The purpose of this thesis was to develop methodologies and procedures for the construction and use of CAD part families. This project uses the software CADDS5 created by Computervision, Inc., and its "Family of Parts" module. This software allows the creation of an entire family of similar parts using a single parametric master model and a text file containing the necessary parameters for each member of the family. CADDS5 users at Raytheon were surveyed to determine how they use standard parts, what types of standard parts are used, and typical modeling strategies. A set of criteria were developed to determine which groups of parts would be good candidates to be used as test cases. Four test cases were used to develop the methodology or procedure for the creation of families of parts. In addition, efficient use of these part families required the development of a set of search engines to allow the users to find parts more easily, and a parts server to generate new family members. The Family of Parts software in CADDS5 serves as a starting point for the creation of a usable library of standard parts. However, it has a poor user interface and has no system for part management and database administration. This thesis has made up for several of these shortcomings, and has created the core of a working library that can be easily used by all of the designers without requiring detailed knowledge of the details behind the implementation. The methodology developed during this project provides the necessary information for designers to create the majority of standard parts in use at Raytheon. For those who want to expand the library, it has provided useful information that will help them create high-quality parts that will work well with this system.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:wpi.edu/oai:digitalcommons.wpi.edu:etd-theses-1822 |
| Date | 14 May 1999 |
| Creators | Marr, Gregory M. |
| Contributors | James C. Hermanson, Committee Member, Eben C. Cobb, Committee Member, , William Haley III, Raytheon Company |
| Publisher | Digital WPI |
| Source Sets | Worcester Polytechnic Institute |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Masters Theses (All Theses, All Years) |
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