work was fed back. In other words, feedback regarding work management from the CAD system to the design support system relies on the worker himself, and the design support system side determines whether the work instructed by the design support system has been reliably performed on the CAD system. In an extreme case, the design support system is not used even though the designer did not actually perform the work as instructed by the design support system. If you input that you have done that work, the design support system will not be able to detect it, and the design support system will proceed as if each work was done properly. . If such a situation is left unattended, there is a problem that the quality of the product finally designed on the CAD system may not satisfy the original specification.

  Accordingly, the present invention provides a CAD / design support cooperation system that can reliably prevent a designer from proceeding after having completed a task that has not been completed intentionally or by mistake. With the goal.

The CAD / design support cooperation system according to the first invention divides the entire work related to the structural design of a specific model of a product performed using CAD into a plurality of design processes, and determines the order of executing each design process to the designer. Design support that informs the designer of the work contents to be performed by the designer in each design process and manages the progress of the entire work based on information on the performance of the work performed by the designer on CAD System,
Master data related to the structural design of the product including the specific model is constructed, and the designer actually includes a CAD system that executes the structural design of the specific model based on the master data. ,
The CAD system includes a determination unit that determines whether data input by a designer performing structural design satisfies a predefined condition, and a determination result output unit that outputs the determination result to the outside The design support system includes determination result reading means for reading the determination result output by the determination result output means of the CAD system,
The design support system manages the progress based on the determination result read by the determination result reading means.

The CAD / design support linkage system according to the second invention divides the entire work related to the structural design of a specific model of a product using CAD into a plurality of design processes, and gives the designer the order of executing each design process. Design support that informs the designer of the work contents to be performed by the designer in each design process and manages the progress of the entire work based on information on the performance of the work performed by the designer on CAD System,
Master data related to the structural design of the product including the specific model is constructed, and the designer actually includes a CAD system that executes the structural design of the specific model based on the master data. ,
The CAD system includes design data output means for outputting design data input by a designer performing structural design to the outside, and the design support system is output by the design data output means. Design data reading means for reading design data; and determination means for determining whether the design data satisfies a predefined condition; and
The design support system manages the progress based on a determination result determined by the determination unit.

  According to a third invention, in the CAD / design support cooperation system according to the first and second inventions, the design data output by the design data output means is in an intermediate file format, and the design data reading means A file is read.

  According to the present invention, the design support system determines the progress status based on the determination result read by the determination result reading unit or the determination result of the determination unit on the design support system. Since management is performed, feedback regarding work management from the CAD system to the design support system is automatically performed. As a result, it is possible to reliably prevent, for example, the designer from proceeding with the intention to complete a task that has not been completed intentionally or by mistake.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a CAD / design support cooperation system 1 in which a design support system 10 and a CAD system 20 are linked, and FIG. 2 is an overall view of the CAD / design support cooperation system of the present embodiment. It is the flowchart which showed an example of the flow of a typical process.

  The design support system 10 is a worker who performs design work on the CAD system 20 based on a flow of design items constructed in advance and master data constructed on a three-dimensional CAD system (hereinafter simply referred to as “CAD”) 20. This is a system for assisting designers who are inexperienced to design mechanisms of products that exceed a certain level. In addition to such basic functions, the design support system 10 delivers the shape data of products and parts on the design support system to the CAD system (schematically indicated by arrows 30), as shown in FIG. When a shape change for the current product is performed on the CAD system using the past data, this is fed back to the design support system for another future product (schematically indicated by an arrow 31) ) Is also included. Such a design support system is disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2.

  Furthermore, in the CAD / design support cooperation system 1 according to the present embodiment, the work for checking that the designer has properly performed the work on the CAD system 20 is linked to automatically feed back to the design support system 10. . This specific cooperation method will be described later.

  As described above, until now, the designer has manually input the work of feeding back the result of the design work performed by the designer on the CAD to the design support system in order to make use of it in the future design support work. It was.

  However, when the designer has to perform such work, there are the following problems. First, because there are so many work contents that must be done as design work, if all of them are fed back to the design support system manually, the man-hours required only for such feedback increase and work efficiency decreases. .

  In FIG. 3, the work from the dotted line is performed in the design support system, and the work from the dotted line is performed by the designer on the CAD. When designing a single product, such as a mobile phone case, if the entire process is divided into a number of processes that require relatively simple work, the total number of processes reaches several hundreds. In addition to managing the order in which these steps are performed, the designer manages to ensure that the work required in each step is performed.

  For example, FIG. 3 shows steps 1, 2, and 3 extracted from many steps as an example. In each process, the designer looks at the screen of the design support system and examines necessary items while referring to matters to be examined and past know-how provided by the design support system. In step 1, for example, it is assumed that the design support system is instructed to design the dimensions L1 and L2 of a certain part of the mobile phone case so as to satisfy the condition “L1> L2.” Then, the designer performs a design work so as to satisfy this condition on the CAD, and if the design is performed as it is, the designer himself must perform a work of feeding back the design work to the design support system.

  However, as described above, the number of processes is several hundred even in the case of a product with a relatively simple shape, and it is very important to feed back the results of work performed on CAD to each design support system. Takes a lot of man-hours.

  In addition, a certain order may be required for feedback work, but it is not always easy to check data considering this order for designers with relatively little experience. It may be difficult to provide feedback based on

  Furthermore, the conventional design support system should also have a function for managing the progress status of the designer so that it cannot proceed to the previous process unless the designer performs the design work as instructed on the CAD. However, it was actually necessary for CAD because the designer himself relied on putting check marks in the check boxes of work items listed on the display of the design support system every time work was performed. Even if the work is not performed, it is not impossible to register that the work has been performed on the design support system.

  For example, in the above example, a check mark is put in the check box of the work item “designed to satisfy the condition of L1> L2” even though the work is not actually performed so as to satisfy the condition of L1> L2. It is not impossible, and the design support system permits the work to proceed as it is when the check mark is entered in the design support system. Alternatively, in the case of an operation that requires the design support system side to directly input the parameter value actually selected on the CAD to the design support system, the value is different from the parameter selected on the CAD by the designer. Could be input to the design support system. However, if the design work proceeds with such a situation occurring, a product that does not satisfy the required specifications may be designed.

  In other words, the introduction of the design support system has made it possible for even an inexperienced designer to design at a certain quality, but the designer can actually perform the design work as instructed to the design support system. It wasn't enough to reliably manage whether or not they went.

  For example, taking a mobile phone as an example, when two holes A and B are provided in a certain part, “the diameter of the hole A should be within ◯ cm”, “the center of the hole A and the hole B should be ΔΔcm or more. A large number of conditions such as “do not leave” are stored in the CAD database in the construction mode. Work in such a construction mode involves master data being stored in a database over a long period of time by an experienced designer directly or by an operator interviewed by an experienced designer. To construct. That is, in the construction mode, while creating the shape of the basic mobile phone, in other words, the most typical mobile phone, these many conditions are registered in the CAD for each shape. This basic shape is called “master”. The master data constructed in this way is a condensed version of knowledge, know-how, and design techniques of skilled designers.

  And when a designer designs a new mobile phone product, if it is the same type (ie mobile phone), the shape is almost similar. Only the parameters that need to be changed among the parts are changed, and the other parts use the original data as they are to design the shape of the mobile phone of a new product.

  In a CAD system called Dassault's CATIA, conditions can be determined on CAD. In this case, determination result information (specifically, data indicating “OK” or “NG”) may be sent to the design support system. On the other hand, some CAD systems cannot determine the condition. In that case, the parameter value itself indicating the length may be sent to the design support system to determine whether or not a condition determined in advance by the design support system is met. Alternatively, general software such as Excel (trademark of Microsoft Corporation) can be used to provide conditions as intermediate files.

  FIG. 4 shows three types of feedback for such conditions. That is, the first mode is a pattern in which the determination is performed by the CAD 20 and only the result is sent to the design support system 10 via the intermediate file. The second mode outputs only the designed parameter value and the like from the CAD 20. In this pattern, the determination is made at the stage of dropping to an intermediate file such as Excel, and the result is sent to the design support system 10. In the third mode, the CAD 20 outputs only the parameter value, and the intermediate file does not perform the determination. In this pattern, the design support system 10 performs the determination.

  FIG. 5 shows the overall flow of the CAD / design support system of this embodiment. A condition determination formula is set in advance for master data stored in the database 40 of the CAD 20. Such setting work is performed for the entire design process by taking a sufficient time when creating a master in the construction mode.

  When the design work of the product by the designer is actually started, the achievement / non-achievement of the condition is determined from the data status. For example, in the above example, when the design support system is instructed in step 1 to design the length L1 and L2 of a certain part of the mobile phone case so as to satisfy the condition “L1> L2”, This condition is also set in the CAD, and the designer performs design work on the CAD so that “L1> L2”. When the condition determination expression “L1> L2” is actually satisfied, the CAD is determined to be “OK”, and when the condition determination expression is not satisfied, it is determined to be “NG”. As such conditions, for example, the area of the hole of a certain part is a predetermined value or more, the diameter is less than a certain length, or the depth of the hole is between a certain value and a certain value, There can be various things such as the center of one hole and another hole being more than a certain distance.

  As described above, this determination processing can be executed by the CAD 20 or by the design support system 10. For example, in the case of Dassault's CATIA, which is a widely used CAD system, such a determination can be made on the CAD. However, since many CAD systems themselves do not have a function for performing such a determination process, the CAD 20 sends the parameters input by the designer to the design support system 10 in that case.

  As a method of sending this parameter, the “OK” or “NG” data is written to the intermediate file by using the CAD function. At this time, the format of a file that can be written out differs depending on the CAD, but if it is a normal CAD, at least one of an Excel file, a CSV (text) file, and an XML file can be output. On the other hand, the design support system is set in advance so that it can receive (read) the data of the determination result output from the CAD. When this determination result is read, the design support system recognizes which check item is the determination result based on the ID number of each check item sent together with the determination result. When it is determined which check item is determined, it is recognized which process the check item is associated with. This recognition processing is programmed to be performed with reference to a table that is built in advance in the design support system and that associates each check item with a related process. In this way, design work on CAD is automatically fed back to the design support system without bothering the designer.

  More specifically, the design support system has in its database a table that lists check items that the designer must perform in the design work on CAD. In this table, whether each check item is automatically fed back to the design support system by performing each check item on CAD, or whether the designer manually inputs on the design support system is set for each check item individually. In addition to being able to do this, it is possible to set in which process each check should be performed. Such setting is performed in advance when creating master data in the construction mode. Therefore, among the determination operations on the CAD, only those set to be automatically fed back to the design support system by the above table are automatically fed back to the design support system. Then, when the designer clicks a predetermined button on the user interface screen of the design support system for a specific check item, he / she goes to read the “OK” or “NG” intermediate file related to the check item, and supports the design. Store in the system database.

  The aforementioned determination result is presented to the operator on the design support system 10. The operator looks at it, and if there is at least one “NG”, the designer examines another design plan while referring to information on various know-how associated with the process, and again on CAD. Redo the design work. If such an operation is repeated and finally “OK” is obtained for all the check items, the process can be completed.

  Next, specific processing will be described with an example. FIG. 6 is a screen of the design support system. Here, a flow chart of the process is shown, and the designer can see this and know which part of the entire process corresponds to the process to be performed. In the figure, the left side is the upstream process, and the right side is the downstream process. For example, “LCD unit size study”, “rib basic layout study”, etc. indicate each step. The designer clicks and selects a process to be executed among them.

  FIG. 7 is an example of a screen on the CAD related to the process shown in FIG. The design support system and the CAD are originally separate application software, but are mounted on a single computer so that the designer can switch between and refer to each other. Further, as described above, both software are linked to each other, and predetermined data is exchanged as will be described later.

  FIG. 8 shows an example of a “design support screen” displayed for each design item. As shown in FIG. 8, the work content of the design item is displayed to support the work of the designer. This includes links to information files, such as detailed design procedures and design know-how, necessary for the examination of the relevant design items. Each information file can be expanded on the screen by selecting that part. You can also.

  FIG. 9 is an enlarged view of the “Layout-123” line that is one check item shown in FIG. This is specifically related to the interference check between the LCD base portion and the rib portion of the mobile phone. For each design item, a “check item” is defined as a criterion for completing the design item as shown in FIG. 9, and all check items defined for the design item are “OK”. If it is not, it is impossible to complete the work contents of the design item and to proceed to the next process. The example of FIG. 9 is a stage before starting this design item, and since it is not possible to grasp whether the check item has been achieved or not, the check status display column (column for displaying OK or NG) is blank. It has become.

  When the designer intends to achieve the check item “Layout-123”, the designer displays the tree portion including the check item on the CAD as shown in FIG. 10 and confirms the achievement status at that time. To do. This is a function of CATIA, and it can be determined in the data whether the condition of the conditional expression set in advance is satisfied or not satisfied. This determination result can also be confirmed by displaying signals in red (not achieved) and green (achieved) in the tree by the standard function of CATIA.

  For example, in the example of FIG. 10, since the “inclination block and product shape interference check” has been completed, the signal is displayed in green, and “LCD and rib interference check” and “claw thickness check” Not complete yet, the signal is displayed in red. However, there are hundreds of these check items in the master data, and the order to be achieved is not understood by the tree alone. Therefore, it is not easy for an inexperienced designer to immediately grasp the design procedure and the like just by looking at this.

  As described above, the CAD and the design support system are linked in software so that it can be checked on the design support system whether or not the necessary work has been properly performed on the CAD. Here, when this check linkage function is used on the design support system of FIG. 11, “NG” is displayed in the status column. Thus, it is determined that the arrangement relationship between the LCD and the rib portion does not satisfy a predefined condition.

  Therefore, when the corresponding part is displayed on the CAD, the shape is as shown in FIG. Referring to FIG. 12, in the example of the above data, it can be seen that the LCD base portion and the rib are in contact with each other, and the arrangement as a product is not established. The current NG does not meet the conditions set in advance when constructing the master, so the design support system determines that this is NG. In this determination, a calculation formula using the “area” of the circle is set, but depending on the case, the determination formula is set based on the concept of circumference length, circle diameter, radius, etc. There is also.

  When a specific failure location is found in this way, the designer can take measures for solving the failure with reference to a “know-how sheet” registered in advance in the design support system as shown in FIG. consider. The “know-how sheet” is stored in a database as a file such as Excel, and can be read and referred to by the designer as appropriate. Further, such a know-how sheet can be prepared from a simple description to a very detailed description for beginners in consideration of various levels of designers.

  The designer reflects the result of studying the measures for solving the problem in the design on the CAD. In this example, as shown in FIG. 14, the size parameter of the part named L8 is changed to be large. FIG. 15 is a screen in which when the parameters are changed in this way, the CAD internally calculates the changed shape based on the new parameters.

  FIG. 16 shows a state in which the calculation is completed and the shape is obtained based on the new parameter. Comparison of FIG. 16 (particularly, a partially enlarged view) with FIG. 14 shows that the gap between the LCD and the rib, which has been a concern, has been secured. FIG. 17 is a screen on which processing for outputting the corrected state to the design support system linked with CAD is performed for the corrected state. Then, after the updated state is output, when the above-described check linkage function is used on the design support system side, the design item “Layout-123” is “OK” as shown in FIG. I understand that.

  The above-mentioned example is a part that can be visually observed from the outside like “LCD and ribs”, and a case where a skilled designer can easily recognize “NG” simply by looking at the screen of FIG. However, the check linkage function is also set in a part that is difficult to visually check even by an experienced designer, and the design certainty can be improved.

  Next, with reference to FIGS. 19 to 24, as another example of the cooperation between the CAD and the design support system in the CAD / design support cooperation system of the present embodiment, the cooperation between the stress analysis and the strength analysis will be described. FIG. 19 corresponds to FIG. 2, but in this example, rather than simply determining the dimensions as in FIG. 2, analysis is performed using the CAD analysis function based on the dimension data, It is a flowchart of the flow of processing when checking whether the analysis result clears a predetermined condition. The above-mentioned CAD system called Dassault's CATIA is provided with such an analysis function in advance, and it is also possible to output the analysis result to the outside. FIG. The example of the screen which displayed the result graphically clearly is shown.

  FIG. 21 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 9 and is an enlarged view showing a check item “check of load strength analysis result of cover portion”. The check status column is blank here because this is the stage before the analysis is executed. FIG. 22 shows a state in which the result of actually executing the analysis work on the CAD is displayed on the design support system. Here, as in FIG. 11, the check status column is “NG”. That is, as a result of analysis, it can be seen that the strength or stress did not satisfy the predetermined criteria.

  In response to this, the designer changes the design as necessary by referring to a know-how sheet file stored in the database. Then, the analysis is performed again with the changed contents (FIG. 23), and the result is fed back to the design support system. When this is again compared with a predetermined standard and the result is displayed, “OK” is obtained as shown in FIG. 24, and it is understood that the standard is satisfied.

1 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of a CAD / design support cooperation system 1 of the present embodiment in which a design support system and a CAD system are linked. FIG. It is the flowchart which showed the flow of the whole process of the CAD and design support cooperation system of this embodiment. It is the figure which showed the operation | work performed in a design support system, and the operation | work which a designer performs on CAD according to process. It is the figure which showed three types of modes which feed back the conditions from CAD to a design support system. It is the figure which showed the whole flow of the CAD and design support system of this embodiment. It is the figure which showed an example of the screen of a design support system. It is the figure which showed an example of the screen on CAD relevant to the process shown in FIG. It is the figure which showed an example of the "design support screen" displayed with respect to each design item. It is the figure which extracted and expanded the line of one check item shown by FIG. It is the figure which showed the screen which displayed the tree part in which a predetermined | prescribed check item is contained in order for an operator to confirm an achievement status. It is the figure which showed the example of the screen when a specific check item is "NG" (with defect). It is the figure which showed the three-dimensional appearance on CAD of the check item which is "NG". It is the figure which displayed on the screen an example of the know-how sheet relevant to a malfunction location. It is the figure which showed a mode that the design content (parameter) of the malfunction location was changed. It is a screen in which the CAD calculates the changed shape internally based on the new changed parameter when the parameter is changed. It is the figure which showed a mode that the design content which corrected the parameter was actually displayed three-dimensionally on CAD. It is a figure of the screen which is performing the process for outputting the state after correction with respect to the design support system which cooperates with CAD about the state after parameter correction. It is the figure which showed the screen where the check item made last time "NG" became "OK" by correcting the parameter. It is a flowchart of the process flow in the case where an analysis is executed using a CAD analysis function based on dimensional data and it is checked whether the analysis result clears a predetermined condition. It is the figure which showed the example of the screen which displayed the result of the stress analysis using the analysis function of a CAD system clearly graphically. It is the figure which extracted and showed and expanded the check item called "check of the load intensity | strength analysis result of a cover part" on a design support system. It is the figure which showed a mode that the result of having performed the analysis work on CAD was displayed on the design support system. It is the figure which showed the example of the screen which displayed the result of having analyzed again by the contents changed in design graphically intelligibly. It is the figure which showed that the result of having performed analysis work on CAD changed from "NG" to "OK" on the design support system.

Explanation of symbols

10 Design Support System 20 CAD System 40 Database

Claims (4)

The entire work related to the structural design of a specific model of a product using CAD is divided into a plurality of design processes, and the order in which each design process is executed is notified to the designer, and the work to be performed by the designer in each design process A design support system that informs the designer of the contents and manages the progress of the entire work based on information on the performance of the work performed by the designer on CAD;
Master data related to the structural design of the product including the specific model is constructed, and the designer actually includes a CAD system that executes the structural design of the specific model based on the master data. ,
The CAD system includes a determination unit that determines whether data input by a designer performing structural design satisfies a predefined condition, and a determination result output unit that outputs the determination result to the outside The design support system includes determination result reading means for reading the determination result output by the determination result output means of the CAD system,
The CAD / design support cooperation system characterized in that the design support system manages the progress based on the determination result read by the determination result reading means.   The CAD / design support according to claim 1, wherein the determination result output by the determination result output means is in an intermediate file format, and the determination result reading means reads the determination result by reading the intermediate file. Cooperation system. The entire work related to the structural design of a specific model of a product using CAD is divided into a plurality of design processes, and the order in which each design process is executed is notified to the designer, and the work to be performed by the designer in each design process A design support system that informs the designer of the contents and manages the progress of the entire work based on information on the performance of the work performed by the designer on CAD;
Master data related to the structural design of the product including the specific model is constructed, and the designer actually includes a CAD system that executes the structural design of the specific model based on the master data. ,
The CAD system includes design data output means for outputting design data input by a designer performing structural design to the outside, and the design support system is output by the design data output means. Design data reading means for reading design data; and determination means for determining whether the design data satisfies a predefined condition; and
The CAD / design support cooperation system, wherein the design support system manages the progress based on a determination result determined by the determination unit.   The CAD / design support cooperation system according to claim 3, wherein the design data output by the design data output means is in an intermediate file format, and the design data reading means reads the intermediate file.