System and method for planning a tool path along a contoured surface
AssigneeBoard of Trustees operating Michigan State University
InventorsNing Xi, Weihua Sheng
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A automated manufacturing system is provided for performing a manufacturing operation along a contoured surface of a workpiece. The automated manufacturing system includes a movable member; a tool disposed on the movable member for performing a manufacturing operation; a path planning subsystem which is operable to generate path data based on dimensional data for the workpiece, where the path data is indicative of a path for traversing the tool along the surface of the workpiece; and a controller adapted to receive the path data from the path planning subsystem and operable to move the moveable member in accordance with the path data, thereby performing the manufacturing operation along the surface of the workpiece.
Claims23
An automated manufacturing system for performing a manufacturing operation along a contoured surface of a workpiece, comprising:
- a movable member operable to perform the manufacturing operation along the surface of the workpiece;
- a path planning subsystem adapted to receive dimensional data for the workpiece and operable to generate path data based on the dimensional data for the workpiece, where the path data is indicative of a path for traversing the movable member along the surface of the workpiece;
- and
- a controller adapted to receive the path data from the path planning subsystem and operable to move the moveable member in accordance with the path data, thereby performing the manufacturing operation along the surface of the workpiece.
A surface inspection system for inspecting a contoured surface of a workpiece, comprising:
- a movable member;
- a non-contact sensor located on the movable member for capturing image data representative of the surface of the workpiece;
- a path planning subsystem adapted to receive dimensional data for the workpiece and operable to generate path data based on the dimensional data for the workpiece, where the path data is indicative of a path for traversing the sensor along the surface of the workpiece;
- and
- a controller adapted to receive the path data from the path planning subsystem and operable to move the moveable member in accordance with the path data, thereby inspecting the surface of the workpiece.
An automated manufacturing system for performing a manufacturing operation along a contoured surface of a workpiece, comprising:
- a modeling module receiving the dimensional data for the workpiece and operative to generate a plurality of facets, where each facet is a geometric representation of a portion of the surface of the workpiece;
- a grouping module connected to the modeling module and operative to group the plurality of facets into one or more groupings of facets, where facets are grouped based on the spatial orientation of a facet in relation to the spatial orientation of one or more neighboring facets;
- and
- a path planning module connected to the grouping module and operative to use the groupings of facets to determine a tool path along the contoured surface of the workpiece.
A method for planning a tool path along a contoured surface of a workpiece, comprising:
- (a) generating a plurality of facets for the surface of the workpiece, where each facet is a geometric representation of a portion of the surface of the workpiece;
- (b) determining a spatial orientation for each facet;
- (c) grouping two or more neighboring facets based on the spatial orientation of the facets in relation to the spatial orientation of other facets, thereby forming one or more groupings of facets;
- and
- (d) using the groups of facets to determine a tool path along the contoured surface of the workpiece.
The method of claim 23 further comprising:
- repeating steps (i) thru (l) until the difference in spatial orientation between each of the neighboring facets and the first grouping of facets exceeds the predefined flatness threshold;
- identifying a second facet having the largest area amongst the facets not combined into the first grouping of facets;
- and
- repeating steps (f) thru (l) for the second facet, thereby forming a second grouping of facets.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.