Method and apparatus for investigation of how a technical system can be broken down

A method for determining how to break down a technical system into its individual components in which a computer-available design model of the system is predetermined, one computer-available three-dimensional design model of each component of the system is predetermined, and a plurality of direction vectors are predetermined, wherein the method comprises the steps of:

• determining which of the direction vectors of the design model meet at least one other component;
• determining the directions in which a component can be removed from the system as a function of the result of the determination process,
• selecting, for each component, a plurality of points in the design model of the component as foot points;
• calculating a ray for each component and each selected foot point, starting at the foot point and running in the direction of a direction vector;
• determining, for each component and each selected foot point and each direction vector, the number of rays in the design model of at least one other component which start at the foot point, run in the direction of the direction vector and meet;
• calculating a weighting of the component for each direction vector as a function of
• the determined number of rays which meet a different design model in the direction of the direction vector, and
• the number of rays produced in total in the direction of the direction vector,
• calculating an overall weighting of the component as a function of the weightings of the component with respect to the direction vectors,
• determining those components which have the greatest weighting of all the calculated weightings with respect to which direction vector,
• determining as a movement vector of the determined component of that direction vector with respect to which the determined component has the greatest weighting, and
• removing the selected component from the system in the direction of the movement vector.

A computer program product which is loaded in the internal memory of a computer and has software section to perform the steps of:

• determining which of the direction vectors of the design model meet at least one other component;
• determining the directions in which a component can be removed from the system as a function of the result of the determination process,
• selecting, for each component, a plurality of points in the design model of the component as foot points;
• calculating a ray for each component and each selected foot point, starting at the foot point and running in the direction of a direction vector;
• determining, for each component and each selected foot point and each direction vector, the number of rays in the design model of at least one other component which start at the foot point, run in the direction of the direction vector and meet;
• calculating a weighting of the component for each direction vector as a function of
• the determined number of rays which meet a different design model in the direction of the direction vector, and
• the number of rays produced in total in the direction of the direction vector,
• calculating an overall weighting of the component as a function of the weightings of the component with respect to the direction vectors,
• determining those components which have the greatest weighting of all the calculated weightings with respect to which direction vector,
• determining as a movement vector of the determined component of that direction vector with respect to which the determined component has the greatest weighting, and
• removing the selected component from the system in the direction of the movement vector.

A computer program product which is stored on a computer-legible medium and has a computer-readable program which causes a computer to carry out the steps of:

• determining which of the direction vectors of the design model meet at least one other component;
• determining the directions in which a component can be removed from the system as a function of the result of the determination process,
• selecting, for each component, a plurality of points in the design model of the component as foot points;
• calculating a ray for each component and each selected foot point, starting at the foot point and running in the direction of a direction vector;
• determining, for each component and each selected foot point and each direction vector, the number of rays in the design model of at least one other component which start at the foot point, run in the direction of the direction vector and meet;
• calculating a weighting of the component for each direction vector as a function of
• the determined number of rays which meet a different design model in the direction of the direction vector, and
• the number of rays produced in total in the direction of the direction vector,
• calculating an overall weighting of the component as a function of the weightings of the component with respect to the direction vectors,
• determining those components which have the greatest weighting of all the calculated weightings with respect to which direction vector,
• determining as a movement vector of the determined component of that direction vector with respect to which the determined component has the greatest weighting, and
• removing the selected component from the system in the direction of the movement vector.

A computer program product which has read access to a data memory, that stores a computer-available design model of a technical system, a computer-available three-dimensional design model for each component of the system, and computer-available definitions of a plurality of direction vectors in which the computer program of product performs the steps of:

• determining which of the direction vectors meet the design model of at least one other component, and
• determining the directions in which a component can be removed from the system as a function of the result of the determination process,
• selecting, for each component, a plurality of points in the design model of the component as foot points,
• calculating, for each component and for each selected foot point, a ray which starts at the foot point and runs in the direction of a direction vector,
• determining, for each component, for each selected foot point and for each direction vector, how many rays which start at the foot point and run in the direction of the direction vector meet the design model of at least one other component,
• calculating a weighting for each component with respect to each direction vector as a function of the determined number of rays in the direction of the direction vector which meet another design model, and the total number of rays produced in the direction of the direction vector,
• calculating an overall weighting of the component as a function of the weightings of the component with respect to the direction vectors,
• determining a direction vector which has the highest weighting with respect to the determined component as the movement vector for the determined component, and
• outputting a result that the determined component can be removed from the system in the direction of the movement vector.

A data processing installation which has read access to a data memory, that stores a computer-available design model of a technical system, a computer-available three-dimensional design model for each component of the system, and computer-available definitions of a plurality of direction vectors in which the computer program of product performs the steps of:

• determining which of the direction vectors meet the design model of at least one other component, and
• determining the directions in which a component can be removed from the system as a function of the result of the determination process,
• selecting, for each component, a plurality of points in the design model of the component as foot points,
• calculating, for each component and for each selected foot point, a ray which starts at the foot point and runs in the direction of a direction vector,
• determining, for each component, for each selected foot point and for each direction vector, how many rays which start at the foot point and run in the direction of the direction vector meet the design model of at least one other component,
• calculating a weighting for each component with respect to each direction vector as a function of the determined number of rays in the direction of the direction vector which meet another design model, and the total number of rays produced in the direction of the direction vector,
• calculating an overall weighting of the component as a function of the weightings of the component with respect to the direction vectors,
• determining a direction vector which has the highest weighting with respect to the determined component as the movement vector for the determined component, and
• outputting a result that the determined component can be removed from the system in the direction of the movement vector.