System and method for determining spatial locations of fixture element fixturing points on a part to be manufactured with the aid of a digital computer

A method for determining spatial locations of fixture element fixturing points on a part to be manufactured with the aid of a digital computer, comprising:

• retrieving a part model and a constraint volume for a part to be manufactured, the part model and the constraint volume comprising geometric representations of the part respectively defining the boundary of the part and a region defined about the boundary of the part;
• identifying locations on the boundary of the part against which to contact a plurality of fixture elements that are affixed to a base plate, each identified location being both reachable by at least one fixture element and situated where that fixture element will not interfere with a manufacturing tool's approaches to the part;
• and
• evaluating a plurality of potential configurations as exhibiting form closure over the part when fixtured by a select plurality of the fixture elements in contact with the part at the identified locations comprised in each of the potential configurations, comprising:
• evaluating, for each of the locations on the boundary of the part, intersection between each of the fixture elements, when affixed to the base plate, and a sweep of the constraint volume in each of the approaches to the part of the manufacturing tool;
• identifying, upon finding that one or more of the fixture elements intersects with at least one of the manufacturing tool's approaches, those of the locations that result in interference between that intersected fixture element with the manufacturing tool, comprising projecting a ray from each of the locations along that location's normal and identifying that location as resulting in the interference upon the ray from that location intersecting the sweep;
• and
• removing from further consideration the locations that cause interference with the manufacturing tool.