Automatic Narrow-Deep Feature Recognition for Mould Manufacturing

There usually exist narrow-long-deep areas in mould needed to be machined in special machining. To identify the narrow-deep areas automatically, an automatic narrow-deep feature (NF) recognition method is put forward accordingly. First, the narrow-deep feature is defined innovatively in this field and then feature hint is extracted from the mould by the characteristics of narrow-deep feature. Second, the elementary constituent faces (ECF) of a feature are found on the basis of the feature hint. By means of extending and clipping the ECF, the feature faces are obtained incrementally by geometric reasoning. As a result, basic narrow-deep features (BNF) related are combined heuristically. The proposed NF recognition method provides an intelligent connection between CAD and CAPP for machining narrow-deep areas in mould.