Absolute gouge avoidance for computer-aided control of cutter paths
AssigneeFord Motor Company
InventorCarl T. Jepson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of eliminating surface gouging in computer-aided control of cutter paths, comprising the steps of: (a) generating three-dimensional computer images of a surface to be emulated and of a revolving cutter head; (b) imposing an x-y coordinate grid work onto each image and assigning a z coordinate to the cutter depth and surface height for each grid; (c) while digitally moving the cutter head over the emulated surface, determining the highest sum of z coordinates for each grid within the superimposed area; and (d) using such highest sum as the lowest z coordinate for a cutter reference point at each such digital position of the cutter, the highest sum being adjusted for any difference between the reference point and cutter depth at such highest sum grid.
Claims15
A method of eliminating surface gouging in computer-aided control of cutter paths, comprising:
- (a) generating three-dimensional computer images of a surface to be emulated and of a revolving cutter head;
- (b) imposing x-y coordinate grid work onto each image and assigning a z coordinate to the cutter depth and surface height for each pixel of the grid;
- (c) while digitally moving the cutter head over the emulated surface, determining the highest sum among each addition of z coordinates for a cutter depth pixel and the z coordinate for the surface height pixel aligned with such cutter depth pixel resulting from the superimposition of step (b);
- and
- (d) using the z coordinate for the cutter head that achieves the highest sum at each such digital position, said maximum z coordinates at each pixel acting as control points for the cutter path.
A method of eliminating surface gouging in computer-aided control of cutter paths, comprising:
- (a) generating three-dimensional computer images for each of a surface to be emulated and a revolving cutter head print;
- (b) imposing x-y coordinate grid work over each of the images, said grid work being subdivided into pixels;
- (c) assigning a value at each pixel of the grid works for a z coordinate corresponding to the height of the surface in the case of the surface image and to the depth of the cutter head print image from a plane parallel to the x-y plane and passing through a reference point on the cutter head, the z coordinate extending perpendicular to the x-y coordinate plane at each pixel;
- (d) at each desired incremental movement of the cutter head reference point and with the cutter head print image superimposed over the surface image, adding every z coordinate of the surface image to the aligned z coordinate of the aligned pixel of the superimposed cutter head print image;
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- (e) selecting the z coordinate for the reference point that is the highest sum of z coordinates at each increment of movement, plus or minus any difference in the magnitude of the z coordinate for the reference point and z coordinate for the pixel of the cutter head print image where the sum is highest, the accumulation of such selected z coordinates determining the cutter path along the x-y plane that will not cause intersurface or intrasurface interference.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.