A study on a method of dividing machine-parts into functionalgroups for technical illustrations

摘要

The authors previously presented a computer generation method oftechnical illustrations of a machine from its CAD model. However, partsof complicated structures in a machine are more comprehensible when theyare expressed in the form of TIs which consist of several illustrationsrepresenting functional subgroups of a machine than in a picturecontaining the total massive structures. There arises a problem of howto divide a machine into functional parts. The authors attempt toprovide an answer to it by means of processing a specific graph derivedfrom a CAD model of a given machine. The authors propose a method basedon a directed graph representing a few structural aspects of a machine.The graph represents two kinds of relations, namely inserting a part toanother part and connecting parts by a gear, by directional arcs, andalso the shapes of parts by distinguishably shaped nodes. The basic ideais to describe a kind of semantics by structural features of a machinein a symbolic way based on the above-mentioned mechanical relations andthe shapes of parts reflecting functions of parts