Interactive Product Development in a Virtual Environment Utilizing Haptics

该赠款为开发基于虚拟现实的工具提供资金，用于设计受临界应力和/或流体流动限制的产品。本研究的主要目标是开发一种方法，将计算机辅助设计（CAD）模型与分析模型相结合，并允许在三维虚拟环境中实时执行形状变化。该工具将CAD几何模型与产品的分析模型相结合，并提供三维环境，以便研究形状变化对产品内应力或流体流动分布的影响。这项研究的一个关键组成部分是开发用于应力分析和流体流动分析的快速近似或计算方法，这些方法将允许在虚拟环境中立即显示。将开发一种将产品的最终形状转移回CAD环境的方法。触觉，以力反馈的形式，将成为虚拟环境的一个组成部分，并将为参与者提供有关设计可行性和形状变化对产品设计中其他部件组装的影响的额外信息。如果成功，这项研究的结果将导致并发设计方法的改进，并导致减少产品开发时间。来自工程、营销和制造等不同背景的参与者将受益于在虚拟环境中使用这种方法，因为虚拟环境比传统的显示器、鼠标和键盘计算机界面更接近真实世界。提供这种设计/分析环境将鼓励快速调查许多可能的形状变化以及它们如何影响最终产品的组装和操作。

This grant provides funding for the development of a virtual reality-based tool to be used in the design of products that are subject to critical stress and/or fluid flow constraints. The primary goal of this research is to develop a methodology that couples computer-aided-design (CAD) models with analysis models and allows shape changes to be performed in real time in a three-dimensional virtual environment. This tool will couple the CAD geometry model to the analysis model of a product and provide a three-dimensional environment to allow for investigation of the effect that shape changes have on the stress or fluid flow distribution within the product. A critical component to this research is the development of fast approximation or calculation methods for stress analysis and fluid flow analysis that will allow for immediate display in the virtual environment. A method of transferring the final shape of the product back to the CAD environment will be developed. Haptics, in the form of force feedback, will be an integral part of the virtual environment and will provide additional information to the participants concerning the feasibility of the design and the impact that the shape changes have on assembly with other parts in the product design.If successful, the results of this research will lead to improvements in concurrent design methods and result in reduced product development time. Participants from diverse backgrounds such as engineering, marketing, and manufacturing will benefit from the use of this methodology in the virtual environment because the environment more closely mimics the real world than does the traditional monitor, mouse and keyboard computer interface. Providing this design/analysis environment will encourage the quick investigation of many possible shape changes and how they affect the final product assembly and operation.