Automation av parametrisk CAD-modellering inom programmet Inventor

Sammanfattning: Companies today are constantly looking to improve the lead time of design and production processes through streamlining the process and looking for new solutions. CAD, computer-aided design, is something that has been very helpful for this. By reducing the use of 2D basis and instead having 3D models as the only main basis, the CAD process has seen improvements in the form of streamlining. The next step to improving the process even further is to automate modeling in order to reduce manual processing. The problem arises when a company has a finished product model and the customer requests different specific dimensions and/or functions. Then the CAD designer must then build the model from scratch even though the changes may be minimal. This is time-consuming and creates variation in how models are built among designers. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to find an automatic solution that reduces the manual work. A method that allows you to change dimensions or functions directly in the same CAD file. Question at issue: Is it possible to automate the CAD process when dimensions and/or functions need to be changed on a model, without having to remodel the model manually and therefore save time? This question was answered based on an assignment given by the company Roxtec Sweden AB. The product that the CAD model would represent and work with was the product type Module, which is a sealing solution for cables and pipes. The techniques and methods to achieve the goal of this project has been extracted from threads on the Autodesk community forum and YouTube videos. Reports from similar degree projects have been helpful for the layout and writing of the report. The practical work has consisted of creating two different dummies to test the found techniques and methods on, and then apply these to the product model, Module. The approach was to name and list all parameters from the CAD model, use iLogic Rules to control and monitor parameters, functions and components with programmable logic. Then apply iLogic Forms to create a user-friendly form where the user can control the parameters, functions and components of the CAD model. The main work included creating three different parts with named and listed parameters as well as rule-scripts with iLogic Rules. Then create an assembly that was a compilation of these parts. The parts parameters and rule-scripts were linked to the assembly. Additional parameters, rule-scripts and a form were created in the assembly to achieve a fully functional automated CAD model. The result was an automated and editable CAD file, representing Roxtec's product type, Module. With the CAD file, any user can easily select the desired dimensions and functions. This avoids the need to build the product model from scratch when new values are desired. In addition, each model gets built in the same way when using this solution. The automated solution was tested against a manual method. Results yielded a total time of 15 minutes using the manual method, whereas the automated solution only took a total of 40 seconds. The automated solution proved a 95.6% less time-consuming process. This method is best suited for repeated use on several work steps, where it shows a much higher efficiency-level.