Disassembly route producing apparatus, assembly route producing apparatus, and supporting system for mechanical system design

A supporting system for mechanical system design, comprising:

• disassembly route search means for searching for a collision-free disassembly route when disassembling a product containing a plurality of parts, the disassembly occurring through a sequence of translations of each of the parts, in predetermined directions for predetermined distances;
• collision arithmetic means for determining a closest approach distance between a selected one of the plurality of parts to be translated and the remaining parts;
• and
• said disassembly route search means moving the selected part through the sequence of translations up to a distance corresponding to the closest approach distance, and said collision arithmetic means determining after each translation whether a collision occurred between the selected part and any of the remaining parts, and when said disassembly route search means fails to find a disassembly route for the selected part, the size of the selected part is reduced by a predetermined amount, and a search for a disassembly route is performed again.

A method for determining a disassembly route for a product containing a plurality of parts, comprising:

• determining a closest approach distance between one of the parts selected to be disassembled from the product and the remaining parts;
• moving the selected part through a sequence of translations in predetermined directions for predetermined distances, up to a distance corresponding to the closest approach distance, and determining, after each translation, whether a collision occurred between the selected part and any of the remaining parts;
• and
• reducing the size of the selected part by a predetermined amount, when said disassembly route search means fails to find a disassembly route for the selected part, and performing a search for a disassembly route again.