I-Corps: Algorithms and software for resolving intersection problems in computer aided design

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是，它允许计算机辅助设计(CAD)系统的用户创建可直接用于下游应用的产品模型。当前的工作流程需要大量手工修复几何模型，然后才能将其用于计算机辅助工程/制造。仅在美国汽车业，每年就有近6亿美元用于缓解CAD问题的直接成本和生产率损失。整个业务单位或工作车间都被雇佣来通过修复或返工充满缺口的几何模型来处理这个昂贵的问题。将开发的算法商业化将提高工程设计过程的生产率，从而产生比目前的CAD技术更快地设计出更好的产品。这个i-Corps项目专注于开发和商业化一种新的软件算法，该算法解决了计算机辅助设计(CAD)行业中普遍存在的问题，即CAD模型中表面相交处出现的缺口。大多数现代几何建模依赖于参数自由曲面，这些曲面被构建为简单得多的几何形状的复杂组合。然而，当前CAD中自由曲面的相交导致了高度近似的、不完整的解。这里开发的方法是基于对大多数现代CAD模型几何基础的参数空间的透彻理解。该算法首先对参数空间中的相交曲线进行分类和分割，然后对相交曲面进行重构，以保证相交曲面的边界位于相交曲线上，达到CAD系统用户设定的公差。这种方法以一种方式解决了这个问题，即以与原始模型相同的形式生成对象，使它们在建模者的本机软件包中可用。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is that it allows users of Computer-Aided Design (CAD) systems to create product models that can be used directly in downstream applications. Current workflows require extensive manual repair of geometric models before they can be used for Computer-Aided Engineering/Manufacturing. Within the US automotive industry alone nearly $600M/year is spent in direct cost and lost productivity on mitigating CAD problems. Entire business units or job shops are employed to deal with this expensive problem by repairing or reworking gap-ridden geometric models. Commercializing the algorithm developed will result in improved productivity in the engineering design process, resulting in better products that are designed more quickly than is possible with current CAD technology.This I-Corps project focuses on development and commercialization of a novel software algorithm that resolves a ubiquitous problem in the Computer-Aided Design (CAD) industry, the gaps that arise at the intersections of surfaces in CAD models. The majority of modern geometric modeling relies on parametric freeform surfaces built as complex combinations of much simpler geometric shapes. However, the intersection of freeform surfaces in CAD currently results in highly approximated, incomplete solutions. The approach developed here is based on a thorough understanding of the parametric space underlying the geometry of most modern CAD models. The algorithm classifies and segments the intersection curve in parametric space, then reconstructs the intersecting surfaces such that their boundaries are guaranteed to lie on the intersection curve to the tolerance set by the user of the CAD system. The approach solves the problem in a way that produces objects in the same form as that of the original models, making them available in the modeler's native software package.