Extended Interference Matrices for Exploded View of Assembly Planning

One of the tasks in assembly planning is to create the exploded views for the visualization purpose and the verification of assembly plans. In this paper, we introduce how to generate exploded views automatically from an assembly model. To increase the level of automation, a new relational matrix called extended interference matrix (EIM) is used to represent the assembly relations among constitutive parts. Information in an EIM is used to create the exploded views. An innovative method is developed to generate the exploded views based on the assembly sequences and EIMs. The corresponding Application Programming Interface (API) to the Unigraphics software has been developed as an integration of the algorithm with the CAD software tool. The assembly model of a gear reducer is used as a case study. Note to Practitioners-Most of the existing methods for assembly planning are applicable to simple products with less number of parts, and still, the modeling processes usually need manual interventions. These methods are impractical to deal with the assembly planning for complex products. The primary purpose of this study is to propose a new approach applied to generate the exploded views of the assembly plans of complex products. The developed approach is in particular suitable to products with inclined assembly planes. The corresponding algorithm has been proven reliable and having better visualization performance in comparison with the results from existing algorithms and other commercial tools. It can be used as a standalone software tool or as an add-on tool to commercial CAD systems. As a part of the critical components of an integrated assembly planning system, the algorithm has been applied in assembly planning of aero-plane products including aero-engines.