Oriented bounding box and octree based global interference detection in 5-axis machining of free-form surfaces

Global interference detection is a critical problem in 5-axis NC machining of free-form surfaces. Based on the hierarchical oriented bounding box (OBB) which is used in virtual reality to detect spatial collisions between 3D objects, a new global interference detection method is developed in this paper. In this method, in order to simplify the computation process of updating tool positions and orientations in 5-axis machining, the cutter and cutter holder are modeled by a hierarchical OBB structure, whereas the workpiece surfaces are approximated by an octree. Interference detection is conducted between the tool OBBs and the gray octants of the surface octree with the separating axis theorem. With the hierarchical structure of octree, if interference is found in one octant, its sub-octants are further processed to locate the exact colliding leaf nodes and the discretized surface points contained in these leaf nodes are tested with a conventional vector calculation method for exact interference detection; if no interference is detected, all the sub-octants are then considered as interference free and are not processed further. Meanwhile, with the hierarchical structure of the tool OBBs, should interference occur between octants and the OBBs in the first level of the hierarchical structure, the sub-OBBs in the second level would be further tested. Otherwise it could be determined with certainty that there is no interference between the tool and the octant. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Ltd.